The decision to go into the restaurant business is not one that you should be making lightly. Yes, successful and popular eateries do make major profits, however, what you need to understand is that it is a cutthroat industry and the competition drives businesses to close every other week. There are a lot of restaurants and this rise in demand for restaurants has led to a surplus of restaurants opening overtime. This availability of so many different kinds of restaurants has made the industry pretty saturated, so it takes a lot of creativity, effort, and good food to set up a new restaurant and have it generate enough profit to remain to stand and successful.

The food scene some 50 or more years ago was very different compared to now. Restaurants used to operate during certain hours because people were used to having their meals at fixed times during the day. However, with time, the concept of casual dining was introduced and people started having their meals at different times, which is why it is not weird to go to a restaurant at 5 pm and see people eating lunch and so on. So casual dining has created a space where people can come and eat during odd hours as well.

If you are still determined to open a restaurant of your own, then you need to remember that the period before your restaurant opens is just as important as the time when you officially open for business. The amount of preparation you do right now will play a major role in how your restaurant will turn out later. You need to make sure that you sort out all of your relevant details like the location of the restaurant, the size of the restaurant which also includes the seating capacity, the theme of your restaurant, restaurant furniture, the menu, the kind of service you want, and so on. Each of these is equally important to ensure that your restaurant turns out successful. Now, you can choose to consult experts in the industry, or you can design everything yourself ranging from your choice of restaurant chairs to your restaurant’s sign and logo, and so on.

The first thing you want to do is decide the kind of vibe you want your restaurant to give and the customers you mainly want to attract. Determining this beforehand will help map out everything else that you will need to get and set up for the restaurant. For example, if you want a diner-style restaurant that targets a younger audience, you will want a retro setup that encapsulates the feel of a 1950s diner. Similarly, if you want a pretty restaurant to attract friend groups or people that appreciate aesthetics, then you can opt for bright or pastel colors, natural lighting and have a quirkier setup, and so on. By determining your target visitors you can get a complimentary setup going, so this decision always needs to be made beforehand. If you are unsure about your target customers, you can look up information on different age demographics at restaurants, which ones visit more frequently, and which option is more profitable and so on. Doing this will help you have a clear plan that you can map out so that things look and remain consistent at the end of the day.

When we talk about restaurant furniture, we are mostly referring to tables and chairs. Now, there are no hard and fast rules about what kind of furniture your restaurant should have, but they should be sturdy, made of good-quality materials, and consistent with your restaurant’s theme. Of course, having an underlying theme and concept will help considerably narrow down your options. When it comes to chairs, you can choose between stools, sofas, booths, chairs, and so on. The theme of your restaurant can determine the type of chair you have, for example, booths work and sofas work better with family-style restaurants whilst chairs and stools work better with bistros and casual-dining places. You can choose to mix and match as well, having different kinds of seating options, and take it a step further and have mismatching furniture and colors going as well. You can also keep things simple and have the same design of chairs and tables for the entire restaurant. This ultimately comes down to your personal preference and what you feel will work better for your restaurant.

Yes, it seems very tedious to have to go over so many minor details and stress over them, but at the end of the day, if you want a good restaurant that has a consistent theme where everything compliments each other, then you will have to continue agonizing over them. At the end of the day, you want a restaurant that people serves good food, looks good and makes people leave with a smile on their face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This post was contributed by a guest writer.