Great advice. We’re just in the initial looking phase right now, but plan to do a lot of homework. There seems to be a lot of items on the menu, and we’d probably seriously consider cutting some things out. The challenge of coming up with promotions is very appealing, not to mention having a marketing effort to include FB and Twitter. The existing owner does not have any visible marketing efforts right now.
Listen to the folks here telling you how to get it done and ignore all the naysayers.
That’s my advice, good luck!
In the first few months it will make tracking every ticket item and every menu item much easier. Menu items, pricing, ingredients and sundries stocking, results of various test pilot promotions, staffing levels at various times.
As mentioned above, you can also play the various restaurant POS terminal vendors off each other to get the best price. The freaking credit card surcharges will eat away your razor thin profits on marginal and loss leader menu items if you aren't careful.
Heck, this guy I knew downloaded the sports schedule to every local team and turned it into a excel spreadsheet so he could track which sports events brought in the best crowds for him... granted he was a sports bar near a college town. DO NOT show UFC fights!!
Bank financing will be difficult in the current environment, CIT has basically shut down, leaving a void in the particular banking sector you need to utilize.
Check out SBA websites, and SBA loan options,
however without a 5 year track record and a solid business plan most SBA loans will be unattainable. So as mentioned above, get a solid 5 year business plan written so you are qualified for some of the business loans. Try to avoid Bank of America's small business lending unit, total freaking crooks with the new fees and hidden surcharges. You will also need prior years taxes, work history, forms of collateral, references etc available for which ever bank you start working with. The banks in California will demand personal collateral if you don't have a current business with assets to use as collateral. Ask yourself what you expect to happen to your community if in 5 years California has not recovered from this recession. Ask yourself what your community will look like in 5 years if California springs back from this recession. Can you find a contented lifestyle if the future is closer to the 'no recovery' new normal some are predicting?
The company I work for has a thriving suggestion program that gives money and prizes each month to employees with the best money-saving ideas. The ideas are evaluated and assessed on their cost-savings (the company measures everything, based on Deming's principles) and we can quantify the savings over a year's time. The employees use the suggestion program and we get decent bonuses each year, based on the millions of dollars that we save by cutting waste out of our manufacturing process. I don't know anything about restaurants but most everyone has mentioned the razor-thin margin you'll be up against in trying to make a profit.
Determine your “u.s.p.” Yaelle. Your unique selling principle, then don’t deviate from your marketing strategy.
Match your mediums of advertising with your age/sex customer profile.
Do as much “guerilla” marketing as you can. In house promotions, community events, stage a music festival, a motorcycle night, etc.
Get yourself a website, you can take reservations for special events e.g. Valentine’s, et al.
To the extent I can and you want, I would love to help.