Starting, Owning and Marketing A Restaurant Blog|Starting and Owning a Restaurant - Construction, Planning, Marketing, Opening and Managing a New Restaurant

A new restaurant operation is like bringing a puppy home from the dog pound. Everybody loves it, but you are the one who is up all night with the crying and yelping, cleaning up the messes until trained, picking up the chewed new pair of shoes and tripping over the ball of fur with every step.

From the outside, the puppy is cute and cuddly - just like a new restaurant. No one sees that you are scrambling to train staff, get the food out of the kitchen perfect, adjusting schedules, paying unforeseen invoices and hoping there is enough cash flow to make at least your break-even point. It’s a nightmare.

The first 30 days of any restaurant operation cannot be evaluated. Sales are driven in many cases by the curious who just visit because you are new. Costs are escalated due to extra staff, over ordering of product and the usual smallwares you need that were not in the plans. Throw the first thirty days out. Don’t try to judge your future based on your first month.

The days that count are the 100 days that follow the opening month. These are the days when reliable and predictable trends begin to develop. The “Big 100″ (100 days following your first month) are the days that can tell you what you need to do and set the tone for further growth and profitable enhancement. Here are some things that should emerge with your analysis;

• You should be able to accurately discover what your exact daily break-even number is.
• You should see a trend of lower operating costs that should be going down due to tweaks you make as you age. Food costs should be concise as compared to sales.
• There should be a clear picture of what your marketing has done and the demographic draw of existing business.
• The Big 100 should have produced the numbers that allow you to go back and compare to your plan. Are there adjustments necessary to the plan or your operation? What were the biggest surprises? What were the biggest disappointments? What new goals do you need to establish? Is your menu where it should be?

The Big 100 is the platform for you next 6 months of planning. What marketing changes do you need to make? What food trends do you want to expand? What internal changes need to be made to reduce costs or waste? Staffing changes? Hours of operations? Does the seating, lighting, decor and customer areas need adjustment? All of these questions and many more become the basis for your new business plan.

In earlier posts we have covered costs to start a new restaurant. Of course, they vary based on the number of seats, type of cuisine, location, menu and other factors.

In this case, I have updated the estimated costs for this particular restaurant according to what I know so far. Keep in mind that we are in the construction stages and there will be updates as we go along. The numbers you will see in the estimates are based on quotes and actual payments made or items purchased as of this date.

One of the most significant costs will be the finishing and decorating costs which will be filled in as the actual numbers are calculated. Visit the site in a couple of weeks for another update. Remember, this is a 70 seat inside and 25 seat outside breakfast and lunch restaurant. Dinner could easily be added, but that is not our concept.