A Guide to Starting a Food Business – Top Tips from Experts

The food & beverage industry has a lot going for it; people will always need to eat, so there is a constant demand from a global market and trends come and go. If you are seriously thinking about setting up a food business, you have come to the right place, as we offer invaluable tips to help you create a winning business.

Write a Business Plan

Every venture starts with a business plan, assuming, of course, that you have done your homework and the project is doable. A comprehensive business plan would include the following:

• An overview of the business
• Start-up costs
• Running costs
• Marketing plan
• Cashflow forecasts
• Suppliers
• List of business assets
• Organisation flowchart
• Equipment inventory

When you think your business plan is complete, hand it to a business coach and see what they have to say. If you get a thumbs up, you can proceed with some confidence.

Create an identity

Every business should have its own unique identity; create a warm and inviting ambience. Choose your theme with the confidence that you have a winning combination and hire the best fitout contractor, one who works on restaurants. If you need some professional help with your interior design, the fitout team has an in-house designer who can create a masterpiece.

Make best use of available technology

Install the best restaurant recipe software that enables you to create and save recipes, with powerful features and cloud integration. Why not implement touch screen menus and make it a smart restaurant? Your waiting staff have more time to attend to customers when ordering is digital and sent to the screens in the kitchen. Setting up a secure cloud network is recommended and uses sector-specific software that is designed for restaurants.

Secure funding

Your business plan will tell you exactly how much capital you need to launch the business, plus you need extra money to support the business in the first few months. The number one reason for a new business to fail is lack of money, so do make sure you have adequate funds to keep things afloat for the first 6-9 months.

Kitchen fitout

Aside from the restaurant interior, your kitchen needs to be well-designed and contain all the right equipment and appliances. Resist the temptation to buy sub-standard kitchen equipment; you are in this for the long haul and kitchen appliances should stand the test of time. Top brands might not be the cheapest but they are the best value when all is said and done.

Plan your grand opening

Opening a restaurant is a big deal and you should be planning a grand launch to introduce your menu to the local community; hire an event management company to oversee the project and make your mark on the local community. Click here for tips on running a business.

Digital marketing

Talk to an award-winning digital marketing agency at the start of your planning and they will put together an aggressive plan to get your message out to the local community. Social media is the best approach; every man and his dog have a Facebook account and with professionals on the case, you can expect a busy few weeks when you do launch.

Localized SEO

If you want to attract online consumers who use Google to search for nearby restaurants, hire a good SEO agency; search engine optimization is a service that boosts your web rankings within Google searches. If your site is in the first 10 search results, you can expect a spike in web traffic, which should lead to bookings. There are numerous strategies an agency can use to boost a target URL’s rankings; the first thing to do is find out the most used search terms and insert these into the website at the right locations, which Google will recognize.

Staff

The very foundation of every organisation, the human resources are the most important component and staff training should begin as soon as possible. Use a local recruitment agency to get you an interview shortlist, hire the best applicants and arrange a workshop. Experience is not important, restaurant staff should be happy, outgoing people who love to please. Offer attractive incentives and most importantly, recognize good performance. Staff training should be ongoing, with a session every couple of months, specific aspects would be worked on and generally, a winning feeling should be generated.

To sum up, your business plan is your guide and with careful planning, custom software and adequate capital, your restaurant will quickly become part of the local community. Register the business with the government and you are good to go.

Success is achievable and pay attention to customer feedback, which should be a driver for improvement and we hope you enjoy a level of sustained success.