Bars and restaurants are a very effective resource when evaluating starting a business, whether or not we are professionals in the sector.
Do we want to be entrepreneurs? It is never too late, and if we add to that with a detailed planning of the pros and cons we are going to have, we can see closer to that day when we are authentic professional hoteliers.
It seems that having creativity and knowing how to cook are no longer the only premises that guarantee the success of a hospitality business. Like everything, it is important to have that ability, but something else must be taken into account to ensure success.
Aspects such as the kitchen, accounting, supplies, logistics, room management, will be part of a whole that must be dealt with together to correctly assess the investment and especially the subsequent development of the activity.
From the moment we start the analysis, we must see our restaurant in project as a company, even if it competes in the gastronomy, You must be up to date on many administrative, labor, commercial factors, etc. But let’s focus on the activity itself.
What should we prioritize in the previous analysis in the creation of a restaurant?
- conduct a previous feasibility study. A market study is essential to be able to define what we want to offer, to whom and where, in order to identify who will be our competitors and especially the source of income that will be our clients. With this we will be able to simulate our financing capacity and of course if we will bear a debt or not in the early stages.
- Clearly define What do we want to be?A Restaurant, a Gastro-bar, a Tavern, an inn, a bar, will be key to be able to advance in the development of the offer of products that we are going to show to customers and quantify the number of recipes, menus, menus, equipment and furniture that we have to assemble.
- Select the necessary people for the development of daily activity, whether culinary, service or operational, with the skills and attitudes that we have previously defined in a profile for each job that we have to fill.
- Choose the location, where the premises will be opened, taking into account not only its cost, but also the importance for the client in terms of visibility, access, public that frequents the area, if they are passing through or resident, and are there offices and shops or it is residential, especially to be able to know at least how many and who would be the habitual users, and therefore the minimum income of the business.
- Name the site, It seems simple but it is one of the keys so that the birth comes surrounded by success or not, and we can continue developing the activity to demonstrate it day by day. Easy to remember names, attractive in terms of the message and of course that invites you to discover what is inside.
- Choose products and partners for the long journey of the venture, and thus to be able to ensure continuity of the supply of products, quality, guarantee and above all to be able to adapt the tastes and demands of the clients to the future elaborations and offer that we give in our new business,
- Decorate it and equip it from the personal touch of each one with a pleasant, clean, comfortable and above all balanced environment to the business concept and offer that we want to show to customers, where the ceiling, walls, furniture and tools will be key to achieving the satisfaction of our customers and the much sought after “Experience”.
To all these actions you must apply the creative effect of differentiation in a market as atomized as the hotelier market, where original ideas are very well received by customers.
Currently with the help of technology, any inspiration is much easier to turn it into reality.
As a culmination of this script of practical advice to be able to start a hospitality business we must have internalized, that the capacity for effort and contagion of emotions that we can give to our colleagues in daily work, will be proportional to the success and customers sitting in our room.
Do you dare to try?