i have an intriguing idea for a restaurant chain. i have been working on this idea for about five years and have not been able to come up with financial clout that i need to do this because i have a small diner that does aprox. 100K yr. i was wondering if anyone had any advice on opening a restaurant chain? the name i have chosen is catchy my slogan is extrodinary the design is unique with food is exceptional. i have the recipes down to a science Colonel Sanders would be proud but this is not a chicken restaurant its speciality would be catfish, steaks, pork, and chicken done like southern restaurant you have ever seen it will take off like wildfire in the southeast. please if anyone knows how i can get this off the ground please let me in on it places such as gatlinburg, tn., pigeon forge,tn. or branson,mo. would be great starting locations. YUM FOODS should try to get their investors in this great restaurant idea for the southeast
123274
I suggest you first prepare a business plan and thoroughly think through your concept. Clearly describe what makes your business idea stand apart and why this restaurant chain will be successful. For samples of restaurant business plans, you can check out:\n\nhttp://www.bplans.com/spv/3259/index.cfm?affiliate=pas\nhttp://www.bplans.com/spv/3228/index.cfm?affiliate=pas\n\nThen you may want to go and pitch your ideas where investors gather. Here are some places where angel investors come and those looking for funding can come and pitch their business plans. \n\nAngel Capital Association http://www.angelcapitalassociation.org\nAngel's Forum http://www.angelsforum.com \nBand of Angels http://www.bandangels.com \nCommon Angels http://www.commonangels.com \nKeiretsu Forum http://www.k4forum.com \nLaunchpad Venture Group http://www.launchpadventuregroup.com\nNew World Angels http://www.newworldangels.com \nNew York Angels http://www.newyorkangels.com \nPrairie Angels http://www.prairieangels.org (charges $125 to submit idea)\nRobin Hood Ventures http://www.robinhoodventures.com (charges $250)
234973
Hi there, running any kind of business is always risky. I suggest you take management and marketing workshops instead of selling the cafe. New ideas for your cafe, may be the solution you need to start making money. \nGood Luck, ;)
196784
If you want to help, you can place an ad in the newspaper on business supl. depending what kind of food, you can also ad in different languages. The other point is to send inforamtion about this restaurant to others restaurant's owners, sometimes they want to expand and they don't care if the revenue is ok or not. But tell the owner he has to invest some money to sell it!!!
507493
The place is very crucial, for FMCG products. In what state you are going to set-up, your establishment? Further, what are the products you are interested in. If you start with one, the other companies having similar products will follow. If you write to me in detail, I can advise you.
37964
I was inspired for a small business when I took a vacation to the island of Molokai. The locals did not want any development.\n\nJust like every where, there is an agricultural operation nearby. I thought it would be cool to buy the hides from the slaughter house and start a leather crafting business. On Molokai, they had a slang term for visitors "howley" (that is not how to spell it)\n\nAnyway, I thought I could stitch together a bunch of slap-jacks and imprint "No howleys!" on one side and have a colorful depiction of a tropical island on the reverse side along with "Molokai." I thought I could create jobs and make a fortune selling souvenirs at the same time. Everyone should be happy, right?
128529
I recently retired from the real estate business in Central Florida after 27 years. For the past two years I have been offering free business mentoring services to young entrepreneurs. I can offer a variety of small business ideas depending on your personal interest and abilities. I will also make myself available for consultations by email or phone. I do not charge for these services.\n\nI must tell you that it is very difficult to get any (legal) business into a positive cash flow position that would be equivalent to your full time job. Most businesses take at least a few months to a year or more to start generating that kind of income. Can you afford to wait?\n\nIf you want to know more, please feel free to write to Bruce at boatclub@go.com . I will you help if I can.
