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In recent times, the Food and Beverage (F&B) industry has shown tremendous growth and has helped in the creation of business opportunities for start-up enterprises and young entrepreneurs. Owning and managing a restaurant has become a passion and liking for most of the first-time business owners and entrepreneurs. Therefore, let’s discuss some of the important essentials for them to build-up their own restaurant.
Following are the 10 steps to be considered while making a business plan for your restaurant:
10 Steps to make a Restaurant Business Plan
1. Branding
Displaying your brand is one of the most important steps while writing your restaurant business plan. Your brand will make your idea stand out from the thousand other ideas. Your brand includes the following essentials:
- Logo: The first thing to do while writing a restaurant business plan is designing a logo. It is okay, if it isn’t finalized but you should have a tentative cover for your brand
- Name: Treat your business plan as a project and name your restaurant. Make sure you give it some catchy name which makes it unique and different not only for the investors but also for the customers. Let an attractive name play as one of the marketing strategies for your business
- Tentative release date: Branding your ideas comes with a deadline. When you have a release date in mind along with a timeline for your project it shows you as a very promising candidate
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2. Concept & Idea
Explain your concept in your business plan in detail. Your concept should have a brief description of the big picture of your restaurant. It can include:
- The theme of the restaurant
- The variety of cuisines you shall be serving
- Restaurant’s setting as per your choice
- Home delivery options
3. Menu Presentation
A sample menu is important for your business plan. You can add some basic dishes from all the cuisines you want to serve. Mentioned the list of drinks you want to have on the menu and it is good to go. Since this is still a plan under process the menu does not have to be finalized. It can just be an outline of what your menu would look like.
4. Management Plan
You are going to introduce yourself and your entire team. Here you establish the concrete plan for your business. Each team member’s role has to be elaborated here. You need to establish how you are going to manage every small detail in your restaurant and the job responsibilities of each of your staff members.
Comparison of Business Loan Interest Rates offered by Top Banks/NBFCs
| Bank/NBFCs | Interest Rate |
| Axis Bank | 10.75% p.a. onwards |
| Flexiloans | 1% per month onwards |
| HDB Financial Services Ltd. | 8% - 26% p.a. |
| HDFC Bank | 10.75% - 25% p.a. |
| IDFC First Bank | 10.50% p.a. onwards |
| Indifi | 1.50% per month onwards |
| Kotak Mahindra Bank | 16% - 26% p.a. |
| Lendingkart | 12% - 27% p.a. |
| Mcapital | 2% per month onwards |
| NeoGrowth Finance | 15% - 40% p.a. |
| Tata Capital | 12% p.a. onwards |
| UGRO Capital | 9% - 36% p.a. |
| Bajaj Finserv | 10% to 26% |
5. Ambience and Interior
The ambiance and the vibe of the place have become one of the most contributing factors in the success of any business these days. Designing involves a lot of factors in a restaurant business plan. Some of the most important factors are:
- The interiors and ambience: The interior designing of the restaurant is very important since that is the most significant part of the ambiance of the restaurant. The theme of the restaurant is shown by the interiors of the same.
- Region specific: The plates and the glasses in which the food is served have to be designed uniquely, as well. In today’s times of social platform like Instagram, you can take perfect examples of restaurants and cafes.
- Cutlery, table mats and napkins: In the cases of fine dining restaurants cutlery, table mats and napkins make a decent impact on the experience that the customer takes away. Sometimes, there is special attention given to the art of folding the napkins on the tables, as well.
6. Target Customer
For any business plan, it is very important for you to specify your target customer. There can be a variety of target customers, such as:
- Families: Lot of fine dining restaurants have the ambiance which attracts big family gatherings and parties
- Couples: Various cafes and restaurants are a hotspot for couples to have dates. Some of these restaurants might as well attract couples with special candlelight dinner arrangements
- College students: Several cafes attract college students with a budget-friendly menu and other combo offers which make it a hotspot for groups of friends
7. Tentative Location
The location of your restaurant will largely affect your business. It is important for you to choose the location based on the target customers. For example:
- Restaurants with families as their target customers can be on the outskirts of the city since families prefer a long drive to get to the place
- College students would prefer cafes and restaurants near their college itself
- Couples would prefer a silent place to find some quality time for themselves
8. Market Study
A thorough market study is the base of any business plan. A restaurant business plan should have concrete market research done before establishing it. More of extensive research shall result in the better implementation of the project. Market research is important in the following areas:
- Location analysis: It is very important to study the location of your restaurant. The kind of people live there and the kind of gentry you can attract to your restaurant are some of the essential points to go through
- Finance: You need to have an idea about the investment you need to build a restaurant in that locality. Additional research of how much people are willing to spend on a meal outside can broaden your perspective as to what to provide to the customers there
- Cuisine preferences: A research on what kind of cuisines do people prefer in a locality is also very important. Preferred cuisines on the menu increase business
9. Marketing Strategies
Any new business requires a proper marketing plan in action, especially in the initial time. The following marketing strategies can help you spread the word for your business:
- Print media: Giving out advertisements in local newspapers can attract a crowd. Sending out pamphlets can also help the business
- Social media coverage: Social media is making it very easy to reach a large crowd in a short amount of time. It will be really helpful if you put out content on social media websites like Facebook, Instagram, etc.
- Bloggers meet: Restaurants and cafes can reach a large number of audiences with the help of local food bloggers. It is trendy these days to arrange for blogger’s meet up and invite various food bloggers to rate your dishes and write a review for you on their personal blogs
10. Finances
Finances play a big role in a business plan. You need to have a structured finance plan in hand before approaching banks or investors. The following points should be kept in mind while structuring your finances:
- Initial investment: You need to specify the initial investment that you will need to set up your restaurant. This will include the cost of the place you’ll get, the interiors, the initial setup of kitchen appliances, etc.
- Working capital: This is the investment or amount you will need every month to keep your restaurant running. This will include the cost of the ingredients, the salaries of the staff, etc.
- Insurance: Always get business insurance while setting up the same. In case of any problems, you will need an insurance policy to go back to for reimbursements. You will need money to pay for the monthly premiums of the same
Many other factors are also important to ensure a successful setup of a restaurant. Most of these are subjective to your own ideas and innovations. Many banks provide business loans specifically structured for restaurant business. You should look into more such loans to get an insured investment from a reliable source.
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