Natwerk Designs - Restaurant Start-up?

Restaurant Start-up?

Hi, I have a degree from a culinary institute and have worked for a restaurant for almost 3 yrs now. I'm planning to start a restaurant with another person; but unfortunately neither of us are familiar with the business and architectural side of the restaurant business. So if anyone have answers to these questions, I'd appreciate it. 1. I'm planning to hire a professional architect to do the interior layout of my restaurant. But do I start looking/hiring the designer/architect before I sign the lease agreement or after? 2. How long does it usually take to get the entire project completed? (the restaurant will be in california) 3. What kind of permits will I or the architect need during the design and construction phase of the project? 4. How much would it cost to hire an architect to do a 1,200-2,000 sq ft project? Thanks!

Public Comments

i thought about doing a very similar project. it is just a lot better to wait because the cost of material is going down right now. other than that there is no small business that is doing well now adays.i am in California i own a gas station and i am seeing numbers i have never seen before. it is amazing to see people scraping the bottom of their coin jar to get a gallon of gas or a pack of cigarettes. the cost of goods right now is still on the rise a cost of a gallon of a milk jumped from a$2.33 to $3.57. the cost of soda is going higher and higher. the bottom line is everything other than construction need is going up because of fuel prices. the deal with construction material is big companies are desperate to sell anything to build with that is why they dropped all their prices. if you put it together i wish you luck but you will remember my words.
Go to http://www.score.org/ and in the upper left hand corner, enter your zip code. On the next screen, you will get information on the nearest SCORE chapter. Call them and arrange for a free meeting with a SCORE counselor to discuss what you need to do to start your restaurant. SCORE is a nonprofit association dedicated to entrepreneur education and the formation, growth and success of small business nationwide. SCORE is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). SCORE has 389 chapters in locations throughout the United States and its territories, with 10,500 volunteers nationwide. Both working and retired executives and business owners donate time and expertise as business counselors
I am glad you are thinking about opening up a restaruant. You should have the architect do the interior layout after the lease. The reason is that if you don't get the space, you just wasted money and time. Timewise, it really depends on what you are tryiing to accomplish, extent of the renovation, and what you are starting with. A good estimate for 1,200 to 2,000 square feet is 2-4 months. The general contract will pull the necessary permits, but the architect needs to be familiar with the building codes in that city. If I were you, I would go to a art/design school and offer this as a project. You can donate to the school for their work and you will have many people giving you ideas. Additionally, this will be less expensive and a good experience for the students. Good luck and please remember... No matter how good the restaurant looks, if the food is not tasty, it will probably fail.
Advance studies- (1) Study your market and prepare your menu Now - is the very first thing you must do- Your menu will dictate your comfort zones and most importantly, it will dictate layout, theme, and primary kitchen equipment needed- Spend weeks and make a few draft copies now- it will save you a fortune later- I.e: Why order a 10 burner gas stove and a smaller flat plate grill when you are producing great hamburgers..? The grill plate is the most important feature not the gas burners-etc..etc..Lets flip the coin. So you are creating an "A la carte" fine dining restaurant - Why order a massive griller when you need pan work to apply as the greatest skill application? Why order a massive Bain marie- if you are concentrating on fine a la carte- and not buffet or take out type of meals-? Make your menu based on your own creativity- but don't go to far off centre-Use black boards to create and introduce those special dishes of yours- if you are too specialized, then one day when you may want to resell your restaurant and recoup capital gains on selling a good viable business, then if it's too specialized , less buyers will be attracted to buy such a businness- (2) Cost your project out - You will get a rude shock at the final quote- When your rough estimate is completed - Double it- Yes I said "Double it" - if you think it's going to cost 100,000 dollars then assume it's closer to 200,000 dollars by the time doors open- and you'll be in close ball park range of what final opening cost will be, including a few months start up working capital- is a proven sure application and unseen factor applicable to those who have opened many restaurants ( Like myself) Most architects charges are based on final costs- When we opened a restaurant nightclub in 1990 at 1 million dollars - Architects charges 120,000 dollars for the final interior designs- But this factor various depending on the job size-anything less than a 80 seat restaurant in unviable hence you'll be looing at 100 seats plus- hence different designers will charge accordingly- different rates, but a good well experience restaurant (sous/head) Chef,Head waiter, Front end managers, would have the required