How to Successfully Start a Restaurant or Food Business
1 - 2 - 3
"Food Businesses can be Fast-Paced and Grow Quickly. If You can, Follow Already-Successful Restauranteurs." Bookmark This Page
|
Step 1: Get your all-in-one restaurant start up guide
|
How to Start a Restaurant
Don't be caught in a money pit when you open your restaurant! Food businesses can be very lucrative operations, but you want to avoid the common mistakes that many new restaurant owners make. Restaurant Business Expert Bill Graves knows this industry inside and out. He'll show you how to carefully plan and start your restaurant, so that you can avoid these pitfalls and make the most money possible.
You'll understand how to manage your business efficiently on a day-to-day basis. Find out exactly which licenses, permits and insurance you need, and how how to run your business profitably- without running it into the ground.
Why is this a Top Pick? See what you get >>
- Instructions on buying equipment, choosing a location, preparing a menu & selecting a food service provider
- Advertising tips above and beyond, including target market planning and competition analysis
- Advice on accounting, bookkeeping, employee record, training, cash control and more
- Start here >> Start Your Own Restaurant
- Want to be mobile? Start a Lunch Truck Business
 How to Open a Financially Successful Bakery
Choose a specific food business niche market, and you're likely to get more customers since you'll have much less competition.You may even find a niche in your area which has no competition at all - and an unsatisfied demand which you can fill.
You can't get more comprehensive than this bakery business start up guide. Bakery business experts Sharon Fullen and Douglas Brown give you a complete step-by-step guide to starting a bakery business, from business planning and pre-launch activities to employee relations, cost control, customer interaction and marketing, choosing your products and menu planning, properly equipping your bakery, public and work areas - and safety tips, management, bookkeeping, budgeting and even a resources chapter down to details you probably haven't thought of yet, like "music licensing".
I was surprised - this affordable book is more like an instruction manual. I was especially impressed by tips on how to find the perfect location for your bakery, proven pricing formulas and instructions on hiring staff. Includes business plan and over 50 customized forms for your use. Click here >> How to Start a Bakery
More >> Gourmet Food Business | Ice Cream/Frozen Desert Business | Candymaking Business
Open a Sports Bar, Brewery, Specialty Bar or Club
There is a huge profit potential in bars, an 800% return on your investment is not unheard of.
Traditionally, this business requires long hours, but if you have good business sense and have plan going in to it, you can do very well. And if you're a social, outgoing person, you can have a great time doing it.
Start here >> How to open a Bar
Resources for Restauranteurs:
More Restaurant & Food Business Plans:
If you want to know how to organize and plan your business, using a professional business plan "template" is the easiest way
to get started (This is also a great tool for obtaining business financing). You can download these business start-up guides right now online for much less than you'd pay in hard copy:
Micro Brewery | Coffee Bar | Cafe | Cyber Cafe | Bakery | Grocery Store
|
Step 2: How to Get Customers Knocking on Your Door
|
|
How to Attract More Customers to Your Restaurant Business
If you can't find customers to eat at your restaurant, your business will never survive. The good news is that finding new clients doesn't have to be hard: simply use the techniques that the experts have learned.
Small Business Marketing Expert David Frey has been around for as long as I can remember. He has helped thousands of small business owners find new clients (including myself).
He gives you all the information you need to find customers, get the to buy more and to keep the coming back to purchase from you again and again. You don't have to buy lots of books, pay for expensive courses or seminars or even hire a costly rep to promote your company. David Frey makes it easy and affordable (and even fun) to find the customers yourself. I highly recommend his website to any small business owner starting out.
Visit Mr Frey's website and get a free marketing newsletter >> Small Business Marketing Strategies
Business Cards that Make Advertising Easy
Give them to people in your neighborhood, network with people you know, leave them with stores, offices and other places that busy professionals tend to hang out. With over 300 professional business card designs and easy-to-use templates, creation is a snap, and printing is done for you. Click here now >> Free Business Cards for Your Restaurant Business
6 Ways to Attract New Customers to Your Restaurant
Without new business, your restaurant won't be able to grow. You need a constant stream of new customers to replace those you lose as a result of customers relocating, switching jobs, or changing dining habits. Here are six strategies for getting more customers through your doors.
- Market Your Restaurant In Hotel Rooms
Business travellers and people on holiday may not be familiar enough with your town to know where to find an excellent meal. You can give them a hand simply by doing some hotel room marketing. Talk to hotels within your three-mile radius area and ask if you can place menus and advertisements in their rooms and lobby area. Some hotels have a “Nearby Attractions” list which they provide for their guests. You can ask to be added to the list. When guests get hungry and start trying to figure out where to eat, you'll be one of the first restaurants to come to mind.
- Form A Strategic Alliance With Event Venues
After a concert or sporting event, people are hungry and want to eat. Remember that people sometimes travel a long distance to come to these events, so they don't want to travel home on an empty stomach. One venue in the United States showed a nearby restaurant's advert on all of the venue monitors between concert acts. After the concert was over, that restaurant was packed with concert goers. You can do your part by promoting upcoming events of that venue at your restaurant.
- Enter Contests
One of the biggest ways to get some media attention and, therefore, to attract new business is by winning a contest. For example, enter your chef in a cooking contest. Read restaurant publications and browse the Internet to find out about any contests you may be able to enter. If all else fails, create your own contest and invite local restaurants to participate. Then, even if you lose, you'll still generate great publicity and get new patrons in your door.
- Sell Gift Certificates
Your loyal customers may want their friends and family members to give you a try. Provide them with your gift certificates, so they can buy these as presents for loved ones. A gift certificate allows the recipient to try your restaurant completely risk-free since they usually don't have to pay anything for the experience. Plus, each gift certificate serves as a referral to your establishment. Make sure your gift certificates come in flexible amounts so that buyers have the freedom to decide how much to spend.
- Give Samples Out At Busy Locations
Send your food on the road if you really want to lure in new customers. Go to locations that have a lot of human traffic, such as shopping centres, supermarkets, parks, etc, and offer samples of some of your most tasty food to everyone that passes by. When they stop to take a sample, give out a menu, business card, or a coupon so that they'll know exactly where they can go in order to taste more of your scrumptious food.
- Offer “Happy Hour” Specials
At the end of a hard day, many workers want to relax and unwind before heading home, so invite them to your restaurant for some “happy hour” specials. Drink specials and low-price finger food buffets are both good ideas. You could also have Frequent Diner cards for happy patrons so that after so many drinks they receive a free drink or a discount on their meal if they decide to stay for dinner. Inform all local businesses about your offer.
Habiba Abubakar, a.k.a. Restaurant Marketing Diva, is the author of 40 Proven Strategies For Attracting A Continuous Flow Of New Customers To Your Restaurant. Habiba helps restaurant owners and managers who are struggling to attract more customers and are finding it hard to build customer loyalty. Be sure to sign up for your FREE copy of her revealing report, FOUR Things You Can Do To Skyrocket Your Restaurant's Profits In 90 Days or Less. Just go to http://www.emprez.com.
|
|
Step 3: See How Other Entrepreneurs Succeed in the Food Business
|
Real Life Case Study #2 Willie C.
Willie started a "hobby" web site to celebrate his favorite southern "soul food" cooking ... but it quickly turned into successful online business that generates over $150,000 per year - almost entirely hands-free!
Willie's secret recipe draws in 15,000 unique visitors a day - many of whom do the bulk of his work FOR him. Click here >> Make Money with Your Food Knowledge Online
|
|