How to Open a Restaurant in India: The Ultimate Step By Step Guide

How To Open A Restaurant Business In India – 14 Best Tips for Success

To start a restaurant business you need to go through a series of processes to get your investment in the right direction. Moreover, the restaurant business is very vast and competitive, so it’s necessary to prepare yourself and know all the ins and outs of the restaurant industry.

However, if you are new and don’t know how to start a restaurant business in India, then this blog is definitely for you. We have explained detailed steps you can go through and establish your business.

Decide The Restaurant Business Concept

The first step in the process of starting your restaurant, you determine the concept of your restaurant. You need to have a framework of the restaurant you want in your mind as well as on the paper. Deciding the business concept is crucial to deciding the way of planning and strategies towards your business establishment. However, your business concept depends on two things:-

1. Market Analysis And Research

Research is an important step before putting your step in any business as a well-researched business has a higher success rate than others. Moreover, it’s important to know the market you are investing in and who will be your target audience. Your target audience is an important criterion for deciding your type of business. In addition, analyze your competitors and decide the concept of your business which is unique and innovative in the market. Research the eating habits, and choices of your target audience and develop your restaurant concept accordingly.

2. Budget

Budget plays an important role in deciding the business concept. As the food business is very vast and dynamic, there is no end to how much we can invest in a business. Thus, your business concept should be such that it fits your budget.

Moreover, there are multiple business concepts you can start your restaurant with:

• Casual restaurants, and others
• Bakeries and eateries
• Fine dine restaurant
• Coffeehouse
• Food vans
• Cafe

In addition, once you finalize the type of business, you must get to the point of deciding the theme of your restaurant. Along with this, it’s important to decide on the interior design, furniture, and ambiance of your restaurant.

3. Have A Business Plan

Once you are done with your business concept, you need to have a strategic business plan for your restaurant. Having a business plan is important as it directs you in the right direction. Moreover, once you create a business plan, it becomes easy to explain it to any investors or partners for your restaurant business. In addition, there are a few things important to consider while making a business plan:-

• Where will you open your restaurant?
• How will you fund your business?
• How to market your business?
• How much investment is needed to make your restaurant business possible?

Thus, these few points will give you better insights into designing the best business plan and proceeding smoothly.

4. Estimate The Budget

If you are going to invest in a restaurant, you must have an estimate of how much it is going to cost or how much you need to invest. Ideally, if you are the owner, you must have a vision of the operational cost of your restaurant. There are a few costs you need to consider while estimating your budget:-

• POS system cost – Point of sale is an important part of restaurants now, so you need to invest in a high-quality and better-functioning POS system.
• Food cost – You need to calculate the budget for the raw materials and ingredients you would need to start your commercial kitchen.
• License – You need to obtain a legal license from the government authorities which will charge according to your business type.
• Marketing – It will take some amount of revenue as it is important to showcase your restaurant to your target audience.
• Kitchen equipment – High-quality commercial kitchen equipment costs a little bit high, but it’s a long-term investment.
• Staff and manpower cost – Manpower cost is important to calculate as it is part of your heavy expenses.
• Rent cost –  you need to calculate the rent you will be charged if you choose the bustling location.
• Interiors – some of your revenue will be used in designing and completing the interiors.

5. Get Funding And Investments

Once you calculate the estimate of costs you will have to open a restaurant, it’s important to get the funding to start your restaurant business. Moreover, if you have enough savings to start a restaurant business, then you don’t need to look for investors. However, if you want to get funding for your restaurant business, then there are a few ways:-

• Take a loan from a friend or family – You can ask for funding from your friends or family members if it would be possible to sanction such a large amount.
• Venture capitalists or angel investors: You can get your funding from venture capitalists as they are easy to get on the table.
• Loans: You can apply for bank loans or from any financial institution to get the funding for your restaurant business.

6. Choose The Location

Location plays an important role in the customer flow and success of any food business. Thus, it’s important to choose the location wisely. Moreover, choose the location as per your market research and analysis, understanding your competitors and your target audience. In addition, there are a few things you should keep in mind before finalizing the location:-

• Your location should have ample space to showcase your business concept and unique successful business.
• The location should be accessible to your target audience and visible to other people as well.
• There should be parking space as it’s an important criterion for any restaurant.
• The location should fit in the expected budget.

7. Get The Legal Formalities Done

If you want your restaurant to run smoothly, it’s important to go through all the legal formalities and get your restaurant registration done. Moreover, before registering, you need to decide the name of your restaurant as it’s important to give your brand name for registering your business and register a trademark. In addition, there are multiple licenses you need to get and go through multiple documentation processes.

