Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Expand Your New Restaurant Concept

By Jose L Riesco

There is a great deal to determine when dreaming up a new restaurant concept, so much so that the casual observer could question the very idea. Some ambitious entrepreneurs consider a market to be saturated with cookie-cutter establishments that are all much of the same. To really make an impression in this crazy world and to stand out requires a different approach.

When you are planning your new restaurant concept, think of a number of fundamental areas. It's all very well wanting to be different, but you still have to select your style of cuisine, choose whether you want to be formal or casual, decide on a typical average check amount for your various revenues and determine whether entertainment is going to be a staple of your establishment alongside your food and drink creativity.

If you have investors involved in your project, get together with them and flesh out all their input and discussions, coming up with a consensus of opinion before you do anything else. At this stage you should also select expert input as you get second and third opinions as to whether your fundamental decisions are really correct. Go out into the market and visit successful locations and while you do not have to copy any ideas, inspiration can come from many different places.

Never try and contain creativity if you can, but nevertheless you need to add some realism. Look at your catchment area and in particular the demographic that they will be selling to. Will your brightest new restaurant concept really appeal to these people and their resources? Get as much information as you can from your own research and from government facts and figures as you determine whether your findings warrant any further action.

Get together with your head chef, assuming you have already head-hunted this person and determine the outline of your menu. You should go to comprehensive detail outlining the concepts you have selected and develop as many as you possibly can on the understanding that you will be selective and choose the best according to your final approach.

All businesses take external and internal resources to work and you need to ensure that you have these resources before your new restaurant concept will fly. Specialized staff may be somewhat difficult to come across and are they available in your locality or nearby? Raw materials may be difficult to come by and when the chips are down, you do not want to be running short of anything. The more exotic your selected food products, the more you will need to ensure availability.

Marketing considerations follow very closely behind your choice of new restaurant concept as you prepare the materials necessary for you to promote and publicize. Now is the time to do a dry run, using the materials and manuals you have created to make sure everything works.

There is no substitute for preparation and it will inevitably take all the guesswork out. With a brand-new concept you can leave no stone unturned, but if it all works you can be proud of the fact that you took such a comprehensive approach to the opening phase.

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