where to start?

gagomes

Right, so I have no clue where to start about sketching the idea of starting up a business, in this case a restaurant&TA. I lived in UK for 2.5 years and became addicted to indian food; With my return from UK to Ireland, I searched around for good indian food suppliers. I have only found a 2 takeaways/restaurants where the food is half-decent, but as good as my worst experience in UK. So since moving back, I've spent 6 full months working full time on improving my skills in cooking indian food just like the british TAs and restaurants do and I am quite happy with what I can do. I am not a chef by trade, but I can do a bit of everything, except pastries, cakes. In general, there is a lot of chefing skills I could need some training on. I also can't stand the heat as I get fairly irritable, so I would consider hiring a chef that can execute and just do commis/front of house type of work and define the meals for the most part. With that on the side, I need to go to the drawing board and start sketching costs and needs. I have no idea what it takes other than: I need to rent a place, I need to get a license, I need to find staff. So could someone give me some sort of guidance? I don't mean hand-holding, but just pointing me to the right sites/pages of information to get me started

Thanks!

cgarrad

Buy the catering gear in the UK

Rent a kitted out place that closed down, way easier than new build.

Forget about flyer thru the door, spend your money on giving free samples to passer by or at events.

Put all staff on 2 week trials.

gagomes

cgarrad wrote: »

Buy the catering gear in the UK

Rent a kitted out place that closed down, way easier than new build.

Forget about flyer thru the door, spend your money on giving free samples to passer by or at events.

Put all staff on 2 week trials.

Wow, that sounds like some top advice and it sounds like you've been through it yourself!

Thanks! to make it easier to get answers, here are some questions I have in mind: how do you estimate costs of electricity/water/gas. What is the average chef salary. How much/little initial investment do I need on average. License costs and what entities do I need to deal with. What benefits can we take to balance the costs out?

cgarrad

Water is about €2 per 1000l so not a major cost.

Gas is about 3 times cheaper than electricity so use it.

Cheap equipment can use a lot moe electricty.

Chef on €10 to €12. If you hit a weekly target set by you give him 12-14.

If the place is kitted out already €20k, if not probably double.

Loads of food business starter programmes are run, ring the enterprise board.

Two main things to remember:

1.
Work ON your business not IN your business.

2.
Never be afraid to ask you employees for what you want from them. They are YOUR employees.

gagomes

Thanks cgarrad, your tips are greatly appreciated

When you say:

If the place is kitted out already €20k, if not probably double.

Do you mean licensing will cost me around 20k?
if so, why is it this expensive and what does it entail?

Thanks again!

cgarrad

No total startup for 20k. Leave the licencing till they come after you ;-) Say you did not know...

robertdoyle

You should first set out to develop a business plan. This will act as a road map while assessing your businesses viability and potential. When doing it, be constructive and honest, there is no point in writing figures that are unrealistic. I recently wrote a blog in this area: http://trojanconsultations.blogspot.com/2013/04/writing-business-plan.html

If you are interested in developing a good business plan or strategy take a look at www.trojanconsultations.com. By sitting down and doing some intense market research, you should be able to see if the business is a viable idea etc

Peterdalkey

robertdoyle wrote: »

If you are interested in developing a good business plan or strategy take a look at www.trojanconsultations.com. By sitting down and doing some intense market research, you should be able to see if the business is a viable idea etc

I see you are connected to Trojan but for a take away restaurant?

I would have thought the OP would be far better off doing a start your own business course as an initial step, given the very basic nature of the queries posted here. Much of the research required can be done in parallel with the course and have a context.

robertdoyle

Peterdalkey wrote: »

I see you are connected to Trojan but for a take away restaurant?

I would have thought the OP would be far better off doing a start your own business course as an initial step, given the very basic nature of the queries posted here. Much of the research required can be done in parallel with the course and have a context.

I work for a consultation firm called Trojan Consultations, it specializes in strategic planning and dynamic capabilities.

Apologies for my previous post, I was unaware that advertising was prohibited on the site.

cgarrad

robertdoyle wrote: »

You should first set out to develop a business plan. This will act as a road map while assessing your businesses viability and potential. When doing it, be constructive and honest, there is no point in writing figures that are unrealistic. I recently wrote a blog in this area: http://trojanconsultations.blogspot.com/2013/04/writing-business-plan.html

If you are interested in developing a good business plan or strategy take a look at www.trojanconsultations.com. By sitting down and doing some intense market research, you should be able to see if the business is a viable idea etc

Here is the consultancy for a take away or any food business for that matter.

