Ready to run your own restaurant? Here’s a few things to consider when figuring out how to make the leap from executive chef to business owner.
As a chef, you’re likely used to running the pass, managing your stock and keeping your kitchen in order.
However, running a business requires more. Let’s break down what being a business owner will mean.
Marketing
If you’re a chef, you’ll know to prioritise presentation – it’s your job to make your food look appetising. However, you’ve never needed to worry about getting people to the tables you’re serving.
This can be a daunting thing to wrap your head around, but don’t fret! There are numerous channels available to you that can help get your business off the ground. You don’t need to jump into all of them at once, however starting on social media is a cost effective and easy way of spreading the news.
Your social media presence will be key. The competition on most platforms is steep. You will need to take professional pictures of your food – amateur snaps won’t be enough.
You should also make sure that you appear on popular review sites and encourage happy customers to write about their visit. If you do get negative feedback, the way you handle it will be just as important so be positive and constructive with your reply.
Your local market and word of mouth are also going to play a part in getting bums on seats. Try special offers or taster evenings, or even look at partnering with other local businesses to raise awareness of your name and offering.
Aim to keep your logo and messaging consistent across everything you do.
Monitor your business plan
From the outset, a business owner is expected to write up a plan for their business. This is integral to securing funding from potential investors. Even if you’re funding the business yourself, it still makes sense for you to build a business plan to help keep yourself aligned to the business during its first few years.
Try to make time once a month to review your plan: this can be anything from conducting competitor research to reviewing your financial projections. Additionally, planning for things like seasonal occasions well in advance (i.e. Christmas or Halloween) can give you time to reach out to companies, artists or other businesses who may want to team up with you to host an event.
Grow a network of contacts
If you have chef experience, you may know the advantage of having a network of contacts already. It helps having a reliable food and drink supplier that can help you manage your stock and keep up the quality of your food within budget. Working with people you rely on can be a huge stress reliever, and that goes double for suppliers.
However, as a business owner, you shouldn’t stop there! Attend industry events and hospitality expos. Keep on top of trends and meet other professionals. Not only will this give you a sense of your competition, but it will also put you in contact with equipment suppliers, marketing innovators and designers who you can work with, or at the very least get ideas and inspiration from.
You can also learn a lot by talking to other business owners – network with business owners in all sectors to find out what worked and didn’t work when they were in the start up phase.
Stay current
This is part of the reason to attend expos and meet your fellow restaurateurs; as a business owner, it’s in your interest to know what’s going on in your industry and what customers are coming to expect from their dining experiences.
Subscribe to trade publications. Spend time reading reviews on new restaurants and follow content that describes what delights customers and what turns them off.
They might not always articulate exactly what they want, but they’ll often be very good at highlighting what you should avoid. And that can be invaluable to a business in its infancy.
Most customers will expect a few ‘growing pains’ from your business at launch, however, over time, they will come to have the same expectations of your restaurant as they would of any established business. So, use your time wisely to know what to prioritise and what to avoid so as to retain their custom.
All in all, being a business owner uses a lot of the same skills that an executive chef does. The distinction is that a business owner should always be looking beyond satisfying customers on the day. Make time to learn how to optimise running your restaurant effectively.
Learn more about how to run your restaurant effectively: uk.businessesforsale.com/uk/search/restaurants-for-sale/articles/how-to-run-a-restaurant
It can be a hard transition but being a business owner is about looking beyond the day-to-day running of the business and preparing for opportunities ahead of time.
