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From Concept to Consumers. How to Bring Your Restaurant Idea to Life

Mar 28, 2022

By Chef Natasha Reta

Operating your own restaurant business can be profitable or highly problematic, costing you thousands if not millions of dollars to run. So how do you create a concept that leads you to success instead of struggle? If you’re an aspiring restauranteur, you will need to consider several aspects of your business before financing the endeavor. Here are some essential tips to consider as a future entrepreneur.

Who Is Your Customer?

You must consider the surrounding town demographics if you decide to open in your local area. What are your city’s tourism attractions? Who are the tourists that visit your area? Are they extravagant travelers or budget seekers in town for affordable experiences? Do you have a notable international community that might crave food from their home country? Perhaps your area of choice is heavily populated by a specific migrant community catering to those global needs. Maybe you are considering a fancy high-end restaurant in a blue-collar neighborhood. These choices may not be sustainable with a population not interested in seeking your offerings. Whatever it is you choose to develop, it is crucial to study the area demographics so you may fulfill a need and not saturate a readily available market.

 

restaurant customer

 

Research the Current Dining Market in your Area.

Review operations at surrounding businesses and notate what they do well. Draw inspiration; however, steer clear of repetition. If your area already has several ramen shops, opening a ramen shop to compete will be challenging. It is not to say that you can’t test it. If you offer what is already available, you must provide something new and improve upon the current saturated competition. Even the most unique ideas must be cautious of opening in a flooded market, consider opening in another area or modify the business model to fit the communities needs.

What are the major risks?

Of course, no one wants to imagine their business failing, but it is something to consider in staying ahead of factors that are likely to put your business at risk. Common risk factors are:

  1. Unreliable partners in business
  2. An abundance of competitors
  3. A lack of viable suppliers
  4. Drug and crime issues
  5. Infrastructure problems
  6. Natural disasters
  7. Unreliable tourist industry
  8. Local beliefs and prejudice
  9. Drastic population shifts

It is not to say that you cannot open given one or many of these risk factors; this is meant to help determine the means of operation if said risks factor into your business. For example, suppose your area has a lot of crime and drugs. You may consider closing earlier in the evening, not offering outdoor dining, and doing your best to ensure safety and security to staff and guests. Your restaurant will take a lot of time, effort, and money, so assessing any risk that may detrimentally affect your business is critical.

Size DOES Matter…

If you plan to offer a wide variety of menu items, you must consider your restaurant’s kitchen design. A broadly varied menu will require many preparation stations and some bulky and expensive equipment. Depending on the size of your restaurant, there may not be enough space for dining or an appropriate area for the back of the house required for the desired menu. It would be best if you contemplated reducing the menu to reduce the amount of equipment and space needed. Factor the cost per square foot of your restaurant. What is financially required to accommodate the space?

developing a menu

 

Budget your Business

Opening a restaurant will be a financial undertaking that many cannot afford. It is of paramount importance to consider the financial requirements needed to open. By estimating your operational costs ahead of opening, you can make smarter decisions when developing your menu, hiring staff, and purchasing equipment. Working with a reputable consultant may offer insight into operational optimization not considered by a new restauranteur. This expertise can help you secure financing and stay on top of development as the opening process permeates its way into your every waking moment. This type of support can spearhead construction, design, menu costing, recruiting, and training to name a few. Therefore, it is essential to factor startup support into your initial budget. It can be challenging to stay on track, make smart decisions, and see progress, so reach out to Synergy today. With over three decades of industry experience helping hundreds of brands, Synergy can help you bring your concept to life.

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Smart Strategies For New Concept Development

Mar 28, 2022

By Dean Small – Founder, Managing Partner

Opening a new restaurant is not as simple as finding a great location and hiring a talented Chef or seasoned General Manager. It requires thoughtful planning, a clear understanding of the market, and your target market’s needs, wants, and expectations. People new to the restaurant business often believe they can do a better job at running a restaurant than others because of their past business skills or passion for food and love for great hospitality and service.

Without a well-thought-out business development strategy and road map for financial success, we find that new restaurateurs often find themselves in a world of financial trouble and upside down. Often, they didn’t define their brand clearly or put a financial model together to determine if this business is sustainable and will deliver the profits they need to cover operating expenses, debt and pay off investors with a reasonable profit at the end of the year. One of the goals of opening a restaurant is to make money- this is not a hobby it’s a demanding job that has risk, exposure, liability and requires a significant financial commitment and long hours. We cannot undervalue the importance of putting a realistic financial model together to determine what is needed for a sustainable business.

 

new restaurant concepts

 

Let’s explore the four biggest mistakes that new restaurant operators make when opening a new restaurant.

  1. Failure to thoroughly understand the competitive landscape
  2. Failure to define their brand positioning, business development strategy, and company culture – this includes writing a concept brief that articulates the unique attributes of the restaurant, including the menu and service model
  3. Not building out a detailed financial model, so they understand what type of investment will be required to make the business successful
  4. Hiring inexperienced managers and chefs that do not have the expertise to lead effectively, control costs, and drive sales

 

Mistake # 1

Knowing your direct and indirect competition is paramount to success. It is crucial to thoroughly understand the direct and indirect competition. And if you don’t, you are doing yourself a disservice. If you hope to outmaneuver the competition and take market share, you need to know why customers are going to a competitor’s location. Learn what they do well and figure out ways to do it better.

