So, you want to know how to open a restaurant?  Good choice.  A thriving restaurant can be one of the most rewarding business ventures out there.  It can also be one of the most difficult businesses to get right.  Especially, if you don’t know where to start.  Lucky for you, we’ve helped start thousands of restaurants, and we’ve boiled down all this experience opening restaurants into 16 easy-to-follow-steps.  Let’s jump in!

 

Do Market Research & Choose Your Niche

First things first, you need to develop a vision for your restaurant.  Great businesses typically start with their customers in mind.  Who are the customers you plan on serving?  You may be tempted to say everybody.  But, in order to stand out among the intense competition, you need to get specific with who your restaurant is geared toward and what you’re going to offer them.  

An easy place to start is where you live.  Look around at the restaurants in your town.  Is there a need not being met? A restaurant concept that would excite the members of your community?  Is your area missing an authentic Mexican restaurant, a family-friendly gastropub, or a fast casual spot for bowls and salads?

If you already know exactly what type of restaurant you want to start, then you’ll need to find a location and demographic that will support your vision.  For example, a 3-star, fine dining restaurant may not fare well in a lower-income community of 500 people.  Or a brewpub may not fare well in many parts of Utah.

While demographics are an important part of market research, many aspiring restaurant owners fail to consider psychographics – which is the more powerful tool in defining your target market and building your restaurant’s brand.  Psychographics revolves around customer’s state of mind – their emotions, beliefs, motivations, ethics, and values.  You want to consider how your customers will want to be perceived by others when they visit your restaurant.  You can read more about psychographics here.

 

Make a Restaurant Business Plan

Now, that you’ve picked the niche for your restaurant, you’re on to what might be the most important step of all: making a restaurant business plan. 

So, why is a business plan so critical?  For one thing, anyone who may provide you with funding (investors, banks, etc.) will require a fully-fleshed out business plan as proof that your restaurant will be successful and provide a return.  More importantly, a business plan forces you to put down, organize and summarize all your thoughts surrounding your restaurant concept into one, cohesive document.  An effective and actionable business plan will help you answer several questions: who is your target market? Who are your potential competitors? Where will your restaurant be located? What is your unique value proposition?  What food will you serve to your customers? How will you market to your target market?  How will your restaurant make money?  How long will it take your restaurant to break even and make a profit?  What’s the endgame?

In the actual plan itself, these questions will be answered within the following sections:

• The Executive Summary
• Key Investment Considerations
• The Menu
• The Brand
• Design Approach
• Management & Organization Plan
• Marketing Strategy
• Capital Expenditures
• P&L Forecasts
• Risk Mitigation & Exit Plan

Create the Name and Brand of Your Restaurant

With the all-important business plan finished, many of the next steps are taken care within the plan itself or become much easier.  Here’s a fun step: coming up with the name and brand of your restaurant!

In our blog Restaurant Startups: Logo, Name, and Branding, we provide some great tips for creating the perfect name and brand for your restaurant.  To start the brainstorming, experiment with names that incorporate puns, your location, or the traditions your menu is inspired by.  Then, you want to make sure that whatever name you come up with has not been taken by another business first.  You can verify this by visiting your state’s Secretary of State website.  

Once you’ve selected the perfect name, file this “doing business as” (DBA) name with your state’s agency, so you’re not at risk of losing your name to another business.  You’ll also likely want to trademark your name with the US Patent and Trademark Office.  It’s important to also see if you can secure the website domain and social media handles for the name of your restaurant.

Along with your name, you want to create a strong brand.  Your restaurant brand communicates your mission and identity in a memorable way to potential customers.  From Synergy’s founder Dean Small, “a brand is a promise that you make to your internal customers (your team) and external customers, your paying guests.” 

Your unique brand identity should clearly express your ideas through your logo, color palette, font, and brand voice.  It’s crucial to make your brand consistent across all your points of contact with customers, like: 

• Restaurant décor, restaurant menu (and takeout menus)
• Website and social media pages
• Employee uniforms, if applicable (this depends on the type of restaurant you operate)
• Packaging (bags, napkins, cups, containers, etc.)
• Restaurant advertising
• Music played in your location
• Business cards

Develop Your Restaurant’s Menu

Next up in the plan to open your restaurant is another fun step: developing your concept menu. Your restaurant’s menu can be thought of as an extension of your brand.  As such, the menu serves as part of your marketing strategy to encourage new customers to try your restaurant.  

Although, it’s enticing to make a highly innovative menu with all your favorite food, you need to approach menu development strategically.  Your menu items will prescribe the type of kitchen equipment you’ll need and the experience required from your team.  For example, if you plan to open a pizza parlor, you’ll need proofers, mixers, brick oven pizzas (if part of your concept), and chefs who are experienced in handling pizza dough.

To really show potential business investors you have a rock-solid food plan, you’ll make a menu that’s optimized for labor efficiency and pricing.  You’ll want to consider the time required for each menu item, the food cost of each menu item, its price point, and its projected sales generation.  Even more bonus points if you optimize your menu plan for upselling!  Learn all about our proven strategies for menu upselling here.

 

Select the Legal Structure for Your Restaurant

We’ve touched on the legal requirements for selecting the name of your restaurant.  Now, we’ll turn to settling upon the legal structure for your new concept – another crucial step in starting a restaurant.  Do not breeze past this decision as your restaurant’s legal structure will determine how you file your taxes and your potential liability if someone were to file a claim against your business.  

To get an idea of the difference between possible structures for businesses, check out this article from the U.S. Small Business Administration.  The most common legal structures for small, independently owned restaurants are sole proprietorship, partnership, and limited liability company (LLC).  If you plan on opening a chain of restaurants across different states, you may want to consider filing as a C Corp or S Corp.  With a decision of such legal import, your best course is to consult a business attorney before you make this decision for your restaurant.

 

Get Funding for Your Business

Just starting out, most restaurant entrepreneurs do not have the capital required to successfully open their restaurant.  Thus, they must turn to outside funding.  If you’re in this crowd, there are many options available to you.  Although, as mentioned earlier, you must have a sound restaurant business plan along with in-depth financial analyses and forecasts.  You should focus on your break-even point, predictive cash flow, profit and pay-back estimates, and projected P&L for your restaurant’s first 5 years following its open.

