Start & Run a Restaurant Business. Brian Cooper

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      (vi) Marketing and advertising strategies. Include any promotional material you’ve developed.

      (vii) Historical information on the business, if applicable.

      (viii) Management team. Describe the experience, expertise, and ability of the team members (chef, dining-room manager, wine steward, and restaurant designer) and emphasize their achievements in the industry. Include information on successes the members of your team have had in running similar restaurants.

      (ix) Ownership and business structure. Describe who will own what percentage of your enterprise, and indicate the business structure (see Chapter 2) under which you plan to operate.

      (d) Financial projections and documents. These statements include your capital budget, projected income (or profit-and-loss) statement, your break-even analysis, projected balance sheet, and projected cash-flow analysis. (See Chapter 4 for a further description of financial statements.) These statements should be created by an outside accountant, bookkeeper, or CPA. Also include a summary of your financial needs: indicate why you are applying for a loan, how much is needed, how much your own investment in the restaurant will be, and any other sources of funding. Describe how the funds will be used, and include any back-up information regarding costs of equipment and furnishings.

      (e) Supporting material to strengthen parts of your business plan. This should include any information you can supply that outlines your previous success or achievements, such as:

      (i) Résumés and personal letters from noteworthy industry associates or leaders recommending you as a professional and good “risk,” as well as press clippings, editorials, testimonials, or awards that have been received by members of your team for outstanding achievement in the hospitality industry.

      (ii) Copies of leases and agreements between you and landlords or equipment companies.

      (iii) Credit reports from banks and any established credit from suppliers or wholesalers.

      Make copies of your business plan for yourself and each lender you approach. Having the business plan spiral bound will give it a professional look and reflect your intent to create a profitable business. Keep track of who has copies of your business plan.

      When it comes to acquiring your financing, be sure to allow enough lead time. It may take up to six months after your business plan has been presented to actually receive the funds.

      For more information on business plans, Self-Counsel Press publishes many business forms and templates.

      2. The Feasibility Study

      The feasibility study is an examination of your proposed restaurant in relation to the existing marketplace. It focuses on defining your competition as well as your potential customers in your selected location. It is called a “feasibility study” because it involves researching the viability of your operation in terms of competition and demand.

      The feasibility study is comprised of an evaluation of both the supply of and the demand for your specific operation. There are firms that specialize in doing the research, compiling the data, and analyzing the results for you, but contracting out your feasibility study can be expensive. Nonetheless, after considering your knowledge of the industry and your time available to do the fieldwork, you may consider it worthwhile to hire a consultant. One internationally respected consulting firm specializing in the hospitality industry is Horwath Consultants, which has more than 250 offices in 80 countries around the world. There are also smaller independent consultants who specialize in the restaurant and hospitality industry who can provide a valuable service to you in the initial stages of your restaurant’s development. Horwath’s chairman, John Burt, has said that only a fraction of his company’s business is restaurant related, as too few prospective restaurateurs do a feasibility study — that may be why so many restaurants fail! With a bankruptcy rate more than double that for the overall economy, it is vital that restaurateurs thoroughly research every aspect of their new venture.

      These are the key components of the feasibility study:

      • Target area analysis

      • Population profile

      • Economic profile

      • Competition analysis

      • Industry and tourism profile

      • Cultural and recreation attractions

      • Real estate marketplace

      2.1 Target area analysis

      The goal of your feasibility study is to assess the local competition and begin to understand your marketplace in terms of its demographics. To do this, you must first establish the boundaries of the area in which you wish to locate your restaurant. The area under consideration should then be described and mapped in terms of access via private vehicle using major highways and routes, public transit, and rail. Research the major communities located within the target area so that you can provide background descriptions on them in your feasibility study, giving emphasis to sectors of those communities that will affect demand for your services. History of the economic development in your target area can be obtained from municipal or town economic development offices. If you are not native to the area, this part of your study will be very valuable in helping you to understand your marketplace. Future development in the target area should be considered here: try to imagine how any new developments will affect your restaurant.

      2.2 Population profile

      Understanding “who” your customers are and “where” they will be coming from is one of the challenges facing a new operation. If you are a neighborhood establishment drawing on the local community, this challenge is the starting point for developing a profile of your customers.

      One place to begin your research is with census data for your target area. The US Census Bureau (a division of the United States Department of Commerce; phone 301-763-4636, or go to www.census.gov) is the primary source of population and demographic information in the United States. The US Census of Population and Housing is conducted every ten years. To obtain more current information, you can contact a demographic-research firm for estimates based on computer-generated projections. Local sources, including municipal planning departments, zoning departments, and building inspectors, are also excellent sources for information on your target area. The World Wide Web is another place to begin your search for information. Many communities have their economic development offices linked to their city’s website, so you can start your information gathering from your office or home before heading out to do the field work.

      In Canada, census information is taken every five years; this information is available from Statistics Canada (Statscan). You can phone them at 1-800-263-1136, or visit them on the web at www.statcan.ca. The Financial Post Data Group (phone 1-800-661-7678, or on the web at www.financialpost.com) is another source of detailed demographic information for the Canadian marketplace. They annually publish — and sell in print and on CD-ROM — Financial Post Markets: Canadian Demographics, which contains demographic information on 700 Canadian markets, broken down by province, city, town, and census division, including data on education levels, labor force, consumer groups, income levels, population projections to 2002 and 2005, and a complete list of industrial development contacts. Copies are also available on loan from the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association library in Toronto (phone 416-923-8416, toll free at 1-800-387-5649, or on the web at www.crfa.ca).

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