Start & Run a Restaurant Business. Brian Cooper

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      Phone: 310-891-2865

      Toll free: 1-877-463-6625

      www.franchiseinfomall.com

      Or speak with the franchising section of most Canadian Banks. The Business Development Bank of Canada also has general franchising information:

      Phone: 1-877-232-2269

       www.bdc.ca

       KEY POINT

      The key to all these questions and many others is the franchise agreement itself. If ever there is an important time to get good legal advice, it is before you sign probably one of the most important (and usually the longest) legal contract of your life. Take the contract to a well-recommended lawyer who has experience in restaurant franchises. The advice of a lawyer with very specific knowledge and experience in this specialized area is worth a sometimes exorbitant fee for a few hours’ time.

      5. Building Your Team

      It’s important that you invest valuable time in choosing your business structure and partners. Harmony will prevail only if each member has a role or purpose. Choose your partners or investors based on what they can bring to the group. If one member is expert at running the kitchen (often known as “the back of the house,” and sometimes as “the heart of the house”), that person should participate as an expert in developing and training the employees under his or her direction. You will also need someone to specialize in running the “front of the house” — that part of your establishment that is visible to your customers. This person would be responsible for the service standards, and for developing a personality or feel for the area outside the kitchen. Usually, in a small restaurant, this would be one of the owners (possibly you).

      The front of the house and the back of the house must work together to create the harmony and balance of the food, wine, and ambiance in the restaurant. The front-of-the-house person must have a finger on the pulse or heartbeat of the operation. He or she should be adept at training and developing the service staff, including wait staff and bartenders. Wine is becoming important to complete a dining experience. If you intend to feature a wine menu in your restaurant, the front-of-the-house person should be willing to expand his or her knowledge in this area. The chef and the front-of-the-house person should be able to suggest particular wines to complement the menu items and, in turn, the wait staff can be trained to do the same.

      Similarly, one member of your team should deal with the investment and/or legal side of the business. The “numbers” person must communicate with the other partners at all times so the project remains financially viable. Regular meetings should be held to ensure that all parties work together.

      The team should be on board early in the planning stage. Complement your abilities by hiring professionals who are strong in areas where you are weak. Often the partners do not bring a chef or kitchen manager on board early enough to prevent major design errors. Once you have drafted your menu, it is time to hire that kitchen manager/chef to help design your kitchen (and to begin putting his or her imprint on the menu). Not allowing for an essential piece of kitchen equipment can create major problems and expense later on. Building an oversized kitchen can cost you floor space that otherwise could be used to seat customers.

      Another reason for putting your team together early is so that when you go to lending institutions for financing, your loan application will be supported by your choice of partners or team members. You will be able to profile their successes and their competencies in the field, which, together with your business plan, should help convince the lenders that you are a “good risk.”

      The downside of putting the team together early is that they may not be available when the actual restaurant opens unless you are prepared to offer them a share of the business. If they don’t have a vested interest in the project, it may be hard for you to sustain their enthusiasm, given the time between conception of your restaurant and its actual opening. In addition, few people can afford to go without a salary during this period. However, the lenders will want some assurances that the team you present in the application for your loan will actually be there when you open!

      3

      The Business Plan: Feasibility Study

      1. The Business Plan: An overview

      The business plan is a formal written presentation of your restaurant concept. It is used to introduce your business to potential lenders and should contain enough information for the reader (the investor) to judge the venture’s potential profitability. A business plan is a requirement if you are seeking a loan from financial institutions or trying to get “F & F” (family and friends’) funds. It is also the blueprint of your business dream and will serve as a guide during your business’s lifetime.

      A well-researched and properly documented plan is a prerequisite to a successful business and should be professionally presented. You can gather the material yourself and have it spiral bound at a print store, or you can hire a consulting firm that specializes in the hospitality industry to conduct the feasibility study for you and then assist you in writing the business plan. Depending on your writing experience and financial-planning and research background — as well as your time limitations — it may be worthwhile to contract out this work. Whatever you choose, the plan must portray your ideas and passions and must communicate these to the lenders. If this is your first time approaching a lender for a small-business loan, it often helps to have the name of a reputable accounting or consulting firm attached to your proposal. They may already have established relationships with banks, which may help convince the lender of your ability to meet the loan obligations. Bankers are not experts in the hospitality field, but they are very aware of the high restaurant-fatality rate, and therefore often look to “experts” for their approval of a particular plan.

      The essential parts of the business plan are as follows:

      (a) Cover page and index.

      (b) Statement of objective. If you are seeking money, state how much you need and other pertinent details.

      (c) Executive summary. This is a brief synopsis of the company or partnership, and a description of the proposed restaurant, including:

      (i) Its name, address, phone number, and website address, and any graphics that have been developed (i.e., logo or signage designs).

      (ii) A description of the type and style of your proposed restaurant (e.g., fine dining, bistro, pub, casual dining). Summarize the overall concept as well as the kind of food, décor, and service style. A menu can be inserted here as well as an artist’s rendering of the dining room, color scheme, and description of furniture and fixtures as they support your concept.

      (iii) Location. Describe the proposed site and why it was selected, as well as its access to major routes and other demand generators.

      (iv) Customer profile and target market. Describe the demographic characteristics of your customers. (You can use information from the feasibility study in section 2. for this.)

      (v) Your competition. Describe your competition, then focus on what makes your restaurant unique and how it will fill a void in the marketplace. Discuss how you will compete with existing restaurants. (Once again, the research you СКАЧАТЬ