Most small business owners fund their concept through a business loan.  Nowadays, there are several business loan types to choose from, including:

• A term loan: a commercial loan from a bank or alternative lender.  The repayment terms and interest rates of term loans depends on the needs of your restaurant, your credit score and other factors
• an SBA loan: In response to the hesitancy of commercial lenders to provide term loans to small businesses (especially new restaurant concepts), the Small Business Administration started guaranteeing as much as 80% of the loan principal for term loans through participating lenders.  This has proved particularly valuable to aspiring restaurant owners.  To match with a lender through an SBA loan, you’ll need a rock-solid business plan, financial projections, verified credit history, and collateral.  Begin this process as early as possible because it may take several months from start to finish.
• A short-term loan: these are similar to regular term loans except they typically cover up to $250,000 with a payback time anywhere between 3-18 months.  While unusual for restaurant startup funding, a short-term loan could prove useful when you need money quickly to cover expenses which you don’t have cash on hand for.
• A business line of credit: a highly flexible form of financing which operates like a personal credit card.  Once set up, a line of credit can be periodically drawn upon for business needs (like inventory or payroll) as long as you repay the funds over time.
• a grant: an oft-overlooked form of financing which provides the huge benefit of you not having to repay the money!  Though, grants do typically require more paperwork than business loans.  If you want a short-cut to finding restaurant specific grants and strategies for winning these grants, check out our blog Restaurant Grants in 2022: lifelines for your restaurant.

Regardless of where you get the funds to open your restaurant, you’ll need to make a comprehensive budget to compare against the money you have on hand.  The difference will make up the amount of outside funding you need.  Be careful in budgeting though!  According to Synergy founder Dean Small, “Most new restaurateurs look at construction and equipment costs for budgeting purposes; however, they don’t realize that there are numerous additional costs that need to be factored in, such as pre-opening expenses, inventory, freight and installation of equipment, deposits, china/glassware, food inventory, technology and dozens of other line-item costs.”  You can read more about Dean’s thoughts on common mistakes made by new restaurant business owners here.

 

Find the Best Location for Your Restaurant

Earlier we alluded to opening your restaurant based on your target market and brand.  Which geographical location has the right demographic and psychographic profile to sustain your restaurant.  You’ll also want to factor in whether the area’s population is growing or stagnant.

Savvy entrepreneurs will also survey the local restaurant competition.  In selecting the right neighborhood for your restaurant, you should look for the sweet spot – an area where restaurants are profitable but where there isn’t an over saturation of food and drink establishments.

In our blog about restaurant location, we discussed how tourism is major driver of new restaurant growth.  In small towns, restaurants near crossroads and highways draw customers on road trips, which plays into the two most critical success factors for a restaurant’s location: visibility and accessibility.

You want your restaurant to be easy for your customers to get to.  Plus, you want it to get a lot of foot and car traffic – enhancing the odds that a passerby will become a customer.  And you want to consider the amount of parking spaces available when selecting a location.

Should you own or lease your space?  In most cases, new restaurant owners lease simply because the majority of available commercial spaces operate that way.  While a short-term lease is more desirable for new startups, restaurant owners may want to consider a 3-5 year lease to get more favorable terms.  For more information on negotiation tips and the right questions to ask while searching for a lease, check out this article.

Finally, you want to choose a space that offers the right square footage and features for the design of your restaurant – which brings us to…

 

Design Your Space

The importance of this step cannot be overstated.  A poorly designed restaurant is destined for disaster.  Given the make-or-break impact of design, you’ll want to consider working with an restaurant design expert – whether that’s one of our world-class design professionals or another restaurant architect.  

To get an in-depth walk-through of an efficient restaurant design process, check out our interview with Bob Kuchinski of Coastline Design, Inc.  In his process, Bob converts the space into a “bubble diagram” which should flow back and forth between:

• Deliveries come in; they need to be stored somewhere
• Storage goes into prep
• Prep to cooking
• Cooking to serving/expos
• Then out to the customer 

The most basic division of a restaurant is the front of house (FOH) and back of house (BOH).  Factors to plan for in FOH design include: 

• Seating Capacity
• Furniture
• Ambiance and Décor
• Cleanliness Capacity 

Turning to the BOH and kitchen, Bob advises considering a number of questions in your design plan, including: 

• Does it flow properly?
• Is it easy to work in?
• Is it easy to clean and maintain?
• Is it a comfortable environment for the employees to work in?
• Is there a lot of wasted square footage? Or is it lean and mean? Sometimes the tighter a facility is, the less expensive it is to operate. Costs to operate a restaurant are so high now when examining cost per square foot. The bigger the space, the harder it is to clean, and the more expensive running air conditioning or heating.

Speaking of cost per square foot, about how much money does BOH construction cost?  According to Bob, BOH construction is currently around $250-300 per square foot.  Build-outs – like plumbing, electrical, HVAC, etc. – are about $200-300 per square foot.  Thus, it’s crucial to know the existing utilities and equipment of the space you plan on leasing.  If you’re starting completely from scratch, the cost of starting your restaurant could skyrocket.

 

Register Your Restaurant for Federal, State, and Local Taxes

On to everyone’s least favorite step, taxes.  To start, you need to register your restaurant with the IRS to receive your Employer Identification Number (EIN).  The EIN is required for your business to pay federal taxes.  You can apply for one here.

Additionally, most states require your business to pay income and employment taxes.  Many states also require you to carry Workers’ Compensation and unemployment insurance.  Here’s a tool from Nerdwallet that will help you determine if your restaurant will need Workers’ Comp and how to get it. 

The state requirements regarding tax registration and filing vary quite a bit, so we suggest you consult with an accountant to make sure your restaurant is on the up and up.

 

Acquire Restaurant Permits & Licenses

Did you think you were done with the paperwork.  Not quite yet! 

As a new business, you’ll need obtain the standard business licenses and permits to open your restaurant.  As a restaurant, you’ll likely need several more licenses and permits depending on your food, drink and entertainment offerings. These all fall into the buckets of logistics licenses, health and safety permits, and entertainment licenses.

To learn more about each type of permit and license, check out our blog on the subject.  In a nutshell, you may need:

• Certificate of Occupancy – verifies that your space is up to code
• Sign Permit – gives you the right to post signage to advertise your restaurant
• Resale Permit – allows you to by non-taxed wholesale food products
• Seller’s Permit – allows you to collect sales tax from your customers
• Food Service License, that confirms that your business follows all food safety regulations
• Building Health Permit, which ensures that your location is sanitary
• Food handling permits for all your employees, which confirms that your staff has proper training on food storage, handling, and more
• Dumpster Placement Permit, which allows you to place a dumpster outside your building for safe disposal of food waste
• Liquor License, so you can serve alcohol
• Music License, so you can play copyrighted music without issue
• Valet Parking Permit, so you can offer valet services
• Pool Table License, which confirms that your space can safely house a pool table
• Live Entertainment License

 

Bear in mind, this is not an exhaustive list.  Depending upon your state and restaurant, different licenses or permits may be required.  We encourage you to visit the FDA’s Retail and Good Service Regulations by State site to learn more.

