Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Often people who start a restaurant are creative people who are excellent at visualizing their ideas and sadly lacking in skills that help them realize the practical details, forgetting that without expertise in the practical details, their ideas will never get past their home kitchens. Opening a Restaurant is a detailed plan on how to organize your restaurant ideas into something that will a) help you sell your ideas to loan officers and other investors, and b) clarify your vision to help you avoid the pitfalls that drag down most new restaurants within their first year of opening.
What this book will do is teach you how to build a business plan--the document that any institutional lender or investor will want to see before deciding to plunk down money on your hip, new concept. The book is totally specific to the restaurant/food service industry, and weeds out what you need to know from other business-plan instruction manuals, listing many questions that it would be helpful for a new business-owner (or the owner of an existing business planning to make modifications or reassess existing strategies/trends). The book also details how to put together feasibility analysis (both for your restaurant as a whole and for specific project), a marketing plan, how to gather facts and make valid estimates from them, and how to make your plan look professional.
There are two drawbacks to this book. Despite the excellent advice that it gives, the structure can be very confusing at times. For example, throughout the book, Fuller tells you to come up with estimates and answers to questions, but doesn't tell you how to make the estimate or find out the answers to the questions until almost the end of the book. The other drawback is that the formatting and editing of the book leave something to be desired--the information you need could be located in any of several different places. If you have time to read the entire book before starting, this is an excellent book, but looking for a specific answer to a quick question may require more time than you'd like to use. On the up side, there's a good guide to online resources.
Overall, a great little book for clarifying your ideas about your restaurant and putting together a restaurant-specific business plan; I just wish it were organized a little better.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Opening a Restaurant or Other Food Business Starter Kit: How to Prepare a Restaurant Business Plan & Feasibility Study: With Companion CD-ROM
Restaurants are one of the most frequently started small businesses, yet have one of the highest failure rates. Survivors need a powerful strategic advantage: a sound business plan and feasibility study prior to opening. A new study from The Ohio State University has found the restaurant industry failure rate between 1996 and 1999 to be between 57-61 percent over three years. DonÂ't be a statistic on the wrong side, plan now for success with this new book & CD-ROM package. A business plan precisely defines your business, identifies your goals, and serves as your firm's resume. The basic components include a current and pro forma balance sheet, an income statement, and a cash flow analysis. It helps you allocate resources properly, handle unforeseen complications, and make good business decisions. Because it provides specific and organized information about your company and how you will repay borrowed money, a good business plan is a crucial part of any loan application. Additionally, it informs personnel, suppliers, and others about your operations and goals. Despite the critical importance of a business plan, many entrepreneurs drag their feet when it comes to preparing a written document. They argue that their marketplace changes too fast for a business plan to be useful or that they just don't have enough time. But just as a builder won't begin construction without a blueprint, eager business owners shouldn't rush into new ventures without a business plan. The CD-ROM will cover the following subjects: Elements of a Business Plan, cover sheet , statement of purpose, the business, description of the restaurant, marketing, competition, operating procedures, personnel, business insurance, financial data, loan applications, capital equipment and supply list, balance sheet, breakeven analysis, pro-forma income projections (profit & loss statements), three-year summary, detail by month, first year, detail by quarters, second and third years, assumptions upon which projections were based, pro-forma cash flow, supporting documents for franchised businesses, a copy of franchise contract and all, supporting documents provided by the franchisor, copy of proposed lease or purchase agreement for building space, copy of licenses and other legal documents, copy of resumes of all principals, copies of letters of intent from suppliers, etc. A new study from The Ohio State University has found the restaurant industry failure rate between 1996 and 1999 to be between 57-61 percent over three years. Don't be a statistic on the wrong side, plan now for success with this new book and CD-ROM package.
