How to Calculate Start-Up Costs for a Restaurant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWZQRU0yZ5UWhen starting a restaurant, it is essential that you calculate your start-up costs. Every. Single. Item. Must be accounted for. Anything that costs any amount of money must be mentioned. Because you will start out with no revenue, every cost needs to be planned out. Even as customers begin to come in, it's likely going to take some time until you're running at full capacity.

One of the biggest costs you need to prepare for is construction. If you are taking over a space, this might not be too bad. However, if you're starting from scratch, you have to account for engineering, ventilation, and plumbing costs. These could potentially be massive.

You will also need to have staff on payroll before your restaurant is open. It's usually a good idea to have the senior staff in place first, followed by management, and later down the line you can worry about hiring hourly workers. However you decide to manage the hiring process, you must allow enough time for your staff to be properly trained before opening night.

Additionally, there are all the other costs that are involved in equipping a restaurant. Kitchen equipment, refrigeration, stoves, mixers, small utensils. And then all of the equipment that’s needed in the dining room. Tables, chairs, glassware, plate ware, service ware, silverware, all of those cost money and need to be brought in before you open.

"An important thing to remember with supplying your restaurant with equipment, is you don’t need it all to open. You can reorder. You may have a need for fewer pieces of equipment to get open, than you need a year or two down the road. Don’t buy equipment because you think it’s cool. Buy the equipment you need and do that first and grow the restaurant’s equipment as the restaurant grows."

Even though you have everything planned out, things are nevertheless going to go wrong. It's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when. Make sure to have extra money set aside specifically for when something unexpected happens.

Looking to work in Hospitality?

Discover who’s hiring on Harri

Follow Harri on Facebook and Twitter

for real time job posts and industry news. 

Restaurant Industry