In a similar vein, you may want to look into certain types of insurance for your restaurant – such as: 

• Property insurance
• General insurance
• Liquor liability
• Auto liability
• Life insurance
• Fire insurance
• Loss of business
• Food contamination

Purchase the Right Equipment for Your Restaurant

We’ve seen that the equipment your restaurant will need is primarily dictated by your food and drink menu.  There are some common equipment denominators for all restaurants like cooking equipment (oven, grill, range, etc.) and refrigeration units.  Other equipment will be specific to the type of food you plan on serving at your restaurant.  For instance, if you run an upscale Italian restaurant, you’ll need pasta cookers and pizza deck ovens.  Or if you have an in-house brewery, you’ll need a malt mill, filtration system, beer ferment and several other pieces of equipment

Your space will also affect the amount and type of equipment you buy.  If you’re short on space in the kitchen, you may look for double stack units.  Also, the decor of your dining room will set parameters for the type of furniture and fixtures you buy. 

When buying equipment, you may want to look for gently used equipment (especially kitchen equipment) as that can save you a lot of money.  Where can you find restaurant equipment?  Luckily, the options for buying and selling equipment have rapidly increased with the internet.  You can go the traditional route with a local/regional equipment dealer, resale store, or auction.  Or you can shop online for new and used restaurant equipment in many places –  online resale marketplaces, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, eBay, etc.

 

Connect with Suppliers

Here again, your menu will directly decide the food supplies you need and indirectly determine your restaurant’s vendors.  Most restaurants buy their food from suppliers – both large operators (like Sysco and US Food Service) and local purveyors.  Restaurants typically get fresh produce from smaller, local suppliers and everything else from large operators.  To find a local supplier, you can ask restaurants in their area who they work with or search through the USDA’s Local Food Directories.

In order to purchase from suppliers, you must open an account with them.  If you’re just starting out in the restaurant business and have a limited credit history, your vendors may require to pay immediately upon delivery.  Once you gain more experience and build up a relationship with your vendors, you’ll be able to extend your term of payment up to 30 days.  

In selecting the right suppliers for your restaurant, you should create a list of prospective vendors and then arrange to meet with their sales representatives.  In these meetings, you should ask about their catalog of food items, delivery schedule, their credit terms, and references from other restaurants.  After those meetings, you can compare the different vendors based on these criteria and select the ones that are the best fit for your restaurant.  If you’d like top-of-the-line tools for purchasing and receiving product, check out our exclusive tools below.

In special cases, your restaurant may not have to deal with suppliers at all.  You do have the option of going straight to the farms to procure your food.  This is especially true if you open a farm-to-table restaurant or a restaurant whose brand revolves around fresh, local ingredients.  If this is your vision for your restaurant, you’ll be happy to know that consumers have shown a willingness to pay more for local products.

 

Establish Systems & SOPS

Here, we’re referring to both technological and organizational systems.  In terms of technological, you’ll certainly want to invest in a POS system. A restaurant POS system combines hardware (tablets, credit card readers, printers, cash drawers, bar code scanners, handheld ordering devices, etc.) and software to take care of a variety of functions including: 

• payment processing
• FOH management
• order processing
• sales reporting
• tip reconciliation
• loyalty programs
• self-service ordering

Some of the more popular POS systems out there include: Square, Clover, Lightspeed, Toast, and TouchBistro.

Moving on to organizational systems – this is where many new restaurant owners miss out on a golden opportunity.  Restaurants that fail to implement systems make up the vast majority of those that fail within the first 5 years.  Great systems are the engine of every great business.  Restaurants are no different.  The reason why the McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts of the world are so profitable and widespread is the systems they implement in each and every restaurant.

If your mission and values are the what of your restaurant, your systems are the how.  Systems manage your day-to-day operations and communicate to your team what’s expected of them in every activity they undertake.  A major component of systems is standard operating procedures (SOPs).

For a detailed overview of SOPs, check out our blog on the topic.  In essence, SOPs answer to the question, “How do we do things at this restaurant?”  They communicate your BOH and customer service standards.  SOPs save managers and team members by saving staff from making small mistakes, which typically eat up the time of managers and operators in restaurants lacking SOPs.  They also help prevent poor reviews and lawsuits stemming from food poisoning and poor customer service. You’ll want to codify your SOPs in an employee handbook and staff training program.

If you’d like a plug-and-play solution for your restaurant’s systems, SOPs, and management training – you won’t find a better value in the industry than Synergy U.

 

Hire the Right People

While we’re on the theme of teams, some of the most important early decisions you’ll make as you open your restaurant will be who you hire.  Especially, your managers.  In building your team, you have the opportunity to start a great culture from the ground up.   

 

To get a strong sense of the restaurant hiring process, check out our blog 6 Restaurant Hiring Tips.  In short, these 6 tips are: 

1. Figure Out What You Need
2. Write a Good Job Description
3. What Benefits Make You Stand Apart?
4. Consider Your Website
5. Opportunities to Advance and Referral Programs
6. Treat Your Staff Like Family

The positions you’ll hire for depend on the requirements of your restaurant, but broadly speaking you’ll need a management team, BOH staff, FOH staff, and Bar staff.  The management team may consist of a general manager, kitchen manager and FOH manager.  BOH staff could include head chef, sous chefs, prep and line cooks, and dishwashers.  FOH staff could include servers, hosts, bussers, and food runners.  The bar staff may include bartenders, barbacks and cocktail servers.

While you should search for people who have the right attitude and values that harmonize with your brand, you also need to take the job candidates point-of-view and ask yourself “Why would I want to work here?”  In addition to your culture, what makes your restaurant stand out?  In this vein, you may want to consider offering:

• Competitive wages
• Health insurance
• Retirement plans
• Pet insurance
• Paid vacation/Paid time off
• Entertainment perks (concerts, travel, etc.)
• Opportunities to learn and advance careers

As turnover is such a massive problem in the restaurant industry, you’ll want to make your hiring process as streamlined and regenerative as possible.  That means maintaining your website, regularly updating your career board, and having a referral program for current team members.  Culture, regular advancement, and great training go a long way in reducing turnover.  When it comes down to it, you want to hire people that you enjoy being around – curious, thoughtful, enthusiastic, hardworking, and a passion for hospitality.  You can always train them in the skills they’ll need on the job.

