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Book Description

Around 90% of all new restaurants fail in the first year of operation. Many owners think they have the perfect idea, but they have terrible business plans, location, or other issues. Idiot's Guides: Starting and Running a Restaurant shows budding restauranteurs the basics of honing in on a concept to gathering start-up capital to building a solid business plan. You will also learn how to choose a great restaurant location, select an appealing design, compose a fantastic menu, and hire reliable managers and staff. In this book, you get:

+ Introduction to basic requirements of starting a restaurant such as time management, recognizing your competition, choosing your restaurant concept, and making it legal.
+ Information on building a solid business foundation such as a solid business plan, a perfect location, where to find investors, and securing loans.
+ Suggestions on how to compose the perfect menu, laying out the front and back of house and bar, and choosing the must-have necessities such as security alarms and fire prevention.
+ Techniques on how to hire and train your staff, purchasing or renting supplies, understanding costs and setting up your financial office, and using social media as a marketing tool.
+ Secrets for keeping your customers returning, running a safe restaurant, managing employees, and building your PR sales plan.
+ Pre-opening checklists to ensure everything is ready by opening day. Operational checklists and forms a successful restaurateur will need to manage their restaurant.

Table of Contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Introduction
  5. Part 1: An Introduction to the Restaurant Business
    1. 1 Why Open a Restaurant?
      1. Why Should You Start a Restaurant?
        1. Right Brain vs. Left Brain
        2. Personal Qualities
        3. Time Commitment
        4. Doing It for the Money
      2. Achieving Success
        1. You Can Do It!
    2. 2 Defining Your Market Relevancy
      1. Market Relevancy
        1. Competition
        2. Relevancy Is Local
        3. Learning from Mistakes
        4. Matching Genre to Market
        5. More Lessons
        6. Takeout
        7. Adapting to the Market
      2. Market Research
        1. Official Story
        2. Market Bandwidth
        3. Good Enough to Steal
    3. 3 Distilling Your Concept
      1. The Concept
      2. Creating Your Mission Statement
        1. Food
        2. Service Style
        3. Your Special Approach
        4. Your Customers
        5. Product Value
        6. Tonight, Let’s Have …
        7. Guest Experience
        8. Making Money
        9. Common Good
        10. Your Mission Statement, Draft 1
        11. Creating a Storyboard
        12. Your Name
        13. Great Names
        14. Signage
        15. Name Rights
        16. Concept Statement
    4. 4 Licenses and Legalities
      1. Know Your Local Liquor License Laws
        1. Fee-based and Commodity Licensing Model
        2. Classifications
      2. Streamlining the Permit Process
        1. Health Codes
        2. Historic Properties
        3. ADA Requirements
        4. Local Zoning, Building, Fire, and Health Departments
        5. Permit Expeditors
      3. Structuring Your Business Enterprise
        1. Federal Tax ID
      4. The Taxman Cometh
        1. Withholding
        2. Insurance
        3. Be Honest
  6. Part 2: Building Your Restaurant’s Foundation
    1. 5 Creating a Solid Business Plan
      1. Setting Your Capital Budget
      2. The Operating Budget: Your Moneymaking Plan
        1. Food and Liquor Profit Formula
        2. Testing Food Cost Profits
        3. Managing Labor Costs
        4. Overhead: The Unknown Enemy
      3. Putting Your Business Plan Together
        1. Cover Page
        2. Table of Contents (TOC)
        3. Executive Summary
        4. Business Concept
        5. Market Analysis
        6. Management Plan and Organizational Plan
        7. Marketing Plan
      4. Financials
        1. Start-Up Cost Projections
        2. Pro-forma Income Statement
        3. Timeline/Growth Plan
        4. Contact Page
    2. 6 Choosing a Location
      1. Find a Site Relevant to Your Market and Concept First
        1. Concept
        2. The Relationship between Concept, Location, and Rent
        3. Genre and Location
      2. How Important Is Parking?
      3. Valet Parking
      4. Can Your Concept Make Money in This Space?
        1. Breakeven
        2. The Waterfall Effect
    3. 7 Negotiating Your Lease
      1. Should You Lease or Buy?
      2. Working with Real Estate Brokers
      3. The Ins and Outs of Commercial Leases
        1. Terms to Know
        2. Negotiating Points
        3. Other Incentive
        4. Condition of the Space
        5. New Construction
        6. Existing Space
        7. Rent Abatement
    4. 8 Finding Your Cash
      1. Where Do You Find Your Cash?
        1. Private Equity Funding Formula
        2. Managing Investor Freebies
        3. Family Funds
        4. Responsible Selling
        5. Crowdfunding
        6. Leasing Equipment
      2. Financing Traps to Avoid
        1. Cash for Credit Card Receipts
        2. Personal Lines of Credit
      3. Built-in Credit
      4. Sales and Payroll Tax Trap
      5. Setting Up a Bank Account
  7. Part 3: Setting Up Your Restaurant
    1. 9 Composing Your Menu
      1. Your Menu’s Story
      2. Setting Your Working Menu
        1. Balance
        2. One, Two, Three
        3. Food Choices
        4. Beverages
      3. Refining Your Menu
        1. Yield Tests
        2. Refining Dishes for Plating
      4. Real-Time Testing
      5. Tasting with Stakeholders
      6. The Physical Menu
        1. Words
        2. Accuracy
        3. Ethnic and Foreign Words