 

Mistake # 2

A brand is not a logo, graphic, or name! A brand is a promise that you make to your internal customers (your team) and external customers, your paying guests. Your brand is your DNA, and everything you do from creating your name, designing the interior, creating the menu, service style, and hospitality strategy must support your brand positioning. You are like a ship without a rudder when your brand is not clearly defined. It makes it impossible to communicate your message and creates internal confusion because everyone sees things differently and from their perspective.

 

Mistake # 3

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. When building out a financial model, you do not want to guess and come up short and not have adequate funds to open and operate the restaurant. We have seen many restaurants fail because they get upside down even before opening the restaurant and unexpected debt kills them, and they go out of business.

 

restaurant inventory management

 

Mistake # 4

There is nothing worse than a bad hire! Hiring friends, family members, or people you know who have some experience is a recipe for disaster. Before hiring a Chef or General Manager, you should have clearly defined job descriptions, set expectations, and have them show you their capabilities. Restaurants frequently fail because the General Manager is nothing more than a key holder and does not have the experience running a restaurant, setting budgets, managing operating expenses, setting standards, training the team, and controlling quality. A Chef must possess qualifications beyond cooking to qualify for the position. They need to know menu development, write accurate recipes, food costing, inventory control, labor budgeting, food safety, and kitchen management.

 

Opening a new restaurant can be exciting, personally rewarding, and a profitable experience if you can avoid these four common mistakes.  If you have any questions or need help exploring the feasibility of a new concept please give the Synergy Team a call.

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New Pizza Concepts We Love

Feb 22, 2019

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.

 

new pizza concept
A Synergy Test Kitchen Pizza
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Checklist for Opening a Restaurant – How to Bring Your Concept to Life

May 29, 2010

Opening a new restaurant concept and creating a design on a budget is the sensible approach to getting into the restaurant business. Doing so requires the owner to carefully plan where their money will be spent. Just because your budget is smaller though, doesn’t mean that you can’t bring your restaurant concept to life!

Before you begin your project steps in opening a restaurant, it is important that the restaurant idea is clearly defined. We don’t want it to become a moving target, or have you spend money on lease space that may not get used right away.

Synergy Restaurant Consultants has supported many entrepreneurs who have considered opening a restaurant with limited funds. One of the common denominators, and fatal mistakes of many of these passionate entrepreneurs, is that they forgo some of the most fundamental and essential steps of planning before their grand opening. The discovery process (brainstorming what kind of food your restaurant will serve, or deciding on staff uniforms) and feasibility studies (whether or not your idea is something that will sell well), are just as important to the success of your business as deciding on what plates to use.

startup foodservice

 

Opening a restaurant on a tight budget is also a challenge because there is very little room for error. It’s a big investment and Synergy Restaurant Consultants has a proven process that identifies the strengths and weakness of the concept as well as projected cash flow and a break-even analysis. It’s necessary to work through a “discovery process” and conduct your feasibility study before making big financial decisions… because if your idea is not a good seller, you might as well be throwing money down the drain.

Opening a restaurant is simple. Doing it with a smaller budget is too. It’s making the money and retaining customers that is the challenge. Here is a checklist for opening a restaurant that may be of some help when money is tight:

1. Organize your ideas for business and discover a great niche. If you’re having trouble with this first step, try hiring a professional to assist you – Synergy has 30 years of experience in helping customers brainstorm. They and can help you find the PERFECT idea – and turn it into profitable business.

2. Research that idea to make sure it’s going to make you money (something we’re also great at)

3. Know that if you find a building or location for your restaurant that is not ideal – that’s OK! Walk away, there will always be another site that’s even BETTER than the first

4. Negotiate a lease and try to obtain tenant improvement money to back-end some expenses. If you don’t know how to negotiate, DON’T try it on your own. Working with a professional property negotiator can save you thousands of dollars, and may even allow you some other incentives before you sign your lease

5. Consider purchasing used equipment if it will help you with starting the business. Once the business grows and you start earning more revenue – you can always upgrade and get newer equipment.

6. Use the internet to find suppliers for your business needs. Looking for durable baking pans? Want unique dining tables? How about gold-plated silverware or an in-door fountain? ALL of these things can be found online- sometimes at a discounted price!

7. Keep the menu simple to minimize the cost of labor and ingredients. As with used equipment, the menu can always be re-designed
when you have more cash flow.

8. Consider trading goods for services. A friend of ours needed a photographer to take some pictures of his dining area for marketing purposes, but he didn’t have the funds. So he offered a freelancer free dinner for he and his wife in return for taking the photos – and it WORKED! You never know what opportunities are available to you until you go out and look for them.

9. Develop a marketing and word-of-mouth strategy to make sure your grand opening is a SMASH!