208260
If you're looking to make your first venture into the business world as an owner, I suggest one of two things:\n\n1) Forget the food business, it's the most complicated industry out there. In no other industry are you expected to be a warehouse and a manufacturer, with parts that are perishable, be a retailer, run a delivery business, and sell service also.\n\n2) If you insist on the food business, especially with no experience, find a very, very well structured franchise to buy into. Forget the cost, it's a drop in the bucket when you weigh out the chances of success or failure compared to trying to build a concept from scratch.\n\nThe risks of getting involved in the food business are evidenced by the failure rate of restaurants. These failure rates don't even take into account all the country club, college and university food services that lose money every year and have to be subsidized by other departments. There are unsubstantiated rumors about the food industry that place failure rates as high as 90% in the first year. Though that is a gross exageration, the failure rate in the restaurant world is high, just ask your banker, accountant or lawyer. They deal with it every day. There's a reason restaurant loans are among the toughest to get approved for. According to a report in Restaurant Startup & Growth magazine, based on information gathered from the National Restaurant Association, it's estimated that around 57% of restaurants don't live past the five year mark. Of these, the main casualties are independent restaurants. While 7 of 10 independent restaurants will likely fail, 7 of 10 franchise restaurants will survive. As there are many, many people out there that don't realize the value that real structure will bring to their restaurant, and increase their chances of survival, the greater number of independent restaurants opening compared to franchise restaurants pushes the total restaurant failure rate to 57%.\n\nMost other businesses contain elements of only one or two different industries. With a simpler business, it is much easier to focus on marketing and growth than with a restaurant. Inside a restaurant, most your day is filled with operational procedures, and you CAN NOT work ON a business if you are working IN the business 60 hours or more a week.\n\nBrandon O'Dell\nO'Dell Consulting\nRestaurants/Retail/Bars\nwww.bodellconsulting.com
596866
I just bought one... Best way is to get an accurate income (their may be money sliding by to keep the taxes down).  Accurate costs is also needed, food mainly but don't forget payroll, water, electricity, taxes and insurance... The rest is pretty much like any real estate.  Is the area growing?... Restaurants are also seaonal, this month may provide a significant income but december may lose money, look at the year not the month, sometimes it helps to look at the last 5 years, which can help you predict the next five... \nA huge question is... If it is doing so weel why sell it.... The restaurant business is a trench fight and buying an establish money maker is the way to go
57568
Be prepared for the risk. About 90% fail within 2 years.\nIf you REALLY want to do it, and can afford to lose your money, here's my advice.\n\n1. Choose a city that doesn't have a lot of chain restaurants - they will eat up your business.\n\n2. Choose a location that doesn't have a lot of similar competition.\n\n3. Choose a high traffic location.\n\n4. Choose a location where people have $$$$ !\n\n5. Choose a location where people understand the culture of your food.  (Will exotic sushi work in the Ozarks?)\n\n6. Before you rent or buy a space. Talk to your neighbors aobut how other businesses have fared in that space.\n\n7.  Make sure there is parking!\n\nNotice EVERYTHING IS BASED ON LOCATION AND COMPETITION.\nAlmost nothing else matters.  Have you ever been to a restaurant that stinks but does great business?
389497
OK, do you really want to nock your brothers socks off?\n\nTry following some or all of this:\n\nAnytime you want to start any kind of business, there are several basics that you will need:\n\n* You should first sit down and think about what it is you want to do and then write out the scenario in detail!  This may sound tedious, but it will help you clarify what it is you are thinking about.  Also, when you talk to anyone about the business (mentor, bank, clients, prospective investor), you will have a clear vision to share with him or her.  You can check any number of books at your local library or the Internet for ideas on creating a business plan or goals list.\n\n* Is there anyone out there doing something like what you want to do already?  Can you research what it is that they do and maybe even talk with them about what they do?\n\n* Are there businesses out there that are doing some aspect that you want to do?  In this case, you want to create an online drop shipment business.  What websites have you seen that you like (can you talk with them)?  How does the local McDonalds or other retail outlet do business that might help you in yours (i.e. how is McDonalds able to provide a product to a customer on demand at almost anytime of day – and do it with a much of high school kids)?\n\n* Never listen to anyone who says that you CANNOT do something UNLESS they have been there and tried that!!!!!  Anyone can tell you the good things that you can try or do, however, only someone who has actually tried the specific thing your are thinking can truly give you advise on the pitfalls that could await the unsuspecting.\n\n* If you want to look for a mentor (free or paid – although mentors usually offer their time at no cost), the question that you should be ready to address is WIIFM (What In It For Me {the mentor})!  