Here are some sites where you can search for prospective members of your restaurant’s team:

• HigherMe
• Poached
• GoodFoodJobs
• Culinary Agents

On a final side note, you may want to consider hiring an accountant, marketing strategist, and PR specialist depending on the size of your operation.

 

Market Your Restaurant

All the pieces are in place!  Now it’s time to tell the world about your fabulous new restaurant!

First off, you’ll certainly want to establish your brand on social media and other digital media.  For social media, experiment with the different platforms – Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube.  As your restaurant gets its legs underneath it, you may find that your tribe is super engaged on a few of the platforms and not the others.  That’s A-OK and usually the case, in fact.  You’ll want to spend your time on those platforms where your potential customers are most engaged.  Here are a few other social media marketing tips from our blog on the subject: 

• Use vibrant visual content – consider hiring a professional photographer to take photos and videos of your dishes and signature beverages.  Also, snap pictures of team members behind-the-scenes.
• Update and complete all profiles – make sure your business hours, website, email, phone number are provided along with an engaging bio on all social profiles
• Maximize user-generated content – encourage your guests to tag your restaurant and use a specific hashtag in any posts they make regarding your restaurant.  You should also share and repost any posts or stories (Instagram) that customers make highlighting your restaurant, and you’ll want to tag them in your reposts as well.
• Develop custom targeted audiences – this is specific to Facebook. to choose the audience you want to reach based on demographics, location, interest, and behavior. You can use Facebook Ads Manager to choose the audience you want to reach based on demographics, location, interest, and behavior.
• Engage Followers – Along with sharing user-generated content, design your posts for engagement.  Ask questions of your follow.  Share surveys.  Set up contests.  

In addition to social media, you want to make sure your digital presence is optimized on your website, Google, Yelp, and Trip Advisor.  Having a easy-to-navigate and beautiful website is a must.  Make sure it features your brand aesthetic and has professional photos of your food and beverages.  Also, display your menu on your website.  You may want to register you restaurant on OpenTable or Resy to make it easy for customers to reserve tables online.

To round out your digital marketing efforts, focus on building a list for email.  While it may require time and money upfront, email marketing is well worth the effort.  On average, businesses get a $38 return for every $1 they spend on email marketing.  A working tandem of email, loyalty program and apps can work wonders for generating revenue.

With all this focus on digital marketing, don’t skirt on good old-fashioned community building.  Take to the streets and connect with local businesses and organizations.  Spread the word by introducing yourself to your neighbors and inviting them to your restaurant’s grand opening.

Try a Soft Open

When you first open a restaurant, you have the unique opportunity to experiment with a soft open. A soft open is a trial run of your restaurant operations, which takes place in the weeks before your grand opening.  The primary benefit of a soft open is that it generates buzz and word-of-mouth for your restaurant in the local community and online.  It also gives you the opportunity to test out which aspects of your operations are working and which ones need refinement.  There are a variety of different soft opens, including:

• A trial or sample menu – offering a just a taste of your full menu to your guests
• A sneak peek – opening the restaurant for a happy hour event with a limited selection of signature dishes and drinks
• friends & family and/or neighbor night

Launch!

Now that you’ve marketed the grand opening of your restaurant, it’s finally time to launch your concept into the wild!  First impressions are everything so you want your restaurant to come out with a bang.  Some good grand opening ideas are: 

• Hosting it on a weekend and throwing a big party – you can have live music, a photo booth, decorations galore – let your imagination run wild
• Partnering with a charity – garner goodwill among your community and support a cause close to your heart
• Invite Influencers – let’s face it: we’re in the age of Influencers.  Offering influencers complimentary meals can be a major boost to your marketing considering the size and influence of their followings.

 

Congratulations! Now that you’re officially open, the real fun begins.   Aim for constant improvement in every facet of your restaurant.  Build it into your identity and systems.  And you’ll be sure to succeed.  If you need any help along the way, hop on a complimentary call with us and we’ll help set you up for success.

 

FAQ’s

How much money does it cost to open a restaurant?

According to a survey conducted by Restaurantowner.com, a small restaurant can cost around $175,500 in total startup costs. A medium sized restaurant costs up to $375,500. A large restaurant costs up to $750,500.  Although, the true costs can vary widely depending on the current cost of building materials and equipment, as well as the size and level of customization of the restaurant.

How much money can I make starting a restaurant?

Again, this depends on a variety of factors and can range widely.  Based on Toast’s synthesis of a few data sources, a restaurant owner’s salary can range from $24,000-$155,000 a year.  Keep in mind, if you expand your concept to multiple locations or franchises, you can earn significantly more than that.

How much time will it take to open my restaurant?

Unfortunately, there is no straightforward answer to this.  Depending upon your experience and decisiveness and a whole host of other variables, a restaurant can take anywhere from a few months to a few years to open.  In our Countdown to Opening Checklist, the first actions items (identifying point personnel team and selecting a site) are set for 250 days prior to the grand opening.  You can download this checklist below.

According to Ohio State University, 60% of new restaurants close within their first year, and nearly 80% close their doors before they reach five years of age. The restaurant industry is hard to enter, and many people jump in before they’re ready.

A few key reasons why most new restaurants fail: lousy location, poor management, inexperience, financial troubles, and even distasteful food.

Location, Location, Location

CNBC says restaurants fail because they choose the wrong location. A physical business does well if there’s a demand for its product in its area.

Restaurants do best in areas with consistent foot traffic, but those areas are also the most expensive to rent. If the locals don’t love your food, you likely won’t make enough money to cover your rent. Sometimes, it’s better to choose an area that’s not quite as ideal but still busy enough to bring in new customers.

Picking a location that offers lower rent does not mean your business will be successful. If you find yourself with no customers, you’ll still be unable to cover your costs.

Inexperience

Chef Robert Irvine of the Show “Restaurant Impossible” says many new restaurants fail because people open their businesses with good intentions but lack experience. New owners underestimate a restaurant’s demands; once they open, it’s too late.