        4. Language Style
        5. Menu Design
        6. Readability
        7. Nutrition Claims and Calorie Counts
    2. 10 Designing the Front of the House
      1. Bringing Your Restaurant Concept to Life
        1. Paint
        2. Private Dining Rooms
        3. Host/Hostess Stand
        4. Seating and Tables
        5. Communal Tables
        6. Sound Dampening
        7. Curtains
        8. Tabletop
        9. Flowers and Candles
        10. Plants
        11. Sculpture and Art
        12. Restrooms
        13. Outdoor Seating
        14. Lighting
        15. Server Stations
        16. Takeout
    3. 11 Setting Up Your Bar and Beverage Systems
      1. The Bar as Marketing Tool
        1. Bottle Placement
        2. Eat-In Bars
        3. Couture Cocktails
        4. Bar Seating
        5. Bar Tools
        6. Ice Cubes
      2. Your Coffee, Tea, and Soft Drinks Setup
        1. Coffee and Specialty Drinks
        2. Cold Beverages
    4. 12 Laying Out the Back of the House
      1. Working Space
        1. The Kitchen
        2. Cold Prep
        3. Pastry
        4. Prep
        5. Economies of Scale
        6. Storage Space
        7. Dishwashing
        8. Staff Area
        9. The Office
        10. Advisors
    5. 13 Restaurant Maintenance
      1. Cleaning
        1. Training Staff in Cleaning 101
        2. Using Your Waiters
        3. Votives and Vases
        4. Working Neat
        5. Checklists
        6. BOH Cleaning
        7. Exterminators
      2. Maintenance
        1. Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning
        2. Plumbers
        3. Handyman
        4. Knives
        5. Appliance Repair
        6. Do Not Attempt!
        7. Finding Good Tradespeople
        8. Grease Traps
        9. Fire Prevention
        10. Sidewalks/Entrances/Parking Lots
        11. Décor and Furnishings
  8. Part 4: An Owner’s Role in Management
    1. 14 Hiring Your Staff
      1. Looking for the Right Qualities
        1. Restaurant People
        2. The Chef
        3. Sous Chef and Line Cooks
        4. Expediting
      2. How to Find Your Staff
        1. Job Advertising
        2. Chef Tests
        3. Manager Tests
        4. Job Descriptions
    2. 15 Purchasing Supplies
      1. Finding Your Suppliers
      2. Specialty Products
      3. Beware the Salesman
        1. Liquor Discounts
        2. Budget
      4. Delivery
        1. Delivery Schedules
        2. Contracts and Negotiations
        3. Hidden Inventory Costs
        4. Stealing
    3. 16 Running Your Office
      1. Cash Control Systems
      2. How to Make the POS System Your Best Friend
        1. Adapting Your POS to Your Business
        2. Handling Voids
      3. Self Banking
        1. Keeping Your Bartender Honest
        2. Cameras Can Be a Theft Deterrent
      4. Financial Statements
      5. Calculating Percentage Change
      6. The Income Statement
        1. Balance Sheet
        2. Cash Flow Statement
        3. Paying Taxes
    4. 17 Understanding Costs
      1. Food and Beverage Costs
        1. Inventory Template
        2. Waste Not
        3. Food Costs to Sales Percentage
        4. Inventory
        5. Liquor Inventory
        6. Perpetual Bottle-for-Bottle Inventory
        7. Incoming: Watching Your Purchases
        8. Food and Beverage Sales Mix
        9. Operating Costs
      2. Paying Your Employees
    5. 18 Beginning Your Marketing Blitz
      1. The Opening Party
        1. Invitations
        2. Picking the Grand Opening Date
        3. What Time?
        4. Guest List
        5. Party Rules
        6. Preparing for the Opening
        7. Parting Gifts
        8. The “Dusty Shoe”
        9. The Soft Opening
        10. Service and Marketing
      2. Getting the Word Out
      3. Handling Reviews
      4. Understanding Online Reviews
        1. Managing Online Reviews
        2. Online Presence
  9. Part 5: Running Your Restaurant
    1. 19 Fostering a Culture of Hospitality
      1. Making New Friends
      2. The Basics of Hospitality
      3. Read Your Guests
      4. Contemporary Culture of Hospitality
        1. Hospitality Begins with the Host
        2. Teamwork and Hospitality
      5. Tailoring the Steps of Service
        1. Dealing with Difficulties
        2. Tracking Comps
      6. Points of Service
      7. Always Meet and Exceed Expectations
    2. 20 Running a Safe Restaurant
      1. Health and Safety Codes
        1. Training Staff in Health and Safety
        2. Personal Hygiene
        3. Hair
        4. Hand-Washing 101
        5. Employee Health
        6. Cross Contamination
        7. Preventing Foodborne Illness
        8. Vermin
        9. Safety Precautions
        10. Preventing Burns
        11. Worker Violence
        12. Heat Exhaustion
        13. Keeping It Clean
        14. Bar Safety
        15. Open Kitchens
    3. 21 Managing and Training Your Employees
      1. Training Staff
        1. Certification
        2. Trailing
        3. Wine Training
        4. Dining Room Demeanor
        5. Dress Rehearsal: The Friends & Family Meal
      2. Motivating Your Employees
        1. Drug Testing
        2. Terminating Employees
        3. Dealing with Turnover
        4. Creating a Family
    4. 22 Growing Your Business
      1. Growing Your Business
        1. Marketing Milestones
        2. Traditional Marketing
        3. Websites
        4. Facebook
        5. Blogger/Press Dinners
        6. Charity Events
        7. Wear Success Graciously
        8. Reservations
        9. Managing Waiting Guests
        10. Pre-Service Meeting
        11. Online Coupons
        12. Stay True
  10. Appendixes
    1. A Glossary
    2. B Resources
    3. C Preopening Checklists: The Critical Path
    4. D Operational Checklists and Forms
  11. About the Author
3.141.202.187