1. Excellent food.
2. Repeat number 1.

robertdoyle

cgarrad wrote: »

Here is the consultancy for a take away or any food business for that matter.

1. Excellent food.
2. Repeat number 1.

If only it was that simple!

gagomes

Thanks for your comments. I had read your blog post and I enjoyed it greatly, although some of what you mention in your business plan is probably overkill for a take-away startup. I also have to agree that I don't think trojan or any other consulting companies alike would offer a great ROI for this type of business. After reading reports that some consulting companies don't do market research properly/at all and just fill out reports full of guess-work, I'd be a bit concerned to use them anywhere near the beginning of a business of this nature (although this is not to say your company trojan is involved in these shenanigans, as I ha ve never worked with it in the past.)

robertdoyle wrote: »

If only it was that simple!

Could you expand on this? thanks

robertdoyle

No problem at all, I am glad you enjoyed it.

Well starting any business today is not easy no matter what size it is. By offering great food at a good price will obviously set you on the right track but I believe that there is a lot more to it. I would be surprised if there was a single restaurant in Ireland that didn't try to offer just that but it is not always a reality. I assume you would personally deal with ordering stock, HACCP regulation, marketing, cooking etc etc. You could cook the best food in the world but if there is nobody there interested, you will have a tough time.

I do not mean to make it sound difficult, it is not. I recommend you sit down and research some locations to set up. The footfall you can expect at these locations and how many of which are in YOUR target market. Also look at nearby competitors and substitutes and check if the location will charge for you to set up. From there you should be able to work out how many sales you can genuinely expect. Work out the cost of each product (include everything from the burger bun to the marker you use to advertise it on the van, petrol etc) and you will see if it can work. I recommend you do a break even analysis which will tell you exactly how much product you will need to flog to cover your expenses.

The beauty of such an enterprise is that it is not all that expensive so even if it crashes, you wont be left in too bad of a situation. On the same note, you want to plan to expand because I don't know many people who want to work late nights at weekends etc.

Also, as you plan and make connections etc, keep your mind open. I have met numerous people that make a decision early on in the planning process and build on it and stick with it unconditionally because they do not want to start again. Always go for the best!

I hope this helps.

robertdoyle

By the way, there is a good quote I read recently in the HBR which stated that: "Only the paranoid survive". While you might think it is over-kill, you need to know absolutely everything that is going on around you. Think of it this way, if you owned a local McDonalds with a turnover of €1.5 million a year and "Gagomes Takeaway" set up around the corner, what would you do? roll over, ignore it or buy it out? None of the above, you would do your best to crush it before it gets too big!

gagomes

Absolutely top notch robert, thanks for your "business centric" insights. I am going to take this into consideration. As I have no prior experience in business (I'm a software engineer myself) I started this topic to try and understand what things I need to plan ahead. I do understand the praticality of cgarrad in his last comment, but I also have to understand having the best food/chef/recipes may not mean success.

I also have to realize whether there is a market for a "proper" indian/bangladeshi restaurant in Dublin, or whether I would have to add other ethnicities to the menu.

Peterdalkey

OP serch out posts on this forum by YellowSheep ( Oliver) he is a very experienced consultant in the whole restaraunt area and has given much sound advice to those thinking of opening one up.

gagomes

Peterdalkey wrote: »

OP serch out posts on this forum by YellowSheep ( Oliver) he is a very experienced consultant in the whole restaraunt area and has given much sound advice to those thinking of opening one up.

Appreciated Peter, I will search his posts

robertdoyle

No problem at all, I am glad it helped. If you need further help you know where to find me.

robertdoyle

robertdoyle wrote: »

No problem at all, I am glad it helped. If you need further help you know where to find me.

Apologies, I do not know why this post is here. I was not trying to steal anyones thunder!

gagomes

robertdoyle wrote: »

Apologies, I do not know why this post is here. I was not trying to steal anyones thunder!

No need to worry rob, you've been more than helpful as far as I'm concerned!