If you’ve always had a love for food, opening a restaurant can be an exciting entrepreneurial opportunity. Whether you’re planning on being the owner, the chef, or both, there’s something about the fact that food brings people together that makes running your own restaurant an incredibly rewarding business venture.
While starting your own business is difficult regardless of the industry, there are a lot of factors that go into launching your own restaurant. From planning a menu to finding a location, picking out decor, and hiring and training waitstaff, your to-do list as a restaurateur is likely to be quite long. Here are three things you’ll want to do first as you outfit your restaurant and get it ready for opening day.
1. Acquire commercial equipment.
In order to operate your restaurant, you’re going to need to invest in the proper equipment to prep, cook, and store your dishes and ingredients in the commercial amounts you’ll be working with. Restaurant equipment and supplies are different than the sorts of items you could buy from a big box store, so you’ll want to find a reputable source for commercial restaurant equipment in order to stay up to code and produce food at the volume necessary to run your own restaurant.
When it comes to commercial cooking equipment, you’ll want to be sure to have a reliable range, grill, and ovens You might also need a deep fryer, depending on what sorts of cuisine you’ll be preparing. Beyond cooking equipment, you should also purchase some cooking equipment that helps you with food prep, like blending equipment or commercial mixers. Finally, make sure that you have commercial refrigeration equipment and ice makers in order to keep your food and drinks the proper temperature.
2. Protect your restaurant with a surveillance system.
Unfortunately, restaurants are frequent targets for robberies. Sometimes, your threats are internal and not external, as customers dine and dash or bad employees steal from your register. A security camera dome can be an excellent option for security surveillance in a bustling restaurant, thanks to their unparalleled field of view and coverage indoors. A company like Verkada may be an excellent option for purchasing dome security cameras for your restaurant, as its hybridized approach and suite of tools offer powerful possibilities for your restaurant.
Dome cameras are a sleek, discrete, and vandal-proof option when it comes to surveillance cameras. Some of the features of Verkada’s software and surveillance cameras that make them so useful for restaurants include motion detection and end-to-end encryption. Plus, with Verkada’s fully-featured surveillance security system, you’ll get the option to review high-resolution footage on a variety of devices.
3. Plan your restaurant concept.
While the above tools are tangible, one of the most important parts of planning your restaurant is coming up with an exciting and appealing concept. Your restaurant’s concept serves as the umbrella that governs everything from your restaurant’s decor to its menu items and name. For example, you may decide that you want to open a restaurant focusing on classic Italian cuisine or family-style seafood dishes from the New England region. Your theme will help you define every aspect of your menu, from appetizers and entrees to drinks, cocktails and desserts.
This sort of decision can also help to inform your decor, helping flesh out your customers’ experience by creating an environment that communicates a certain feeling. You’ll want to think about how each aspect of their dining experience, from the place settings to the tables, chairs, and linens help tell your concept’s story. Coming up with a unique restaurant concept can help you set your business apart from other restaurants in the area, and help you attract the clientele you want to build your business on.
