By Katrina McKinnon
Every entrepreneur starts their own business with only one goal: to succeed. However, a vast majority of business owners have absolutely NO clear idea about how exactly to achieve the desired success.
If you are one of those who wants to enjoy a good reputation and run a popular restaurant, you must be aware that it’s likely to fail unless you come up with an effective detailed restaurant business plan. These guidelines will give you a good place to start.
Aim for a busy neighbourhood
A busy street, corner, main square or any other crowded area would be an ideal location for your restaurant. The more facilities that are nearby, such as bus or train stations, parking space, or even a sports facility, the better. After choosing a perfect spot, how to bring people in is your next concern.
Choose a crowded street over a large space
You can always make up for the space constraints by hiring an excellent interior designer, who will adapt the space to your budget and requirements to maximize its use. On the other hand, there’s hardly anything you can do to help your business grow if you end up in an isolated area.
Ensure visually appealing design
Although your restaurant design isn’t more important than the mouth-watering meals you’re going to offer to your customers, you shouldn’t underestimate its power since it’s highly significant for creating the welcoming atmosphere necessary for your guest to fully enjoy their special moments.
Mind your tableware
Present your dishes perfectly with the help of carefully chosen tableware, linen, utensils and all the other crucial details because they’ll speak for themselves. How, you may ask? If your tableware is attractive and charming, people will certainly want to take photos of their meals and post them on social media. This will have an enormous influence on your business reputation. Not only does your tableware have to be stylish and functional, but impeccably clean.
Pay special attention to your kitchen
A highly functional and spotless kitchen is the key factor of your restaurant progress. Each area must serve a particular purpose if you aim at developing an efficient workflow within the heart of your restaurant. You know what happens when a heart stops beating properly?
The menu design mirrors the whole concept of your business
There’s no point in hiring a leading interior designer to perfect your venue if you’re going to spoil everything with poor menu design. Remember, every single detail counts – even the tiniest ones! Thus, carefully choose readable, elegant fonts, stimulating colours and a fantastic layout of the menu to perfectly match your overall business concept.
List the main ingredients
Do you want ALL your guests to leave your place happy? Of course. However, some of them hate garlic, whereas others are allergic to mushrooms. So, how can you make sure all those people are content when they have different food preferences?
A simple solution would be to make a thorough list of ingredients for every item you offer. Not only will you please the guests, but your waiters will also be thankful for not having to explain every single dish to them.
Keep up with the latest food trends
Following the latest food trends is a must if you want to run a profitable restaurant. Nowadays, more and more people are turning to healthy food, so you have to offer a bit of something for everyone, whether they prefer gluten-free, organic or vegan meals. Therefore, make sure you revise your menu regularly and include popular dishes and ingredients.
Organize various social events
No need to wait for holidays such as New Year’s Eve to boost your restaurant promotion. Instead, opt for hosting different smaller gatherings. For instance, you can invite social media influencers to a theme party and make some marketing deals with them. What’s more, it would be great to create a unique menu for those special occasions. This will also keep your inventory balanced.
Social media networks rule
It’s widely known that your online presence is vital to your success. If you don’t have a social media account, your business does NOT exist for a huge number of your target customers. It may sound harsh, but that’s the reality!
So, if you still haven’t done that, go ahead and create a few social media accounts for your restaurant to make it live. Start communicating actively with your prospective customers via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
Show that you appreciate your customers’ loyalty
Never underestimate the “word of mouth” marketing strategy. One satisfied customer can bring you another ten customers by recommending your outstanding services to their friends and family. Thus, it’s important to show how much you appreciate them. One way of doing that is offering your loyal customers a sort of loyalty membership. That’s how they’ll keep coming back.
Set extremely high hygienic standards
When it comes to hygiene in a location where food is prepared, there’s absolutely NO compromise. Every corner of your restaurant MUST be thoroughly cleaned regularly. Period. Yes, the washrooms go without saying, too. If you can’t manage to do it properly on your own, consider hiring professionals. Whatever option you choose, cleanliness is your top priority in order to ensure health both for your guests and colleagues.
Win your guests’ trust with professional workwear
People tend to trust employees wearing uniforms more than those who don’t wear them. Not only will your staff look trustworthy but professional and knowledgeable wearing carefully designed high-quality workwear. Again, should we repeat the magic word – spotless?
The guidelines mentioned above about hygiene, design, and marketing are just the tip of the iceberg. You are more than welcome to dive into all the expert secrets of creating an ingenious restaurant business plan. Grab this precious opportunity immediately!
About the author:
Katrina McKinnon is the Community Outreach Manager for Alsco AU. Alsco AU provides hassle-free and convenient linen, hygiene systems, and first aid rental services for the restaurant and hospitality industry.
Writing a business plan isn’t for everyone. … A new enterprise should be pursued primarily to help you achieve your goals.Writing a business plan may seem unnecessary, especially when you really just want to start running your business. But for you to be successful in raising money and getting people interested in your idea, writing and updating a business plan for your company is a must-do.A business plan is a business guide. I will have one when I start my own business.