The food and service industry is ridiculous. It employs millions of people and it rakes in billions in profit every year. Given how much of a role food plays in our lives, this does not come as a surprise. We go out to eat or drink regardless of whether it is a celebration, a date, a casual meeting, and so on. Most of our lives center around food, so this is not surprising for most. Now, there are a lot of people who hear about the profit margins in restaurants, get inspired, and then try to open restaurants on their own.
What a lot of these people don’t consider is the fact that if running a restaurant was that easy, everyone would be doing it. Yes, a lot of people do try to dip their toes in the water, but most of them end up having to give up after a year, and most of the time within the year. This of course is not their fault, the restaurant game is just incredibly competitive. Opening a restaurant is easy, but running and maintaining it is where most people choke up. Hiring a restaurant marketing consultant will analyze the performance of a restaurant on the factors of cost of sales, cash flow statement, cost of labor, and profit and loss. A lot of planning and work goes into a restaurant and you have to consider hundreds of things be it restaurant furniture, interior, layout, location, staff, and so on. If you are still interested in really pushing this restaurant out, especially in 2020 when we are facing a pandemic, I would suggest taking your time to focus on the planning portion of things.
- This may not be the first thing you might think about, but having a concept for your restaurant always helps. This is where you think about what it is that your restaurant is supposed to represent. Is there a certain concept or theme that you want to incorporate when it comes to your restaurant? This will help you when you are trying to figure out the design and furniture of your restaurant since you will want it to be consistent with your concept.
- While you are still thinking about your restaurant’s concept, another great thing that you can do is think about your target audience. A restaurant will not be able to accommodate everyone, but a lot of restaurants do have a targeted age demographic. There are obvious pros and cons to each age demographic and you can do your research to see which kind of age demographic brings in how much profit. This can aid you in your overall decision. Of course, it helps to be able to cater to different age demographics, but having a target demographic helps you too.
- When you are deciding on the concept of your restaurant, you also have to think about the kind of setup you want for your restaurant. This is where you have to decide if you want a pop-up situation, a grab and go situation, and outdoor dining setup, a café setup, and so on. This will help you polish up on what you want to accomplish and will make for a cleaner setup. If you want to open this restaurant in 2020, then we would suggest keeping your setup simple and limited to takeaway or deliveries. A lot of people are still not open to dining in, so spending money too much on a dine-in setup will not do you any good, at least until the situation of the pandemic betters itself.
- When it comes to the interior of your restaurant, this is where your concept and theme comes in. A good and consistent theme needs to be present throughout your restaurant because any class becomes apparent and then kills the “fantasy” that you are trying to create. If you do not trust your skills, you can always hire a professional interior designer or restaurant consultant and then have them assist you through the process. This is one way you can take a burden off of your shoulders. If this does not work for you or if you cannot afford it, you can try yourself and have friends and/or family that you know work well with interior designing help you out. Do not feel the need to go to the expensive stores because you can find lots of trinkets and other gems for much cheaper, you just have to know where to look.
- When it comes to your choice of restaurant furniture, you have to think about comfort, sturdiness, and convenience. Your choice of furniture will also have to reflect your target demographic, for instance, family-style restaurants have wraparound tables and leather cushion chairs, and they can be convenient. Similarly, high-end restaurants also opt for leather seats, only they are more refined variants. Fabric works great because it does help create a good look, however, the downside with fabric is that it stains too easily and it can be difficult to get some stains out, especially when you are dealing with fabrics like felt or velvet. So opting for a fabric chair when you plan on having families or mothers with children as your target audience will not work. You will instead have to find something that is comfortable and also easy to clean because food stains and spills are common when dealing with families and young children. You also want to make sure that your furniture aids your restaurant’s movement and layout. So opt for furniture and designs that compliment your layout and make it possible for you to move around with ease whilst maintaining a good distance between each table because if your furniture is too big or blocks out your path in certain areas of the restaurant, it can end up disrupting the flow of your staff and overall movement. So, your furniture size and design should be proportionate and should complement the layout space of your restaurant. These do tend to seem like small things, but every little detail comes together to create a picture of your restaurant, and if you get sloppy with the details, it starts showing with time.