What are you willing to do for your mentor to help them with something that they may need (for me it’s simple – I am looking for 10 points :-)\n\n\nContacts:\n\n* Contact your local Better Business Bureau or Chamber of Commerce – they have business people who will help start up operations.\n\n* Contact your local high school, community college or university and find out whom the teachers are for courses related to your business (like business or computer/internet classes).  Contact these teachers to get some ideas or even to see if they will take you company startup on as a class project or special project for some of the student to work on (might give the students extra credit and you a free startup).  In the worst case, you might get the names of some good students whom you might hire to do certain aspects of what you need at a very low cost.\n\n* Contact you local, county or state governments (check their websites) – many areas have small business administrations (or some other agency that can help with various things) that have any number of references and resources available at little or no cost.\n\n* Go to your local library in the Reference Section and find the Encyclopedia of Associations.  It is a three-book set published by Gale Research.  The first book lists thousands of tiles of professional organizations and groups.  It will give a code number to use in the other two books to find out more about that organization.  Contact the organizations who have something to do with your idea and find out if they have a services to give you advise or local groups that you can network with.  In many cases, just asking for membership and publications information may give you a lot of useful stuff.\n\n\nOther outstanding sources that I have used in running my four businesses:\n\n* Nightingale-Conant – the largest producer of audio/video training programs in the world.  Many of their programs can be borrowed for free from local libraries.  http://www.nightingale.com\n\n* Entrepreneur Magazine (http://www.entrepreneurmag.com) – many great tips and ideas about running a company.\n\n* Rich Dad Poor Dad - http://
607137
I happen to own a business where all my clients are bars and restaurant owners.  From the short description you gave it sounds to me like a bar without alcohol.  All bars and most restaurants make thier real money by selling drinks for $4-$6 which cost them about 60 cents.  I am guessing that you could not sell very many $5 Cokes.  They usually have a cover charge and sell food but the real profit center is the bar.  It sounds like you would have all the costs associated with owning a bar but not have the major profit center.  Also, being in a rural area you would limit your door revenue by having a smaller, less dense population.  As with any business plan, look very carefully at how your revenue would be generated and how many patrons you could realistically get in the door (and on a regular basis - young folks are finicky).  Good luck!
49712
Restaurants do not generate a profit for several years. And is a very high risk business and there is a very high probability that your restaurant closes. \nIn the remote case your restaurant actually generates a profit invest all the profits in the restaurant and open a second location.\nGet a salary for yourself if you only have one business and pay very low wages to your employees. If you a very generous you will not survive.\nA college student used to make $10 USD per hour and the business owner had to work elsewhere and left him in charge of the business. He now makes $1000 a Week and hired another employee to help him 12 hours a day (It's a 24 hour business) and he could not keep the business open. If you want to know how the story ended you should really see the film "Boiler Room" \nIf your employees want to share the profits of your business let them invest a little money in your business. Ask them to give you just $10 a day to invest in your restaurant and see how many actually believe in you. If you close they just move to another restaurant and keep working there for the rest of their lives.
342658
if ur looking for a franchise, $ is not the first to look at. have to research and understand the the biz more :) i hv friends in 7/11 franchise biz and Ya kun can give u more tips. feel free to email me :)
6888
Make sure to check on the insurance.  It can be very high for a new business.  Are you going to be serving alcohol?  Liquor liability costs a lot.  When you do open, get the word out there.  Tell everyone.  Hand deliver take-out menus to all the local businesses for lunch.  Introduce yourself.
129157
I want to open my own business someday. I had troubles thinking about what is good to open, but then I figure if its gonna be my business, open something I know I would enjoy for the rest of my life.  And since its the business you know you'll love, it shouldn't matter if you can start it in your town or have to move across the state because you need to be in a place where your business is demanded. OH, make sure you know all the finacial stuff or find someone who does :)
580852
My guess is that the owners are not re-examining basic business plan assumptions.  Time to get creative, obviously something about the basic financial model of a chinese restaurant at this location isn't working.... so the cash flow isn't sufficient to sustain the operation.   Anyone taking over the location needs to check out the neighborhood, traffic patterns, demographics and develop a very specific financial plan that matches the facts.  A lot of people go in "with a hope and a prayer", and that's not a smart way to start a business.
336763
the right marketing plan is essential for a restaurant... they should list themselves on the web in places like http://www.menuserve.com/ where thousands of people are looking daily!