While starting a new restaurant can indeed be exciting, it can also often be a daunting affair. You may start off on the right foot with a business plan in mind, but how will you know when it’s all finished? A restaurant checklist is a great way to keep track of everything, from business planning to staffing. You can start a new restaurant with much less stress, and with so much more ease than if you tried to tackle this on your own. Keep this restaurant list handy, and then you’d be able to open a restaurant with relative ease!
Start by hiring a great chef. This may seem like a no-brainer, but too many restaurants fail simply because the wrong person has been hired. Hire someone you are comfortable with, and who has a proven track record. Consider hiring a sommelier as well. These are just two of many ways that hiring the right person can make all the difference when opening a new restaurant. Just don’t trust anyone who claims they are great at everything; in many cases this is simply untrue.
Next, find a location. This is perhaps the most important part of opening a new restaurant. While the right food is key, having a great location is just as crucial. Visit local events and community fairs to see what type of exposure your potential restaurant will get. Make sure that your potential street address has plenty of room. The more visibility your place gets, the better chance it has of attracting customers!
After finding the perfect location, it’s time to get all the necessary permits and licenses. Your restaurant business plan should take care of this step. Consult a legal professional for help determining the scope of your business, and for advice on what permits you’ll need. Most cities require that you have a certificate of occupancy before you can open a New Restaurant.
A final step is to set up the daily operations required to run a successful restaurant. When customers order in a restaurant, the head chef will check the ingredients, check the progress of the cooking, and communicate with the kitchen staff about the orders of customers. The head chef is also responsible for managing the flow of information within the restaurant. Therefore, having a strong social media presence is crucial to running a small business successfully.
Social media is an invaluable tool, but it doesn’t do much to differentiate one business from another. In order to build your reputation and customer base, it is critical that you have a professional social media marketing plan. A social media marketing company can provide you with many different tools to use for the promotion of your restaurant. Many companies also offer their clients free consulting services to help them understand the best ways to implement their services into their own restaurant business plan.
Many of the restaurant owners that we speak with would not be in the position to open a new restaurant if it weren’t for social media. Their restaurant checklist includes creating a professional Facebook page for customers and employees, as well as creating a blog that they update regularly with great food recipes and other fun details about the business. Another helpful aspect of social media is to make sure that you’re incorporating it into all aspects of the operation. In addition to the restaurant website, you should also incorporate it into any advertising you do for your restaurant.
Finally, when it comes to the various licenses required to operate a business in a city, most restaurants will have several. The most popular ones include a food and beverage license, which allows the establishment to sell alcoholic beverages. A liquor license is necessary to sell alcohol. Every restaurant should also have a fire alarm license, which is required in every city and county in the country. As mentioned above, most bars and nightclubs will require licenses to function, as well. It is always best to consult a lawyer or attorney before opening a new business so that you understand what the legal requirements are.
