It’s the dream of almost every entrepreneur to open a restaurant. Despite the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the foodservice industry has continued to thrive. You’re probably well on your way to fulfilling that lifelong dream of yours. But first, you need to be guided appropriately on the nitty-gritty of the business.
Opening a new restaurant requires critical thinking and planning, regardless of the niche. In this article, we shall be sharing everything you need for your new restaurant.
1. Opt for quality restaurant equipment.
Getting your new restaurant equipped is no easy task considering the amount of money and time involved. Restaurant goods range from production equipment to dishwashing equipment. Moreover, you’ll need dinnerware, glassware, and pots. If you’re going to outfit your restaurant with a deli, bakery, or bar, you’ll need to get specialized equipment like a refrigerator, pan, or ice crusher to serve the purpose.
We can’t overemphasize the importance of getting quality restaurant equipment. That’s why you need to take the time to make the best choice. It’s also a good idea to search online for local quality goods. For example, if you want to open a restaurant in Seattle, a quick Google search for “restaurant supply in Seattle” will bring some good results.
2. Get a good security system.
Due to the amount of money involved in opening a restaurant, you need to find effective methods of protecting your investment. Beyond hiring a security team, technology can play an integral role in securing your place of business. Gone are the days when business owners used traditional CCTV and NVR security camera systems. We now have modern surveillance systems designed by camera manufacturers using ONVIF standards like IP camera cloud storage.
With this internet protocol camera, you can record a live video feed and save the video clips on an SD card or a cloud service. Opt for wireless security cameras with key features like a wide-angle lens, Wi-Fi, motion detection, night vision, playback, snapshot, good video quality, and facial recognition.
3. Hire the right staff.
Your new restaurant will need competent staff if it’s going to operate optimally and grow. The hiring stage is essential to the future of your dining establishment. It provides a perfect opportunity to imbibe a great work culture in the hearts of your staff. Your management team should consist of a general manager, front-of-house manager, and kitchen manager for starters.
You can then hire front-of-house and back-of-house staff like servers, bussers, chefs, dishwashers, prep cooks, hosts, line cooks, and food runners. When creating schedules, try to take into consideration the work/life balance of your staff. Moreover, try as much as you can to make provisions for employee benefits and incentives. If not for any other thing, your employee retention will be successful.
4. Automate your processes.
In case you haven’t noticed, technology is beginning to revolutionize the foodservice industry. It offers a cost-effective way of optimizing your restaurant operations. There are many innovative digital solutions that you can incorporate into your restaurant operations, from ordering and making payments to delivery and pick up.
The reality of the times we live in demands the use of technology to streamline your operations. For instance, open dining in restaurants is prohibited in many countries due to the pandemic. Some simple solutions include online ordering, automated billing, online payments, inventory management, and customer relations management.
5. Think about your marketing strategy.
One of the things you’ll need for your new restaurant is an advertising strategy. Word needs to get out to your prospective customers that you are fully in business. Advertisement does that for you and more. It provides future customers with basic information about your dining outfit, like where it’s situated and the type of food you are serving. Any advert you put out must create excitement and expectations in the minds of people.
Word-of-mouth is an effective advertisement strategy. You can host a grand opening, soft opening, or special event to create buzz around your brand. If you can successfully pull off any of these events, it’ll influence organic discussions about your new restaurant.
