How to Plan a Restaurant

You’re a terrific cook. In fact, you’re so good that people have told you to open your own restaurant. Maybe you imagine that diners would fight for a table. So you’ve decided to take the plunge, and you are ready to try to make some serious money doing what you really enjoy. You have taken a big step, but your decision-making has just begun. Here are some helpful tips about how to plan a restaurant.

Instructions

1. Determine whether your restaurant is going to offer fast food or full service. If fast food, you must decide between buying a franchise where the franchisee will provide a step-by-step approach to establishing your restaurant, or go it alone where you will be starting from scratch. If you buy a franchise, be prepared to pay the franchiser a percentage of your future sales.

2. If you choose to have a full service restaurant, you must determine what the concept will be. Whether it will be family style, ethnic or whatever other concept you choose, your decision will affect other choices you will have to make.

3. Once you have decided on your concept, decide what will be on your menu. Only after you know that will you be able to decide what type of equipment you will need. For example, if you have a number of fried food dishes on the menu, you’ll need more than one fryer. And if items on the menu rely on the sauté station, you'll need a range with enough burners to handle that workload.

4. Establish the ambiance of your restaurant. Generally, fast food restaurants are bright and their operators try to connote every aspect to speed. On the other hand, owners of restaurants that rely on atmosphere to encourage people to return pay close attention to lighting, colors, flooring and sound to create the proper ambiance. In restaurants that rely on atmosphere, the tables may have linen tablecloths and napkins, and meals are served on china dishes. Customers expect a more relaxed pace to their meal, and are encouraged to linger after the meal and partake of an after-dinner libation, or coffee.

5. Choose how your patrons will be seated. If your restaurant is family-style, long tables or booths tend to work well. However, if you’re planning a more upscale restaurant, patrons tend to want to be seated at tables. If fast food is more your style, your success will be based on volume. Therefore, while comfortable, seating should encourage patrons to not linger once their meals are finished.

Tips & Warnings

• Before you set out on the costly venture of opening your own restaurant, read "Restaurant Planning, Design, and Construction: A Survival Manual for Owners, Operators, and Developers" by Jeff B. Katz. It will provide you will information you will need to build a most successful operation.

• Don't open a restaurant impulsively. Make sure it is your true passion.