Poor Leadership & Toxic Culture

Lack of experience can pour into leadership skills as well. Chef Robert Irvine says that the best restaurant leaders tend to be those who have started at the bottom of the restaurant industry and worked their way up.

Owners who lack restaurant experience try to manage a diverse team of employees with drastically varied skill sets, which often doesn’t work. Leaders who have worked in restaurant positions are more understanding and better equipped to manage their teams.

Poor Food

A restaurant is a business built on serving people food, so it makes sense that customers expect to receive great-tasting food. But Chef Irvine says that many new restaurants serve sub-par food and never even realize it.

“It’s not from lack of personal taste or quality. More often, it’s because of a breakdown in the chain of command and quality control.”

As good preparation becomes more routine, employees begin to skip steps and leave out ingredients essential to the quality of the food.

Poor Customer Service

Social media is everything nowadays, and one bad or good review can make or break a new business. Before the internet, restaurants had time to identify mistakes and correct them, says CNBC. Today, customers expect everything to be perfect instantaneously, or you’re likely to receive a bad review that drives away other potential customers.

 

Poor Financial Planning

Running a business takes more than just good food; you need to know how to manage your money.

Chef Robert Irvine says he commonly sees new restaurant owners who need more basic accounting skills and don’t know how to track their spending or profits.

Since it takes money to keep a business open, this is a significant downfall for new restaurants.

Click here to read about smart financial budgeting from Synergy’s Managing Partner, Danny Bendas.

COVID & Inflation Are Making Things Worse for Restaurants

It’s no secret that the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic made matters worse for restaurants, particularly those newly established. Some restaurants that closed during the pandemic may have survived had it not been for the pandemic.

For about two years, businesses were not allowed to serve dine-in food or were only allowed to operate at partial capacity. For restaurants that rely on dine-in service, these restrictions were devastating.

Today, restaurants across the United States are allowed to operate at total capacity again, but now they’re facing other problems related to the pandemic.

Food shortages make it difficult to get ingredients, and the prices of those ingredients have skyrocketed. Labor shortages and employee demands for higher wages are also tricky for new businesses.

Learning from Restaurant Failure

Most new restaurants fail because of inexperience and lack of strong leadership. New owners choose a less than optimum location, don’t know how to lead their team correctly, aren’t sure how to manage their finances, or are serving sub-par food.

It’s harder than ever to succeed in the restaurant industry, but these causes of restaurant failures are common across the United States. Hopefully, new owners can look at these challenges and plan ways to avoid them. Luckily, there are ways to prevent such pitfalls!

We highly recommend you have your restaurant business plan evaluated by industry professionals such as Synergy Consultants. An Operations Assessment is key to ensuring your restaurant concept is viable for long-term success!

Starting a restaurant from scratch is a dream for many, but few have the means to accomplish it. If you are lucky enough to turn a dream into a reality, there may be a few things you haven’t considered. All well-conceptualized restaurant ideas include a name, a logo, and an overall vibe for the brand. But how do you know your idea hasn’t already been taken? How do you ensure you comply with trademark and copyright laws?

Here are a few initial points to consider as you dream up your restaurant-to-be.

 

Naming Your Restaurant and Protecting Your Name

Coming up with a name for your restaurant is an exciting first step for restaurant owners. Maybe you’ve had it in your mind for years, or perhaps you are still trying to find that perfect name. Either way, you need to ensure the restaurant’s name is available and not already taken. You can usually look it up on your state’s Secretary of State website. Other ideas include creating a hard-to-forget name with a pun incorporated, using the names of family members whose culinary traditions you want to pay homage to, or incorporating some local flavor into your brand name.

Once you have the perfect name, register it as a trademark with the US Trade and Patent Office. Cross-check it to ensure it’s available as a website name and handle on social media platforms. If it isn’t, consider adding the state’s initials at the end. For example, if you run a cafe called Smith Family Cafe in New York, but that name has already in use on Instagram, consider taking the handle @smithfamilycafeNY.

 

 

Avoiding Trademark Infringement

Trademark infringement is a big deal–not only can it cause you to lose customers, but it can also cost you millions in a lawsuit. A Minnesota Taco joint made headlines earlier this year when it was sued for copyright infringement. Taco John’s of Wyoming accused Taco Chon’s of Minnesota of naming themselves a similar name to create confusion between the two brands. Both are fast-casual Mexican restaurants. Taco John’s seeks financial compensation for lost profits and a permanent stop to the similar-sounding name.

Although it’s possible to have civil suits regarding trademark infringement in a state court, they are typically brought to federal court. In trademark infringement trials, the court will hear evidence about the similarities between the two brands, determining if they are close enough to create confusion and have customers mistakenly assume there is an affiliation. If it’s ruled an infringement, the offending restaurant will have to change its name/logo, give financial compensation for potential money lost, and pay attorney fees. Therefore, you should avoid the possibility of an infringement suit, so you don’t lose time, money, and effort down the line.

 

Designing a Restaurant Logo

A study out of Harvard examined 597 brand logos and found that 40 percent of logos were descriptive while 60 percent of logos were nondescriptive. A descriptive logo incorporates design elements that show the customer what the business specializes in (think: a burger restaurant that has a burger in its logo.) In the studies conducted, consumers were more likely to find a descriptive logo more “authentic,” making them more likely to buy from the brand.

Consider a logo that incorporates design elements indicative of what you do. If art is not your strong suit, see if you can work with a graphic design team to develop the logo. Your logo will create a lasting impression on your customers, so it’s an important piece to get it right the first time.

 

How to Trademark/Copywrite Your Logo

Once you have a logo, it’s essential to protect your intellectual property. A trademark protects your logo and your slogan in most cases. However, if your logo is very intricate, it may be considered a creative intellectual design, which would warrant copyrighting in addition to a trademark.

You can begin a trademark application at the USPTO website. Costs range from $250 to $350. If you need to file for a copyright, you can do so at the US Copyright website, starting at $45.

Opening a restaurant can be a roller coaster of emotions, but developing your brand doesn’t have to be. By following the above steps, you can ensure that your business will be one-of-a-kind and on a path to success.

It’s no secret that starting a restaurant is no simple feat. There are over 1 million restaurants in the U.S., with more opening each year. All that competition can make it tough to stand out in the industry!

So, what helps a business stand out from the crowd? A great dining experience, memorable marketing, and owners who get all the proper permits and licenses to keep the doors open.

Here are the permits and licenses you need to secure before opening your restaurant.

