PRELIMINARY RESTAURANT START-UP COSTS
RESTAURANT CONSULTANTS OF AMERICA™
Preliminary Restaurant Start-Up Costs
Starting a restaurant is clearly going to cost you lots of time doing research and planning. You will need to present to investors what you are specifically proposing and how much starting your restaurant is going to cost. Planning takes an immense amount of time, but you can keep most of the preliminary planning costs to a minimum.
A computer, which you might already have, is the tool of the trade during the planning stages. (If you don’t have a computer, you can get one for a few hundred bucks or borrow one at the library for free.) Research data is easily accessible and mostly free. Business planning software and/or guidelines can cost you around $200 or can be accessed for free at the local library. Your office space can be your dining room table or even the food court in the mall. (Using the food court as an office is a great way to get you into the hustle and bustle of the restaurant business, not to mention the ideas it might spark during your concept design phases.)
As you can clearly see, the costs of initial planning are very small—unless you count the price of missing television.
Ask Questions
Being a restaurant owner takes an extreme amount of knowledge and interest in a wide variety of areas, so learn from the experts. Surround yourself with professional assistance every chance you get. Of course, you should take this advice with the understanding that defining who an expert is is difficult. An expert is very much in the eye of the beholder.
Engaging multiple experts with specific knowledge bases will enable you to get to the heart of many different areas quickly. Talk to bankers, lawyers, accountants, repairmen, trade partners, food and beverage distributors, chamber of commerce staff, local health officials, teachers, professors, and more. Don’t forget other entrepreneurs, especially restaurateurs. Talk to virtually anyone who has a level of expertise that may come in handy. Information can also be found through the National Restaurant Association. By gleaning information from all of these sources you can find out about trends in the industry, what is working well and what isn’t.
Distributor reps can be a great source of information such as trends, what’s working, etc.
The best part of all this expert advice is that it does not have to come at an hourly rate. If you’re great at networking and building lasting friendships, you can learn for free. The key, of course, is being prepared to pose the right questions to the right people.
Take stock of your motivation and pinpoint your focus. Make your questions specific and take notes. Then find the intestinal fortitude to pursue the answers. And consider this question: Are you asking the right questions or just getting the answers that you want to hear?
Tip Jar Here are a few of the right questions to ask an expert:
[1] What are the three most important keys to becoming a successful restaurant owner?
[2] What are some of the best educational resources for learning more about _________?
[3] Who is the best person you know at ________? Can you introduce me to him/her?
[4] How did you get started in your field?
[5] Would you mind if I called on you once in a while to ask for advice?