skill to formulate a design of a 100 seat restaurant themselves- You can't beat experience - Get key staff secured early , pay them a small weekly wage while you start building- Work as a team. You take the role of Executive Chef- Financial Advisors using standard outdated fixed and variable costing formulations who have never opened a restaurtant in their life often don't report accruately the final start up costs of such ventures has been my experience in the early days - If you are going to use designers and financial advisors - ask to provide a report of recent past projects they have advised upon-then go and see the business onwers of such for a friendly chat- (3) Work out now operational expenses-assume that it will take 5 years to make such a business economically viable- and allow at least six month for break even trading application to prevail- (4) Use S.H.R.E.W.D- I.M.P to calculate now, operational weekly expenses so you know exactly what guiding finances will be needed to get you to break even point- (Assume- S=Stock 25% Includes wastage. H=Holidays/ non productive hours=5% R= Ongoing Rent= 8% E=Electricity, water gas, phone expenses= 5% W= Wages Gross allow 35% D= Deduction unseen eg; Deprectiation, permits...drawings..etc.. 2.5% I = Glass insurance, breakdown insurance, Public liability insurance..etc.. allow 2.5% M= Misc replacement ongoing- Broken glasses, broken plates,additions, features, carpet, new menu printing, sanitation, cleaning..etc..etc..allow 2.0%..Finally Gross Profits assume before taxes - 15 %- Total 100 percent) Your best starting point to enact "Shrewd imp" is to look at similar business for sales in the area- look at profit statement and rent applied-if the average is 10% rent for the area , and you are being asked 15 perecnt rent then find another place-If its lets say averaging at 7 % then add 1.0 percent to your gross profit in allowing the "Shrewd imp" guiding path to become formed- Thus if you think that you will be turning over 20,000 ( or are looking to turnover as such) dollars per week , then you will make 3000 dollars gross profits with all bills paid weekly- a litle more or a little less means you are a viable business . If stock is lower , then the profit percentage rises, but usually you will find in where you save at one end , some other factor especially wages needs adjusting higher) (5) Thus if you Plan in advance - if you prepare some work yourself- which cost nothing but time- if you set goals and have a target plan already envisaged as implied above- then you are not working blind- and you will not get caught at the last moment-and you will save heaps on costly mistakes-There is so much advance work that should be applied if you are serious about opening a restaurant in today's competing market, long before you sign anything- We all talk about the glamour side of the business- but nobody speaks of the massive failure rates-mostly based for lack of advance due diligence and nothing more- Thus using the above SHREWDIMP APPLICATIONS- If a meal costs you 5 dollars to prepare- You'll need to apply a gross profit margin of 400 % plus to the final sale price of over 20 dollars for that meal to ensure you guiding plan is effective-if you can't work to the above don't kid yourself- you 'll go bust is a more of a sure bet than not- if stock is 20 percent then its 500 % GP applied ..etc..etc.. So Stock purchases dictates selling prices- Stock also include drinks, Coffee..etc..etc. Remember alcohol sell as a "Mark up" - Food sells as a GP application. One involves labor to produce and incurs wastage - The other does not- So a Bottle of wine costing retail at 10 dollars a bottle , Sells for no more that 20 dollars per bottle in your restaurant , even though the wholesale buy price is 7 dollars- If you sell well known wines higher than applying 100 percent mark up - customers will slowly go elsewhere- Trerat wine sales as a fictional"third" customer- that is- if you have 66 diners in a session eating and drinking in a 100 seat restaurant - Then assume you have "90 food" customers for that session - It will make formulations easier to apply- exception to 100 percent "Mark up" rule- Soft drinks!- (And make sure you serve great coffee-) Do all the easy work now- This is the type of advice not readily in training schools and alike- (6) Once you have a clear plan , once you know equipment prices, produce prices and the likes- once you know as such and you are ready and fiancially able to proceed - Sign the lease , ask that if you pay two months in advance, can you get one or a few months rent in grace, to build your restaurant- any saving while you build, on rent is a bonus- thus if you get 2 months grace- you have 5 months to open the doors before the next rent is due- Go for it-open it in half the time-Open it as fast as possibe (7) You are in the kitchen- you will have apprentices- Make rules from the start- When it's trading hours - No friends- It's business- When main training is finsihed sit down with your staff share a beer- talk to them at this times - as friends. You are the chef, maintain intergrity and respect in the kitchen and front of house at all times- Good staff are an asset to the business-Look after them. Finally take a break - 7 days a week operation..? versus 6 days operation could save you heaps especially in maintaing sanity- Opening when productivity is very poor is a wasted edict- take time off-Restart every week as a fresh week- I hope the above small bit of advice is of help- there is a lot more hat could be said-