Logistic Licenses

Any time you want to establish a business (restaurant or otherwise), the first thing you should do is get a business license. In the U.S., all business owners need a license and employer identification number (EIN) to designate their business as a legal entity with the government.

In addition to your business license and EIN, you’ll also need the following:

• Certificate of Occupancy – verifies that your space is up to code
• Sign Permit – gives you the right to post signage to advertise your restaurant
• Resale Permit – allows you to by non-taxed wholesale food products
• Seller’s Permit – allows you to collect sales tax from your customers

Health and Safety Permits

Safety is of the utmost importance in the restaurant industry. Customers expect a clean and safe dining experience, and research shows that they remember when a restaurant fails to meet expectations. One survey even found that 75% of customers will avoid a restaurant if they know it’s had even one safety violation!

With that in mind, it’s critical to get the following licenses:

• Food Service License, that confirms that your business follows all food safety regulations
• Building Health Permit, which ensures that your location is sanitary
• Food handling permits for all your employees, which confirms that your staff has proper training on food storage, handling, and more
• Dumpster Placement Permit, which allows you to place a dumpster outside your building for safe disposal of food waste

Entertainment Licenses

To create a complete dining experience, your restaurant will need some additional entertainment. However, many entertainment options also require special licenses!

Depending on how you plan to entertain your diners, you might need one of the following:

• Liquor License, so you can serve alcohol
• Music License, so you can play copyrighted music without issue
• Valet Parking Permit, so you can offer valet services
• Pool Table License, which confirms that your space can safely house a pool table
• Live Entertainment License, which allows you to host live bands, cabarets, exhibitions, or other public performances

 

Getting the proper permits to run your restaurant may seem daunting. But if you take the time to secure the correct licenses, you can open your restaurant on a firm foundation that will help you achieve success.

For any questions or challenges about starting your restaurant on the right foot, please reach out to Synergy for more insights

Are you starting a new restaurant business or rebranding an old one? You’re going to need a business plan to make this dream a reality. A business plan is a detailed document that shows the potential for the success of your new restaurant in every way. Be sure to include these essentials below.

Overview of Restaurant Concept

Think of this as the main idea of your restaurant. What will your restaurant be known for? Consider the type of cuisine, how it will be served, and how casual you plan to keep things. It’s essential to have a clear vision of your concept before articulating it to others.

A Logo

Harvard Business Review recently published their findings on descriptive versus non-descriptive logos. Many brands are opting for less descriptive logos these days, incorporating simple shapes like a square or a circle. While these logos are visually pleasing, a new restaurant should still make sure its concept is clear. HBR’s advice to a business developing a logo and brand? Either the logo or the name of your business should hint at the type of service you offer. For example, if you are creating a seafood-forward restaurant, you should either have a fish in the logo or a brand name that makes it clear you are serving delicacies of the sea.

Sample Menu

The sample menu is arguably the most important element of your business plan because it allows your knowledge of food to take center stage. Don’t get too caught up in menu design. Studies find that restaurant-goers read a menu like a book, and the mythical “sweet spot” of a menu to put your star item does not truly exist. (However, a “sour spot” does: the restaurant’s “about” section and the salad list.)

 

Instead, focus on picking food that shows a true snapshot of your team’s culinary abilities. Put effort, care, and literary talent into naming your menu items and explaining them. Researchers found that a few evocative, descriptive menu descriptions (for example, “just like grandma used to make”) can help boost sales of these items.

 

Restaurant Design

Your restaurant’s architectural design is a huge part of your business plan, and COVID-19 has changed many restaurant-goers’ and owners’ perceptions of what matters most. If possible, plan for a dining area that makes the most of outdoor space, and create easy accessibility between indoors and outdoors.

 

Restaurant Recruitment and Training Plans

It’s time to start thinking about building your team. Your business plan should include how you intend to recruit every level of employee, from dishwashers to servers to managers. Furthermore, it’s a good time to start thinking about how you will train your restaurant employees at every level as well. Consider an online training plan to formalize and streamline this process.

 

Location and Target Audience

That motto from the real estate world directly applies to the restaurant world as well: location, location, location! Your restaurant’s location can make or break it, and once you’ve established its location, you’ll be able to think further about who your audience is. How is your ideal customer reaching you? Are they walking, biking, or driving? Are they likely in the area visiting another nearby business? What is the median income in a 1, 5, and 10-mile radius? What bus or train stops are nearby, and are they within walking distance? These are all important points to include in your business plan.

 

Marketing Plan

Once you have your target demographic, your business plan will need to include information on how to get the word out. Local mailers, roadside signs, and soft openings are always to draw in new customers. If your city or town has a local business bureau or economic development committee, reach out and see what kind of marketing tools they offer. Social media marketing can also be a crucial way to engage with future customers.

 

Financial Plan

This part is crucial to your business plan because it will show how you expect to turn a profit and eventually grow. Business News Daily emphasizes the importance of seeking outside help from accountants and other financial experts. It is important to consider the economy at large at the time and make projections based on these. This part of your business plan will be time-consuming to create and should include spreadsheets and follow accounting principles to garner the best chance of getting you a line of credit.

 

Creating a business plan may seem like a daunting task. However, it can be one concrete step in the direction of building your dream. Synergy Restaurant Consultants has been helping people create their dream restaurants for over 30 years. Let seasoned industry experts guide you in the right direction so you can build a successful restaurant.

Revitalizing a Neighborhood Icon

Kristn Romeril and Mahyar Khosravi were inspired to purchase The Bear’s Den, a unique restaurant with a distinctive design in their community just north of Calgary. Open for nearly 14 years, the restaurant featured cherry paneling with custom artwork depicting local wildlife and was a fixture for special occasions and events. The couple believed there was an opportunity to create a successful new restaurant at the site that was both tied to and built for the local community.

They knew they would have to radically change the concept and experience to get their neighbors to become loyal customers. Romeril and Khosravi were looking for someone to take a more practical approach to developing their restaurant concept and they engaged Synergy based on their ability to create a roadmap for development.

After reviewing the plans and walking the property, Synergy helped the client team reorganize the space to incorporate an open kitchen and dining bar and relocated the bar to an underutilized area of the property to create a warm and inviting lounge area at the entrance.

The founders were led through a rigorous development process to define high level details of their concept that included a review of the competitive landscape and a discovery tour in Southern California. The target market needs, wants, and expectations were clearly defined. An exploration of core values brought service and hospitality to the forefront. Romeril and Khosravi knew crisp service and thoughtful programming would be critical to the success of their new brand, so it was woven into every aspect of the concept.

