How To Build a Restaurant Chain

More than one-third of all new restaurants fail within the first year. With the odds of succeeding at opening one successful restaurant being so steep, it may seem impossible to start an entire restaurant chain; however, it can be done.

First You Need One Successful Location

Before you can start opening multiple locations, you first need one successful location. Begin with a business plan. Your business plan should cover the specific market you want to sell to, the concept of your restaurant, the food you plan to serve, your pricing and how you intend to obtain financing.

It is important to come up with a concept that stands out from the competition and that matches your skillset. If you’re highly skilled at cooking Italian cuisine, it may not make sense to open a Mexican restaurant; however, if there are already a lot of popular Italian restaurants in your city, you will need to think of ways to make yours unique.

Don’t get carried away with your menu. It can be difficult to properly train your staff on an overly large menu. Additionally, you may waste food trying to keep enough inventory on hand to cook everything. Some variety is good, but it is better to keep the menu relatively small.

Finally, you need to have a plan for obtaining financing. In addition to money to purchase or lease a building, you will need plates, cutlery, food, employees, and equipment such as commercial dishwashing equipment.

Choose a Good Location and Provide a Good Customer Experience

Foot traffic can make or break or a new restaurant. Once you gain a following, you can count on word of mouth to bring people to your restaurant, but in the beginning, you are going to need people passing by to stop to eat. It is crucial to choose a location with enough people walking or driving by to attract customers. A location near other attractions, such as movie theaters or shopping centers can be ideal.

Make sure you have adequate parking. If it is too difficult to find a place to park, customers may decide to go somewhere else. You also need to make sure your dining area is attractive, comfortable and efficient. Customers should enjoy the experience of being in your restaurant, but you should also make sure you are turning tables fast enough to make money.

Finally, you need to recruit the right employees and train them well. Your customer service can either drive customers away or keep them coming back. Your employees should be ambassadors for your brand.

Optimize Your Operations

If you hope to open an entire chain of restaurants you need to analyze all of your processes and find ways to optimize them. Your goal should be to get your first restaurant running like a well-oiled machine so that when you are ready to open the second, you have tried and true procedures you can port over so that you can hit the ground running.

It is critical for your restaurant to be able to function without your direct oversight. Once you are operating multiple locations, you will not be able to constantly be in every location, every day.

Develop a Strategy

As your chain grows, your role needs to shift towards strategy and away from the day-to-day operations. Your focus should be on the overall operations of the chain, finances and marketing.

However, you don’t have to take on all these tasks yourself. Your job should be overseeing the big picture. You can delegate specific tasks within these three areas to employees or consultants. It will be critical for you to employ the right people to manage your restaurants so that you can focus on your vision for the business as a whole.

Building a restaurant chain from the ground up is a daunting task. However, if you break this large task down into a series of smaller tasks, it can be done.