We want to start our own restaurant

[Putthatbookdown]

we are great cooks but have no idea on the business side. Anyone know how you go about getting premises etc Are these on a lease? What are the costs?

Suggest you find someone to help you create a business plan - a forecast document that realistically projects your costs and revenue forward for at least the first year or two. A bit like they do on Dragon's Den. Some banks have small business advisers that can help, for example, and there are other places you can get similar help in putting one together. I'd even suggest a night-school course because so many restaurants go bust when they're run by great cooks that don't understand a balance sheet.

Rent on premises (and I'm sure your local chamber of commerce can help you locate something suitable) will be just one of many fixed overheads to take into account. On top of that you'll have to calculate start-up costs for equipment, training, decor, licences. Then there are current day-to-day costs like wages, utilities, marketing and supplies. At that point you can start to make some estimates forward on how many covers you need to hit each day to make a profit, how much you'll be able to charge, and how much, if anything, you need to borrow from the bank.

Good luck!!

You might find the info here a useful starter
www.natwest.com/business/business-school/business-guides/start-up/hospitality-sector/default.ashx
Note it says the hospitality and catering sector has the highest rate of business failures. Be really sure that one way or another you can handle the business side as well as the cooking.

I would suggest that you get a part time job in a hotel or cafe or gastro pub first - then you will have some idea of working from the other side of the counter.

It is great that you are great cookers, but aside from the administration of the money side of the business there is a lot of other things going on in a cafe, pub or restaurant.

Knowing how staff work, knowing not to employ to many staff (which is often a great down fall of a business) and working out how you plan to ruin things.

If you think keeping your own jobs and working part time is to much - then think again about the long hours you will need to put into your own place.

For the first two years you will be looking to break even, don't really think about any type of profit until after three or four years.

When you want to open up a food business think about the regulation of how many covers you will be able to have in the building you get - then think about the regulation that the council will allow you to get and then think about what you will do when the council change there minds over the number of covers and reduce that number - yes it does happen

All staff needing food and hygien certificates, this is a requirement and if staff turnover is high it is going to cost each time you employ ( I know soem places just give a quick guide and get t it done online for a small fee to cover themselves - other I know just sail by the wind and chance it) - enviromental visits to check everything - will you know what they would be checking and how to set it up like that in the first place? Food probes, tempertures of friedge etc and keeping charts.

I am not trying to put you off - but as the post above says food is a failure business for a reason and you need to think about the above and then much much more that I can't cover on here right now.

I love hospitality it is great - but it is very long days and hard work. You will be chef, administrator, cleaner, waitress, kitchen porter and receptionist for quite a few hours of the day

Oh I forgot accountant, HR and Wages clerk

Are you really sure. Don't mean to be negative but, honestly, it is such bloody hard wok. There is nothing like having a regular, set amount coming in as well as knowing what your outgoings are. I did a degree in hospitality and management and worked a number of years in the industry with a view to my own place eventually. I was sick of only a few hours off a week, split shifts and bloody rude clientele. It is also not a child friendly vocation. If you love cooking have you thought about home catering, dinner party stuff for private clients or running cookery courses. Not much outlay and easy to walk away from if turns out too much or not a goer. Sorry to be negative.

My parents ran a restaurant, my Mum could only take about a month off work when she had me. I only have vague memories as all finished when I was very young. I think the work is relentless and I also hate to be negative but in the current downturn I think you will have to research your market very carefully.
Income fluctuations are hard to deal with as well.

On a plus side my nephew opened a restuarant 2 years ago and it is doing suprisingly well. He managed to get a good deal on the rental of the premises as it had been vacant for a long time. He did almost all the refurbishment himself, building a bar and some pretty major renovations inside. He lives in a very small town and word of mouth has been the secret of his success. Also some customers are utterly vile, people trying to do runners, making up stuff to try and get a discount. He had a complaint recently that a dish had too much chilli in, but the woman had eaten three quarters of it.

Freudian slip there Ivykaty "working out how you plan to ruin things" !