The renamed Flores & Pine restaurant underwent an extensive renovation, adding a patio and reworking the interior spaces to create a more open and airier feel. After working with Synergy to design a powerhouse kitchen, the culinary team helped prepare for launch by refining the chef’s recipes and kitchen production systems.

Open since summer 2019, the founders are surprised by how quickly the restaurant has become the neighborhood hangout. The brand tag line is “Linger Longer” and they find that to be the case, with guests coming for dinner, moving to a fire pit on the patio for after dinner drinks and dessert, or to the lounge to continue chatting with friends.

While the restaurant was predicted to see a slow launch, covers far exceeded estimates and staff had to learn in a “trial by fire” atmosphere. What Romeril and Khosravi discovered is that, with Synergy, they had developed the concept so well and identified the needs of their target audience so completely that their most frequent users were coming four to five times per week. A robust private events program brought additional guests to the property, their popularity prompting some decisions on the fly and the owners hired additional managers to prevent their staff from burning out. Investment in initiatives like takeout and delivery had to wait until issues related to high volume, such as additional parking and monthly septic pumping were addressed. “The response was beyond our expectations,” says Romeril. “We really wanted to create a place where people could come and stay awhile, the record is about 7.5 hours for one visit.”

Overall, the concept has been extremely successful, and the leadership team has done an excellent job of course correcting to meet their financial goals. Menu engineering increased the check average to CAD 60 and the team refined their inventory processes to bring food costs in line. Revenues are far exceeding expectations and the group expects to be profitable within 9 months of opening.

The future for Flores & Pine holds expansion to a new site for events as well as a refinement on their brunch approach to reduce food waste and labor requirements. Their elevated but approachable atmosphere and excellent menu has garnered rave reviews and recognition from the press for their exceptional food and fantastic experience.

When living your restaurant dream, it’s time to separate passion from good practice

You slide into the last open bar seat at your favorite local bistro after another grueling day behind your corporate desk. After the bartender slides you a 9-ounce pour of inky Cabernet, you drink in the scene with your first few sips. The place is packed, even on this Tuesday night. Servers gracefully weave through clusters of bar patrons with trays laden with craft cocktails destined for diners’ tables. The dining room is as crowded as the bar, with more eager customers waiting in the lobby. But the busiest spot in the whole place? The register where the servers ring up checks. All. Night. Long.

The music, the vibe, the energy, the money in the place is as intoxicating as that Cabernet in your hand.

“I can do this. I want to do this. I want to open my own restaurant. How hard could it be?”

Anyone can open a restaurant. Rent a space, get some equipment, hire some cooks, and post a neon “open” sign you picked up from Costco in the window. Done. But to succeed in the restaurant business — to stand out in a teeming crowd of competitors, to be known for something unique in the marketplace, and to make money — you need more than passion and some second-hand equipment.

If you’re determined to turn your passion into profits by starting your first restaurant, avoid these all-too common pitfalls:

• You Are Not Your Customer

Place your hand on a stack of leather-bound cocktail menus and repeat after me — “I am not my customer. I am NOT my customer!” Yes, this is your restaurant, your idea, your passion. But if you shape your vision into a concept that appeals to an audience of one, you won’t be in business long. Before you pick out colors or get a logo designed, decide who you’re building your concept for and study them. Are they adventurous foodies? Moms who need a quick and healthy meal solution for their family? Women who want a cozy place with a great cocktail menu so they can hang with friends after work? What is the reason they want to come to your restaurant, and how do you want them to feel? You must answer these questions fully to have a complete and targeted concept. This is the first step in separating your passion from the business which is critical to success.

• Don’t Start Shopping for Real Estate

Once you’ve been swallowed up by the idea of opening your restaurant, your first urge is to run out and start looking for a location. Gotta make this thing real right away! Pump the brakes. There are plenty of landlords and brokers out there who are eager to have you take over their vacancy and sign their lease. Know this — it’s infinitely easier to develop a restaurant and find the right location for it than it is to find a location and shoehorn your concept into it. You wouldn’t go car shopping by hitting every dealership in town and buy the fanciest, shiniest vehicle that someone puts you in, would you? (If you would, I want to go car shopping with you). No, you’d decide on details like gas mileage, number of seats, all-wheel drive, and of course, price. Hold off on looking at real estate until you know what you need and what you can spend.

• Get Your Funding in Order

Creating a new restaurant concept from scratch and opening that first location costs money. Besides developing the concept, menu, and identity, there’s equipment, construction, interior finishes, signage, licenses, permits; you get the idea. Depending on your concept and where you set up shop, you can expect to secure funds in the mid to high six figures. Think about it — you’re building a retail and manufacturing business rolled into one. Lack of adequate start-up funding will kneecap an otherwise strong restaurant idea. Money can come from banks, family, crowdfunding, even your own pocket. Just make sure you have enough stockpiled in advance.

• Hone in On Your Concept

Now we get to the fun stuff — creating your brand and menu concept! At this stage, passion takes over, and many people start piling on the menu ideas. I love pasta, so let’s make it fresh! My husband loves mushrooms, so let’s put them on everything! I hate seafood, so I don’t want any shellfish on the menu! When you start designing a menu, let the ideas flow but don’t fall prey to the “gotta have” disease. Some of the most successful restaurant chains — think In-and-Out or Chik-Fil-A — have less than a dozen items on the menu. Why? They focus on making a few amazingly good menu items exceptional instead of a bunch of mediocre ones. Keeping your concept and your menu focused means your restaurant will cost less to open and will require less labor to operate.

• Know Your Lane

When it comes to starting a restaurant, most entrepreneurs dream of owning that elegant bistro down the street that they can waltz into any night, command the best table, and impress their friends. A grand vision indeed, if you have the funds to hire an expert (read: expensive) managers, chefs (see #6), servers, and cooks to run the place. More often than not, the new restauranteur will need to play a role in day-to-day operations to control labor costs. As you’re putting that focused concept together, think carefully about the work you’ll do. General manager?  Kitchen manager? Front-of-house operations? Bookkeeper? Pick a role for yourself, write a thorough job description for that role, and educate yourself to be successful. Don’t try to do everything —that’s a sure-fire recipe for burnout. But do have a role in the operation. If you leave everything up to your employees, you might create a runaway train that will be difficult (and expensive) to stop.

