Saturday, August 20, 2011

Want to Open a Restaurant? - Restaurant Business Plan

Do you sincerely want to open a restaurant? Lots of people have the fantasy that involves them gliding around a fancy restaurant bouncing from table to table of delighted guests, friends and family who all praise the amazing food and unforgettable experience they are having.

At the end of the fantasy, after the grateful crew has warmly congratulated this imaginary owner on their fantastic business, the last stop is a swing by the cash drawer which is barely able to contain the stacks of hundred dollar bills and credit card receipts signifying another night of prosperity as a restaurant owner. If having this fantasy is as far as it goes in terms of your want to open a restaurant then you can stop reading right now.

On the other hand if you truly do want to open a restaurant even though you realize it will require work and it won?t always resemble the fantasy above then you have come to the right place.

The secret to actually starting a restaurant is not about having money, having tons of experience, having real estate or any other asset. If you read the success stories on these pages you will see that more often than not the real secret to success was simply having the persistence to keep going until the dream was realized. If you have that, you can acquire everything else you need, including money, experience and a location. If you don?t have the intent to see it through then of course it will never happen, period.

The following are the most common questions that come up from people who want to start a restaurant.

Want to Open a Restaurant But Not Sure Where to Start?

If you have never done it before then it can seem like and overwhelming task- and it is a lot, no doubt. The way to handle it however is to start with a solid plan and then follow a step by step checklist to make sure you cover every detail and get everything done that needs to get done. Breaking the tasks into their smallest parts makes it seem a lot less overwhelming and each task by itself is no big deal.

Without a plan, however, things can quickly get out of control and not only will you end up spending more than you should but you may make decisions that you end up having to redo later for every more money.

A little planning goes a long way, and it is also the answer to the next question- what to do if you want to open a restaurant but don?t have the money personally to do it?

Want to Open a Restaurant But Don?t Have the Money?

Lack of funds is the number one reason people who want to open a restaurant feel that they won?t be able to reach that goal. The truth is the majority restaurant owners have help when it comes to financing their startup. This money comes from investors, partners, the bank, friends and family as well as credit cards and other less conventional sources of financing. Very few people have the personal wealth to fund the cost of starting a restaurant completely on their own.

The answer to getting the money is to create a restaurant business plan along with a set of financial projections and the funding package that you can then use to raise the money you need. Having your idea sketched out on the back of a napkin or in a couple of PowerPoint slides is not enough. The most important piece of your presentation is the numbers in your proof that you can in fact create a viable business that will pay back the money used to provide you with enough profit to make the effort worthwhile. The fastest and easiest way to put this together is to use restaurant business plan software.

Want to Open a Restaurant That Becomes a Cash Cow?

If you?re going to put in the effort it takes To start a restaurant than ideally you should be amply rewarded for the effort and risk that you undertook. The best way to figure this out is to do it I have time before you?ve invested in the concept. Although some people may argue that it is impossible to put in the X. factor when creating a spreadsheet that simply isn?t true.

As part of your planning you can very accurately work out your lease cost, your food costs, your labor costs and all the other miscellaneous expenses your business will have and then determine what kind of sales volume you will need to reach breakeven and beyond.

Not taking the time to do this is simply foolish.

Using restaurant software you don?t even need to know any accounting or have previous restaurant experience to be able to create very accurate projections that will make sure that the business we start will have an outstanding chance of being a great success before you even come up with a name. If you want to open a restaurant that is going to reward you for your hard work with dollars and cents as well as the pride of accomplishment and this is a step you need to take.

Want to Open a Restaurant Without Risk?

Of course this title is somewhat misleading because it is impossible to open any business without having some risk. The question of whether you want to open a restaurant without risk is more about seeing if you are willing to do what it takes to illuminate as much risk as possible. The first thing to note is that restaurants aren?t as risky as most people believe. That said, there is certainly the potential to lose your investment if you aren?t careful. There are lots of things you can do however to reduce your risk to a very acceptable level.

The easiest and most basic thing you can do is to properly plan your restaurant and create financial projections that will help you in your decision making about expenses and the level of investment required to reach your goals. One of the leading causes of restaurant failure is being undercapitalized but that risk can be virtually eliminated by having your numbers down cold, which so many new restaurant owners fail to do. The bottom line is reducing the risk inherent in opening a restaurant is easier to do if you want to open a restaurant the right way.

Want to Open a Restaurant By Buying One (or Buying a Franchise)?

Lots of people who consider opening a restaurant actually want to open a restaurant franchise or would like to buy into an existing profitable restaurant that is already operating. There are plenty of prose and ponds to these approaches but if you feel that they are the right way for you to go and they are certainly viable ways to get into the restaurant industry. You still need to create a restaurant business plan and the restaurant financial plan for these types of businesses. Just because a business is hardly making money or is backed by a franchise system doesn?t mean you can run into problems or that a particular unit won?t lose money. While much of the work has been done for you in this type of restaurant startup that doesn?t mean you should skip the planning and the homework stage to make sure this business is the right business for you and everything you are hoping it will be.

Regardless of how you do it, you still want to open a restaurant that is going to be a successful, low risk cash cow that lives up to your fantasy even while you are grounded in reality.

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Source: http://restaurantfunds.com/blog/want-to-open-a-restaurant

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