How to Open a Restaurant

Open a restaurant. Have you ever wondered how to open a restaurant? What are the requirements? How much does the setup cost? How not to fail?
I offer you this short guide.

The idea of owning your own restaurant is not so easy to achieve successfully. I've found that it takes more than just purchasing the building and opening the shop, there are many other factors involved in making sure you're ready for business!
The first thing any aspiring restaurateur must do before they can even think about opening their doors to customers who want great food served by staff trained to best serve each customer's needs (and preferences).

Opening a restaurant: Bureaucracy

Open a restaurant

To be able to start the business, you must meet the requirements for the administration of food and drinks, aimed mainly at obtaining the Health Suitability.

To open a restaurant, the requirements for food service administration must be met.

Open a restaurant

Being an entrepreneur in this restaurant industry is not as easy as it may seem at first glance because there is so much paperwork and other tasks that go along with managing one such as purchasing equipment or hiring staff members which can take up all your time if they don't perform well enough during their probationary period, but those who do will have no problem getting jobs because demand always exceeds supply.

You need:

1. a qualifying qualification, for example the hotel diploma
   or having attended a SAB course (food and beverage administration)
2. the premises must possess the requirements, established by the Municipality, for the intended use of the property, the specific health authorizations and those of plant engineering
3. Presentation of the HACCP plan, i.e. a hygienic-sanitary self-control system which includes courses for the owner and employees
4. Compilation of the SCIA (Certified Report of Start of Activity), which must be collected and presented at the One-Stop Shop for Productive Activities of the Municipality
5. Registration in the Business Register at the Chamber of Commerce
6. Opening of VAT number at the Revenue Agency
7. Registration at INPS
8. Registration to INAIL

I advise you to contact a good accountant, who will help you follow all the procedures, otherwise you will go crazy!

Opening a restaurant: Costs

In the beginning, there is a lot of hard work and time put into making sure that everything is in order before you even turn on the oven. You need to hire someone who can help you with all aspects, from cooking food for customers to decorating at night when the place is closed for catering - many people don't realize how much it takes to run this type of business!

Expenses may include property taxes or rent payments, as well as costs of equipment such as refrigerators, stovetops, dishwashers, microwaves, warming cabinets, meters, plus workers' wages, payroll taxes, health insurance, social security, disability, unemployment, cash transfers.

Bureaucratic costs

Now let's talk about the part that interests us most.

The first cost you will have to bear is that relating to the establishment of the legal form of the company, which affects the cost itself.
The most suitable forms are: sole proprietorship, limited liability company. (Limited Liability Company) or s.n.c.

For example, if you decide to open a simplified LLC, you will certainly save 1,500 euros from the notary and there is no real minimum payment of the share capital or, better yet, it exists but it amounts to 1 euro.
Let's say slightly convenient for the 10 thousand euros of an LLC.normal!

Costs to start business

I'll try to be quite general, because it all depends on what you want to do and where.

In a medium-sized restaurant you need:

1. at least 30,000 euros for furniture, kitchen, appliances and various tools
2. if the place needs a renovation, you have to spend a further amount ranging from 10,000 to 40,000 euros
3. between 10,000 and 15,000 euros for tables, chairs, counter bar
4. at least 10,000 euros for the purchase of crockery, pots, tablecloths, uniforms for the personal

Including bureaucratic costs, the initial costs for fixed assets vary between 53,000 euros, in the case of opening a Simplified LLC, and over 80,000 euros for a normal LLC and a premises made available new.

And it doesn't end there. The following aspects are missing:

1. therental 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 still money that you will have to come up with in advance, and it can even reach up to 3 months' rent. I advise you to avoid agencies, otherwise you will have to pay an extra monthly payment, as commission
2. le utilities
3. the annual course of personnel
4. salaries monthly to cooks, kitchen and dining room staff
5. taxes (which you pay after the first year of operation)
6. raw materials (variable cost of management)

Marketing

This stranger! Restaurateurs often 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 campaign on Facebook or PR, I won't increase the proceeds.
What's the point of investing thousands of euros in a business if I don't have revenue?

By marketing I don't mean advertising, which has the sole objective of making itself known in this case.

By marketing I mean thinking about why people should come and eat at your place, instead of going to the competition or staying at home.

How to handle customer

We understood that we need to put it at the center.
Now ask yourself how best to serve it, then:

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

The answer to all these questions is Ristomanager, our software for restaurants that will help you simplify the process of sale of meals and to reduce costs, thanks to the function statistics.