• Don’t Hire a Chef

Hold on, aren’t we selling food here? Don’t we need a chef to make the food? Not necessarily. Of course, thousands of restaurants are successfully owned and operated by remarkably talented chefs. But when you’re looking for someone to run your restaurant kitchen, a chef may not be the right solution. A “capital C” chef expects to be making their food, their way. They demand full creative control of the menu and assume that they will operate the kitchen the way they see fit. And since they’re the person in charge of back of the house, they’ll likely want to be hands-off and hire a bunch of line cooks they’ve worked with to work the heavy shift. All that’s fine if their culinary vision matches your concept but highly unlikely. After taking the time (and money) to develop your brand and menu, you want a kitchen manager instead — someone who will follow your direction and make the restaurant operate to your standards and expectations.

Now that you know what not to do, you have a better idea of how to move forward and make your dream a reality. Synergy has helped numerous ‘wantrepreneurs’ open the door to their dream restaurant. When you’re ready, let’s get started.

Planning for a successful first quarter and new year doesn’t start on January 1st. And if your doors aren’t even open yet and your restaurant is just a concept on paper, then you know that successful planning may take months or even years. Recently, Synergy’s co-founder Dean Small, was invited to speak on the CareerDay Blueprint podcast on how to create a successful restaurant. He shares his insights from his thirty plus year career as a restaurant consultant, including common mistakes new restaurant owners make, the importance of restaurant training and how to get restaurant funding. We’d like to share with you some of the interview. To listen to the entire segment, please go here.

Note: The interview below has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Dean Small: Having system standards and organizational infrastructure allows operators to maximize their productivity and their efficiencies, and reduce their labor costs, which are really big needs in the industry today.

Ashley Twible: Oh, I’m sure, I think you hit probably every major area, where some people just starting out struggle with. So tell me about some common ways that people use to find funding in order to open a restaurant. I think that’s one of the primary questions most people have is, “How do you pay for it?”

Dean: Well, if you’re not a seasoned restaurateur, and have experience it certainly becomes a little more challenging and you have to basically go to the old-school approaches using your own personal resources, maybe SBA. But even with SBA or banking you really need a good concept book and financial model to in order to get you funding.

Other ways is, you know, there’s obviously friends and family, there are banks, there’s trying to find a partner, investor but anybody who’s going to loan you money is going to want to see a rock solid—not even a big business plan—but more of a concept strategy and a financial model. What they want to know is, “What’s in in for me? When am I going to get my money back? When is my return on investment and what’s my upside?” So understanding that that’s what the investor’s looking for, you need to be ready to address those issues, otherwise it’s going to be challenging for them to write those big checks.

Ashley: And I think, would you agree, that probably it takes a bit a of time for a restaurant to start turning a profit?

Dean: Well it depends if it’s properly structured, it can start being profitable in the very early stages like like five to six months, you know, if not sooner. If it’s properly designed. Obviously, you need some run way if you want to get to that level. If you don’t incubate it the right way, it can take it significantly longer and in some cases never because you never get the model right. At the end of the day, the restaurant business any other business–there’s a financial model and you need to be able to put so much money into the bottom line in order to make it a viable concept. And if you can’t accomplish that then there never be an ROI. So that’s how you have to think about it. It’s not just serving great food, it’s really about how do you turn that great food and beverage and hospitality into a winning financial strategy.

Ashley: Well six months with good foundation and good structure and good guidance, I think, is relatively encouraging. I was anticipating a bit longer, actually, for some ROIs. So Dean, can you tell us some things to keep an eye out for when you’re choosing a physical location?

Dean: First off, you need to determine who is your target market. You want to find a location that really addresses who you’re targeting with the understanding that people like to basically choose restaurants that are within a three to five mile radius of where they live or where they work. So, that’s one piece. The other piece is you have to again understand your financial model because you don’t want to have your rent more than seven percent or eight percent of your projected gross sales. So if you think that you’re going to have a concept that’s only going to be doing about a million dollars a year in sales, then you need to have a rent factor of around sixty, seventy thousand dollars so that your financial model works. You shouldn’t be looking at real estate opportunities will not fit within the financial model of the business.

Ashley: Tell us some of the most common mistake you’ve see owners making when opening a new restaurant.

Dean: They don’t get professional help they, they let their egos in the way. They think they know a lot because they’ve eaten at a bunch of restaurants. They don’t really understand the business portion of the business in terms of how to make money. They get real estate that are much bigger than their needs are and then they get upside down on the rent really quickly.

To listen to the complete interview with Dean Small and hear more of his tips for a successful restaurant, please click here.

How did you celebrate this month’s holiday? No, not Valentine’s Day. We’re not talking about President’s Day either. For us, National Pizza Day, inspired us to recollect and celebrate some of our favorite pizza concepts, including one we recently helped to get off the ground!

We don’t like to brag, but at Synergy, we have some very talented folks with amazing palates, who’ve traveled the world sampling pizza — you can be sure our picks for tasty pies are top notch.

Last year, Synergy had the privilege of working with a new pizza startup out of Plano, Texas. The owners envisioned not only a place to eat freshly created and delicious pizzas (plus salads, lasagna, and wings), but also a place where people could feel good about what they’re eating.

The Synergy team helped them develop a concept that focuses on premium ingredients (fresh pizza dough, hand-picked veggies, non-GMO and organic meats, gluten-free options, and house-made sauces) with an elevated guest experience in the restaurant and catering to busy guests by always offering free delivery!

One of the latest pizza concepts we’ve come to appreciate is Doughbird in Phoenix. Their menu twist is awesome — wood-fired pizzas and free-range rotisserie chickens. It’s a unique mashup concept that we truly admire and appreciate from Fox Restaurant Concepts.

From fast-fired to Neopolitan, deep-dish to square cut, we love pizza in all of its formats so much we don’t need a national holiday as an excuse to dig in.

 

 

I had wonderful time this year at the International Pizza Expo. It was amazing to try pies from different pizza artists and speak with genuinely pizza-passionate restaurant owners. During my time at the expo, I had the pleasure of presenting to attendees during my session on, “Controlling Food and Labor Costs in a Pizzeria.” I spoke about five simple strategies to reduce food and labor costs to help the overall financial performance of your restaurant.

 

If you couldn’t make it to the expo or my session, you can still check out my presentation!  Sign up for our free useful restaurant industry emails AND get access to download my presentation slides. Just click here to subscribe. For any questions on improving your pizzeria, email us or call 888-861-9212.

–Dean Small