Food For Thought - Ready, Set, Launch
London is a foodie’s paradise. With some of the best restaurants in the world, it’s no wonder that so many people are looking to open their own eatery in the city. With high costs and stiff competition, ensuring that your strategy and planning are on point is crucial to launching something that is both successful and sustainable.
Know Your Market
When launching a product in any sector, knowledge is key! Not only do you need understanding of the food industry, but also the know-how on running a business. If you don’t have prior experience in running a restaurant you may want to consider hiring a seasoned manager who can help you to navigate the industry. Opening a restaurant is hard work!
Understand Your Concept
London is such a diverse City, with so many concepts already ‘discovered’. Deciding on a concept that is unique is essential. Think about what kind of experience you would like your guests to have and what food/drink you want to serve.
If you are a chef, the chances are that you may already have a pretty good idea on what you want to serve. However, if you aren’t sure, take some time to get to know the area and explore the food scene. Do you want to offer fast food, takeout/delivery, table service or a food truck?
Ensuring that your concept is unique in some way can help ensure its success.
Who’s Coming To Dinner?
Oftentimes, prospective restauranteurs overlook their own target audience, which is unfortunate as the restaurant’s target audience is an important element of success or failure. You may have an interesting and exciting idea for your new restaurant, however if it doesn’t fit your local demographic, more often than not it can lead to failure.
When looking to find out your target audience, there are a number of important questions that need to be asked: average household income, age, business complex vs residential, ethnicity, home ownership, rent & house prices, food trends, other major attractions in the area, etc. You’ll also want to ascertain as to whether your audience is predominantly locals, commuters or travellers, some studies say that anywhere between 60-80% of your customers are within a 1-2 mile radius.
Location, Location, Location!
The location of your restaurant is just as important as the concept. Some of the most popular (and most expensive) places to open a restaurant are the likes of Soho, Mayfair, Covent Garden, Shoreditch and Notting Hill. That said there are a great many intriguing neighbourhoods across the City that could prove to be incredibly lucrative.
It Pays To Be Different
Once you’ve decided where you want to lay down roots, it is imperative to know what your competitors are doing. You need to find out a number of things: What food they are serving? What is their price point? What is their atmosphere/ambience like? Who are their guests? All of this information will help you to make some decisions on how you want to position your restaurant. The most important thing is to make sure that you are doing something that your competitors are not (lower price point, unique cuisine or experience, etc).
Build A Team That Works
Your team are going to be the backbone of your business and the more you put into recruiting the right people, the more it is going to benefit both you and your business.
Unfortunately, Brexit has seen many talented people in the hospitality industry leave the country so finding great people isn’t as easy as it was a few years ago. Focus on finding people that share your vision and who are passionate about providing great service to your guests.
The Humble Restaurant Menu
Your restaurant menu is one of the most important aspects of your restaurant, so it is imperative to get it right. Once you have a head chef in place, you can work together to curate a menu that reflects your concept and will appeal to your target market.
You will want to regularly review the menu based on what is popular and also what your guests are saying - actively listening to feedback is so important in keeping guests happy.
Many restaurants (even those that are well-established) make the mistake of overriding their chefs. Trust the expertise of your team, this is why you hired them in the first place!
Make, Taste, Tweak, Repeat
Test your menu before you launch. Invite some friends or family to come and try your dishes to provide honest feedback. You can then make any necessary changes before opening to the public. If you have any friends with food or restaurant experience be sure to include them in your test group as their feedback will be invaluable.
Effective Marketing
Now you’ve laid down some solid foundations you need to ensure that your prospective guests know about it. Social media is a great tool that reaches a wide audience and can be very cost effective. Create accounts on all social media platforms and start talking about your restaurant. Getting positive press coverage can be really helpful in raising awareness about your restaurant. If you’re working with a PR company, have them send out a press release to see if they can get coverage across local, nation and online publications. Londoners love a new restaurant so getting featured in the right place can be hugely beneficial.
You will also want to think about what your long-term strategy will be and what sorts of campaigns you might like to run.
Lights, Camera, Action
There are a number of ways to launch your restaurant, whether it be a soft launch or larger launch event (or both), each with their own benefits. A soft launch will allow you to get further feedback, but also try out your systems (and also your new team). A launch event will showcase your restaurant to the media and other VIP clients and could result in further press coverage (depending on who is attending).
Launch The Restaurant
On the day of launch, make sure everything is running smoothly and be sure the team are pumped up. Remember that not all restaurants go off with a bang, it can take time to build up a loyal customer base. Keep working heard and promoting your restaurant, you will start to see positive results.
Final Thoughts
While opening a restaurant in London is a large undertaking, it can also be incredibly rewarding. The most important thing to remember is that thorough research and careful planning will help to make your venture a success.
Project in the pipeline?? Let’s create something exceptional…
