How to open a new restaurant or f&b venture. We give you the 11 critical points checklist.

Pillars Consultancy has custom restaurant set up services. 

We get asked this a lot. How do you open a new restaurant or an F&B outlet. Where do you begin? What are the things you need to plan for to create a good brand and serve the best customer experience on your table? In the text that follows, we try and bring to you a sort of checklist of points that make up the critical things to consider while opening a restaurant or F&B outlet in India. Do take a look.

The restaurant set up check list;

Start with the concept and schematic design for the restaurant. Zero in on the macro theme for your new place. Try and make the concept unique, giving it the edge to compete in this marketplace. 

The food and beverage development process includes more than just item and menu creation. The process must also include hiring standards for key kitchen personnel, written operating manuals, and staff training. It is the concept that drives kitchen design and equipment selection. Hence this is probably the most critical facet of your restaurant operations that needs careful and meticulous planning. Make sure you have given this part time and loads of effort. 

The in depth points that you should start thinking about post the first process above are these;

1) Cuisine selection – Based on the feasibility and market study and the result of that macro planning as mentioned above, narrow down on the type of cuisine which will be ideal for the location.

2) Menu Development - Menu is the face of restaurant business. The foods and beverages in the menu are the very core of the restaurant business and are critical in determining success or failure.
Brainstorm this bit and try to develop a food and beverages concept that is consistent with the overall restaurant theme and then develop menu categories and items, determine pricing, and create and test various recipes. Once finalized, the menu has to be tested and graduated to give optimum returns.

3) Start working out possible ways for raw material sourcing at the best possible market rates....

4) Start working on Designing/Renovating the Kitchen as per the Food Safety norms and HACCP(Hazard and Analysis Critical Control Point) manuals.

5) Start working on preparing the layouts in consideration with Man, Material and Money.

6) Go on some field tips and begin identifying the type of equipment required in the kitchen, in accordance with the menu requirement and need of infrastructure.

7) Explore designs for optimizing the space utilization and conforming to best engineering designs for kitchen ventilation, hygiene, intra kitchen movement, plumbing, custom electrical system, and air flow management.

8) Give special attention while preparing the layout of the fuel system and optimizing its efficiency.

9) Think about using better solutions for garbage handling and waste disposal. There is going to be a lot of this.

10) Spend time planning the Storage. You will realize that this is a mammoth task in itself.

11) Manpower – A well planned organizational structure with job descriptions, shifts, transitions and other systems to ensure that your staff are good and carry smiles on their faces as they serve your customers. Also,  look at an experienced consultant to assist you in hiring proper, skilled staff. 

At Pillars Consultancy, there are senior folks from the hospitality and F&B industries who have more than 50 years of combined hard core experience to help you with some of or all of these above functions. These people have worked with some of the best restaurants and hotel chains in India and various other counties. If you are serious about setting up a great restaurant in India, get in touch with Kaushik at Pillars Consultancy and he will do everything possible to help you reach your goal. Don't worry, he is darn quick on the mail thingy. :)

Cheers!

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