• Register Your Business

To register your business, you need to choose the type of business entity of your restaurant. It includes sole proprietorship, corporation, limited liability partnership, and others. Moreover, you need to register your business and register for your brand trademark:-

• No objection certificate
• Eating house license
• Business license
• GST registration
• FSSAI License
• Registration for Shop and Establishment Act

8. Design Your Restaurant Interiors

Design your restaurant with the most unique aesthetics and theme that reflects your business concept. Moreover, customers stick to places which offer both aesthetics and good food. Thus, you need to be creative and out of the box, to outshine your restaurant among competitors.

9. Decide The Menu

The menu is the key aspect of any restaurant’s success. So, there is a need to wisely craft a menu that will attract your target audience and generate profit. Moreover, you should decide on the menu keeping foods that are easy and quick to cook. It is beneficial if you design the menu with a font size and colour that would make the menu more attractive. In addition, the menu is the way you can create an impact on customers’ minds and a good impression of your restaurant.

10. Commercial Kitchen Equipment

Once you get the menu, it’s easy to decide which kitchen equipment is important for your restaurant. The kitchen is the backbone of any restaurant, so equipping your kitchen with high-quality commercial kitchen equipment is crucial for the success of your restaurant. The most common kitchen equipment includes:-

• Cooking utensils
• Cooking ranges
• Deep freezer
• Deep fryer
• Food processor and Mixer
• Commercial refrigerators
• Ovens, and many more

11. Hire And Train Staff

Staff interact with the customers and represent your restaurant. Thus, hiring the right staff is important to make your position in the restaurant industry. Moreover, hire the eligible person and train them according to your business concept and environment to create a positive vibe in the restaurant. Your staff should be friendly, and positive, and must have good communication skills. In addition, there are different types of staff you will need to hire for your restaurant business:-

• Chef and kitchen staff: You need to hire an experienced chef that has specialization in your menu. In addition, you will need support and food preparation staff members.
• Management staff: You must have well-trained managers, cashiers, store managers, and others to manage the smooth operative functioning of your restaurant.
• Service staff: You need to hire waiters, housekeeping, service staff, cleaning staff, and others.

12. Install The Right Pos System

POS system is a recent technology that makes restaurant operations easy to manage online. Moreover, installing the best POS system will enhance the productivity and efficiency of your restaurant. Earlier POS system was only to manage the payments. But now, the POS system has a lot more functions that involve.

• Third-party integration
• Customer management
• Inventory management
• Third-party integration
• Payment gateways
• Customer loyalty program
• Staff management, and many more.

13. Marketing Your Restaurant

In this era of the digital world, digital marketing is a smart way you can strategically plan to market and promote your restaurant. Moreover, marketing is important to attract a large customer base and make your restaurant popular. However, there are a few strategies you must follow to market your restaurant:-

Social Media

• Social media in today’s world is a very powerful tool that can make your business successful in no time. Moreover, you need to create a social media handle for your restaurant where you can interact with your target audience and showcase your business concept. You can choose to advertise your business on social media including Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Google Ads, and others.

Offline Mode

• Think of a unique creative way of attracting more customers. In addition, you can arrange special weekend gatherings which will lead to high customer flow.
• You can now use the offline method and advertise your restaurant in traditional ways such as printing ads in newspapers, pamphlets, brochures, etc.
• Invite local influencers for the opening day as it will create a lot of engagement and become popular among the target audience.
• Post the latest photos and videos of your restaurant along with the interiors, seating arrangements, and good food.
• Offer special discounts, bonuses, and coupons that would compel the customers to stay a while.
• Create a website where you can ask customers to review your restaurant.

14. Plan Your Opening Day

Opening day for any restaurant owner is special and auspicious. So, decide the date of opening as per your spiritual day if any. Moreover, it is advised to open your restaurant in the presence of some local influencers that will bring a large customer flow to your restaurant.

Conclusion

Starting a restaurant business is an exciting journey to start your own business. Moreover, many people are quitting their desk jobs and starting their own restaurant business. The food business is very vast and dynamic, so starting a restaurant requires a lot of planning and strategies to run and establish it successfully.

Moreover, the food business is something where you can start making a profit at the start of your business.

However, if you are new and looking at how to start a restaurant business in India, then the above pointers may serve as a great help. Talking about steps on how to open a restaurant in India, you need to create a business concept, budget estimations, get funds, invest in the right location, staff, kitchen equipment, and many more.

Thus, if you are ever confused about how to start a restaurant business in India, then there is a stepwise guide explaining every detail required.