The lingering recession has been difficult on people in a number of industries and the restaurant business is no exception. People have become more selective with their spending and they are choosing to eat out less especially at high end establishments. However, there are still almost one million restaurants across the United States with sales of over $400 billion per year. This lets us know that your business can be extremely successful if it is done right.

One of the keys to being successful is picking the right location. Do your research. Find an area where the effects of the recession have not been as dramatic as others. Search Census Department data to find zip codes where incomes are high and there is a high percentage of homeowners. This information will help you identify areas where people will have the most disposable income to spend on fine dining. You may even want to hire a consultant to do a marketing study to identify areas where your business model will work best. Having data supporting your plan will also help when you go talk to lenders about possible financing.

Successful entrepreneurs who have opened restaurants will tell you that you must be totally committed to the endeavor. Passion for food and people is critical to making it work. The secret to your success will be developing relationships with satisfied customers who will return for dinner again and again. They will expect good food, good service and good value which you will have to deliver every single time. One bad experience and they are going to go somewhere else next time. If there is a problem, be sure to fix it before that customer walks out the door because if you don’t they may never walk back in again. Always remember the rule of thumb: A happy customer will probably tell one person, an unhappy customer will tell 10!

Service is an intricate part of keeping the customer happy. Hire early and selectively. Avoid simply hiring everyone that comes in the door and applies. Use a long hiring process to assure qualified, experienced employees. Once you’ve chosen the best of the best, Make sure to have in depth training sessions. Your employees represent your restaurant and most importantly you. In order to have a successful restaurant make sure they reflect the image you want the public to think of you and your restaurant.

An industry trade group surveys members every month about the outlook for the next six months and the latest report shows the people in the industry expect business to pick up. This can be seen as a very encouraging sign for people interested in starting up a restaurant because it appears people are going out to dinner now in greater numbers and will continue to do so in the future.

Another important aspect to consider before opening your restaurant is your menu. You must look at costs, product mix, palette varieties, allergens, and of course diet fads.

When deciding whether or not the time is right to open a restaurant thoroughly review all of these factors so that you can be as successful as possible.

Author Bio: Kelly Boudreau represents Restaurant Solutions, Inc., a restaurant accounting firm.

Category: Business Management
Keywords: restaurant, operations, software, accounting, payroll, management