Open a restaurant. Have you ever wondered how to open a restaurant? What are the requirements? How much does the set-up cost? How not to fail?
I propose this brief guide.

The idea of owning your own restaurant is not so easy to achieve successfully. I found that it takes more than just buying the building and opening the store, there are many other factors involved in making sure you are ready for business!

Open a restaurant
The first thing every aspiring restaurateur must do before they can even think of opening their doors to customers who want great food served by trained staff to best serve the needs (and preferences) of each customer.

Open a restaurant: Bureaucracy

In order to start the activity, it is necessary to possess the requisites for the administration of food and beverages, mainly aimed at obtaining Healthcare.

Open a restaurant

You need:

1. a qualifying degree, for example the hotel diploma
2. or have attended a SAB course (food and drink administration)
3. the premises must meet the requirements established by the Municipality for the intended use of the property, the specific health authorizations and those of plant engineering
4. Presentation of the HACCP plan, that is a system of self-control that foresees courses for the owner and employees
5. Compilation of the SCIA (Certified Start of Activity Report), which must be collected and presented at the Single Desk for Production Activities of the Municipality
6. Registration in the Business Register at the Chamber of Commerce
7. Opening VAT number at the Revenue Agency
8. Registration with INPS
9. Inail registration

I advise you to contact a good accountant, who helps you to follow all the practices, otherwise you go crazy!

Open a restaurant: Costs

Open a restaurant

Bureaucratic costs
Now let’s talk about the part that interests us most.

The first cost you will incur is that relating to the establishment of the legal form of the company, which conditions the cost itself.
The most suitable forms are: sole proprietorship, s.r.l. (Limited Liability Company) or s.n.c.
For example, if you decide to open a simplified SRL, you will certainly save € 1,500 from the notary and there is no real minimum payment of the share capital or, better, it exists but amounts to € 1.
Let’s say slightly convenient to the 10 thousand euro of a s.r.l. normal!

Costs to start the activity

Open a restaurant
I will try to be quite generic, because it all depends on what you want to do and where.

A medium-sized restaurant requires:

1. at least 30,000 euros for furniture, kitchen, appliances and various tools
2. if the restaurant needs a renovation, an additional amount of 10,000 to 40,000 euros must be spent
3. between 10,000 and 15,000 euros for tables, chairs, bar counter
4. at least 10,000 euros for the purchase of crockery, pots, tablecloths, uniforms for the staff
5. Including bureaucratic costs, the initial costs for fixed assets vary between € 53,000, in the case of the opening of a Simplified SRL, and over € 80,000 for a normal SRL and a new room.

And it’s not over here. The following aspects are missing:

1. the rent of the premises. In addition to the monthly fee, the deposit must be considered. It does not represent a real cost, as it is given back, but in any case of the money that you will have to take out in advance, and can even reach up to 3 months of rent. I advise you to avoid the agencies, otherwise you will have to pay an extra monthly payment as a commission
2. utilities
3. the annual staff course
4. monthly salaries for cooks, kitchen and dining room staff
5. taxes (which you pay after the first year of operation)
6. raw materials (variable management cost)

Marketing

This stranger! Often restaurateurs make the mistake of not foreseeing it as a cost in the business plan.
I say error because if I don’t do everything to attract and retain customers, for example through a Facebook or PR campaign, I don’t increase the proceeds.
What is the use of investing thousands of euros in an activity if I have no revenue?

By marketing I don’t mean advertising, which aims only to make itself known in this case.

By marketing I mean the reflection on why people should come and eat with you instead of going to the competition or staying home.

How to manage the customer

We have understood that we must put it in the center.
Now ask yourself how to best serve it, then:

1. how to take an effective order
2. how to organize tables and accounts
3. how to manage warehouse stocks so that nothing is ever missing
4. how to be fast with orders

The answer to all these questions is Ristomanager, our restaurant software that will help you simplify the meal sales process and reduce costs, thanks to the statistics function.

Read also: How to choose the right place to open a restaurant