04/10/2016
Hi Guys,
Are you planning to start a restaurant business or you
are already into the business? How has it been? Are you
struggling or enjoying the business? Remember it is
what you know that gives you an edge above others.
Food is regarded in many quarters as the number one
basic need of every human being; Everyone irrespective
of your social status would eat at least once in a day.
Food is something; none of us including animals cannot
do without. While some eats more, 3 or more times in a
day, some less, owing to reasons best known to them.
The fact is that every human being must eats in order to
keep themselves alive.
A lot of Nigerians for who we are, claims to be busy,
occupied, to the extent that we can’t make out time to
visit the market talk less of preparing our own food.
This ‘so busy’ syndrome cuts across all genders,
married or unmarried. Its synonyms with our hustling
and bustling, more common among people living in big
cities, that has to wake up very early to get to work, and
most times due to traffic comes late at night. In the
midst of all these hustling and bustling, one call we
can’t ignore is the call to eat, hence the need for a place
outside the home, where they can be assured of getting
good food. A Restaurant is a place outside the home,
where one can relax, eat good food, snacks, and drink
mostly at a price determined by the Restaurateurs.
Restaurant Business in Nigeria has been around for
ages in different settings. Over the years a lot of
modernizations have taken place in that segment of the
food industry. This is mostly due to exposures and
education. People are now more conscious of the
environment they eat, and what they eat.
Restaurant business is indeed a lucrative investment
that can change for good once financial status, if a lot of
planning goes into it. It indeed has it own challenges, I
was told recently by a friend of a restaurant owner that
came to him, she was shedding tears, because she had
cooked and customers had failed to turn up. What could
be responsible for such things?
There are four (4) basics things that determine the
success of every restaurant. Failure to get these things
right from onset could lead to failure in the business.
These are:
1. Quality/Quantity of Food
2. Location/Staff Friendliness
3. The Environment
4. Price
Quality/Quantity of Food
Restaurant business exists mostly because of food, not
snacks, not drinks. One can easily get drinks and snacks
from the road side shops, but as a busy executive or a
responsible family man, you won’t want to be seen
eating by the road side with your family, neither will a
guy trying to woo a lady will want to take her to a road
side shop to eat.
The quality of the food served should be superb, and the
quantity should be commensurate with the bill. The food
should be hygienic prepared, there should not be traces
of human hair, stones, burnt food, etc in the servings.
As an Owner, you need to know how to prepare good
food, and also get people in your team that can equally
do this, especially when you are away. This is one of the
things you can do to make people ‘travel’ from far away
locations to your food place.
The quantity of the food should be taken into
consideration. Customers these days are more
demanding more than before. They want quality and
quantity. If the food appears too small, that might
discourage some of your customers. There is need to
strike a balance between quality and quantity. This is
the more reason you need to seek for places where you
can always source for your food items at the best
possible price. This would definitely be from the
villages.
Location/Staff Friendliness
Where you site your business is usually a function of
the caliber of people you want to attract. If for instance,
it is located in the car park, most of your customers
would definitely be people that work in the park, or
customers on transit. Locations play a very important
role when it comes to succeeding in this business.
Irrespectively, where you decide, the business place
needs to be easily accessible, either by foot or by road.
It is advisable for better result such is sited in an
environment where there is high traffic of working
class people. People that in most cases that would come
around to have their breakfast or lunch, or both at your
place.
A campus environment is equally okay, but the
drawback is when the students are either on long
vacation, or there is disruption in the academic calendar
due to lecturers strike, and other students’ unrest.
The perfect place is an environment that commands
high volume of both of residential houses and offices.
Another thing one cannot ignore in this business is the
attitude of the staff to customers. This can easily be
seen even in their appearances. If you can afford it,
your staff should be on branded T-shirt, or something
clean. Starting from the staff that welcomes customers
in, they need to be friendly and hospitable. Customers
should feel at home while waiting for their foods to be
served. Customers should not be ignored, if for any
reason, the food requested would take a longer time,
they should inform the customer.
The Environment
Next after the quality/quantity, and location, is the
environment of the restaurant. No reasonable person
would want to eat in a unhygienic environment, where
we have lots of flies flying about uninterrupted, and too
much noise. Where the food is prepared should be
concealed away from the customers. The kitchen should
be in a closed unit.
Hand washing basin where a customer can easily wash
his/her hands should be strategically located, and
unwashed plates should not be left unattended to on the
tables.
Providing thing like a Television set/ Newspapers/
Magazines can go a long way in helping your customers
feel relaxed while he/she waits for his/her food to be
served.
Price
While this is important, but not all that important
depending on where your business place is, the quality/
quantity of the meal served, and the environment. A lot
of people would not mind so far they can get good value
for their money.
But if the price is outrageous, the environment, and
most especially the quality of the food is poor, a lot of
people would not want to make a repeat visit, and might
discourage any of their friends who intends visiting your
place. The other three factors listed above should in a
way determine the price you charge.
What You Need To Start
Find out, which food is common where you want to
site your restaurant in. There are actually some foods
that are common to all tribes in Nigeria, while some are
peculiar to some tribes. Foods like Rice, Beans, Gari
(Eba), Amala, Pounded Yam, are common to all tribes.
Your focus should be more on these kind of food.
A good location, preferably on the road that is easily
accessible. It should be spacious enough to contain at
least forty customers at a time, with chairs and tables
inclusive.
After securing a place, you need to approach one of
these soft drinks manufacturer ( NBC, Seven up,
Nig.Breweries, Guiness, etc) for drinks. Its advisable
you go directly to see their sales manager to request for
their drinks. The reason is this, you would use the
opportunity to inform them of your new business place,
they in turn in most cases would help you in branding
the place with signboard. Etc. They can easily give you
things like chairs, tables, fridge to add to what you have
already. This is always a function of the volume of their
products you are buying.
Good staff. – Three people at most are okay for a
start. They need to know how to prepare good foods,
tidy the place, and treats customers very well.
Market your new business: Don’t wait for customers
to come to you. You need to go to them. Let people know
there is a new place in the neighborhood where they can
get good food and have good value for their money. You
can distribute flyers to shops and offices around you.
Things you would need includes:
• Deep Freezer
• Kitchen wares
• Gas Cooker/Gas cylinder
• Cutleries
• Tv set
• Chairs and Tables
• Pots
• Miscellaneous ( Napkins, serviette papers, tooth
picks, etc)
Money: I would not be able to tell you categorically how
much it would cost you. First, I don’t know where you
intend locating your restaurant, but with N 500,000.00
(Five Hundred Thousand Naira) you can kick this
business.
Conclusion
There is no doubt this business is lucrative. If you are
already into this business, and you are not making it,
then you need to look at those four basic things I listed
above, but if you are thinking of investing in this
business, don’t entertain any fear. You cannot fail, just
make sure you put a lot of things right , most especially
the basic things listed above.
If at all, you have gained one thing or the other from
this , kindly share such with your friends.
Wish you all the very best.
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