8 things to know before opening a restaurant (from experience!)

As you can imagine, opening a restaurant is no piece of cake. At Malou, we've been working with restaurateurs for over 10 years to help them become more visible and successful.

For this article, we asked them a question: "what do you wish you'd known before opening your establishment?"

Their answers will surprise you! Here are the 8 lessons to remember before opening your restaurant.

"Loving food and being a restaurateur are 2 different things."

Sound basic? Yet it's one of the most common pieces of advice we hear. If 1 in 2 establishments closes its doors after 3 months, it's because opening a restaurant (and keeping it open) is one of the toughest challenges in entrepreneurship. 

"Budgets are high, margins are thin, hours are long, customers are demanding, the competition is there..." lists Jean, at the helm of several brunches around Paris. "But above all, being passionate about cooking isn't enough. "

In the land of gastronomy, many French people dream of creating their own concept. But running a restaurant is a very different reality from what you see on Top Chef.

"When you're a restaurateur, you're also a manager, an accountant, a marketer, a shrink... 60% of our time isn't spent in the kitchen. We also have to make a lot of sacrifices, and rarely have a minute to ourselves..."

Having the best recipes in the world isn't enough. So be prepared to wear many hats and devote lots and lots of time to your restaurant.

"Don't wait for training and licenses!"

"Be impeccable, as quickly as possible" advises Clarisse, an independent restaurateur in the Paris region.

Although you don't need a diploma to open a restaurant, certain permits are required. 

Hygiene standards, operating permits, licenses to sell alcohol... These permits are obtained after a few days of compulsory training. The sooner you're up and running, the better.

"Above all, do your own research!" concludes Clarisse, "no matter what those around you say , follow the regulations and keep an eye out for changes so that you're blameless in the event of an inspection."

"Beware of over-hiring

"You learn by doing," explains Jean, "in the beginning, you don't know what to expect, so you hire a lot. In the end, you end up with too many staff during off-peak hours and not enough during shifts. You have to find your own rhythm!"

The right thing to do: avoid hiring too many staff right away. Give preference to flexible contracts (extra, freelance) for the first few months before stabilizing your team.

Final tip: don't be surprised by the turnover of your employees, especially on the service side. It's a well-known fact that recruitment in the foodservice industry is tight. Your teams will change frequently, so it's up to you to put in place a solid personnel management system (schedules, scripts) to avoid changes impacting the quality of your service. 

"Plan WIDE. Small details make big rivers".

"The best way to fail is to underestimate the budget required to open a restaurant"says Kevin, manager and investor.

Even if you carefully detail the budget for opening your restaurant, you may be surprised by unexpected costs and expenses. Especially if it's your first opening. 

So plan a little wider in your business plan and make savings in strategic areas.

🤓 You may also want to take a look at this article: what's the ideal margin for a restaurant?

"A SIMPLE menu, a CLEAR concept".

We can't stress it enough: a simple menu increases your profitability.

🤓 We explain how to build a menu and clean it up in this article: how to increase margins with menu engineering?

^"When you're starting out, you're often idealistic. We tend to put too many things on the menu," explains Kevin. "We tell ourselves: the more things we offer, the more we'll sell. But it's the opposite!"

Think Marie Kondo: take 10% off your card, stick to your concept.

"Location, location, location"

Half of those questioned say that a restaurant's location is one of the most important criteria when making a reservation.

This doesn't mean that opening a restaurant in the middle of a city gives you a better chance than opening a restaurant in the middle of a rural area.

The important thing to remember here is that your concept should be adapted to your location, not the other way round.

The answers to these questions can change the concept of your restaurant:

• Who are your customers? 
• Who lives where you want to open?
• What do these customers want? (To eat between noon and two in a neighborhood full of offices? Go out for dinner in the evening? Eat along the wine trail and taste local produce?)
• Who's open around you?
• What restaurants already exist? What doesn't exist, what could be missing in this neighborhood?

 Do you dream of opening an Italian restaurant? If there are already 4 around your establishment, the competition will be stiff.

The second thing you need to work on is your local SEO. Be easily found when a customer performs an online search. 

✨ For that, we recommend downloading our SEO guide for restaurateurs directly!

"Experience: the 40/60 law

This advice comes from an American restaurateur on Tik Tok.

According to him, a restaurant is divided into two parts: 60% must be the culinary experience, 40% the experience of the place.

Don't overlook the importance of the 2nd part: it's what makes the difference between getting delivery and going to the restaurant.

• What makes or can make your place unique ?
• Why would anyone want to walk through your door and stay in your establishment?

It's this experience that will make your reputation on social media. A terrace, an incredible view, unusual decor, unforgettable toilets... 

💡 Big Mammafor example, has made its success on 360° Italianity (a singing welcome in Italian, art and decor from Italy, dishes served in huge old-fashioned pans ...). 

💡 PNY exploded thanks to its stylish playlists, its American diner atmosphere, its neon toilets where everyone wanted to take a selfie, its cheesecake in the shape of Donald Trump to be "destroyed with a spoon".... 

"The key to profitability is communication". 

Opening a restaurant means building a reputation.

In the age of digital technology, Google reviews and social media, this time-consuming work needs to start as soon as possible.

"Some restaurateurs communicate well before the opening," continues Kevin, "that's what's going to enable them to fill the room right from the opening. I think you need to spend 10-15% of your budget on marketing right from the start."

So don't lose out on sales: get started with digital marketing right from the start!