Business Plan
This is the first step to opening any kind of business and that is creating a business plan. To list a few, this factor in your aspirations, your objectives and how to achieve them, the risks included, target customers, strategies and of course both financial costs and expectations.
Creating a business plan should be an exciting time and a good portion of any success is passion, so make sure you are passionate about opening a restaurant. There are many free business templates online that will help you work out your business plan but if would like professional opinion and advice, there are services available as well.
Location
Once you have your business plan you should have jotted down a few possible locations and it should be noted, a location can make or break your restaurant so it is critical that you choose the best location while remaining in budget. When choosing a location, you should consider the local population, nearby services, are there any competitors? Is it close to public transport? What about work locations? These are very important as they will determine your stream of customers.
Menu and ideas
Getting your new customers through the door is important but only the easy bit. What makes them come back depends on the kind of menu you offer, the quality of the cooking, the ambience and the level of comfort they feel. You need to decide whether you're going to target a specific group of people, this can be cultural oriented, class oriented, that is, is your restaurant going to target the senior echelons of society or the lower echelons?
If you want to take risks and come up with something unique then you might make it concepts oriented, for example jazz music. You could go for architectural designs that were popular during the jazz culture and play ambient jazz music in the background. Anything is possible as long as you can come up with the idea.
Hiring staff and kitchen equipment
Quality staff equals great customer service which is pretty big in determining how well your restaurant is reviewed. Kitchen equipment may not seem very important in the scheme of things however it can cost a fair bit, so make sure you budget accordingly. You do not have to purchase the best appliances on the market as it is the cook that determines the food quality but it is a good idea to invest in a little quality to save on frequently having to re-purchase. Buying good quality materials will serve you well. For example buying a second hand stainless steel trolley will last you better then an new trolley made from inferior material.