Dec 8, 2010
Q&A: Any suggestions on good places to open a restaurant/café?
Dear Azizi Ali,
I’m interested in opening a restaurant/cafe. Do you have any suggestions on good places? I've no real criteria yet, so I’m open to your suggestions.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Daniel Lee
Daniel,
At first I thought of skipping your question because I’ve never cooked all my life! So I thought advising someone about restaurants/café may look odd. But then I realised that while I don’t know much about cooking, I know quite a bit about business.
So here goes: If I were to open a restaurant, I would open it at a place that is packed with people – malls such as 1 Utama, Sunway Pyramid and Mid Valley would be perfect. In fact, I would choose a spot close to an existing popular restaurant. Why? Because there’s already a crowd there.
Next, and it may sound basic, but I would ensure that the restaurant is suitable for the crowd. For example, if the crowd is predominantly Chinese, I would not be opening a Malay food stall there, and vice-versa. By the way, this is a way too common mistake that novices make.
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Third, I would learn as much as I can about the restaurant business, not so much about the actual cooking. This would mean reading as many books as I can about it, learning from current restaurateurs and perhaps spend some time working in an existing restaurant. I would learn about food presentation, tables, up-selling and how to sell during the non-peak periods. I would create multiple and reliable supply sources. I would develop systems, checklists, workflows, processes, and then ensure that everyone follow the system. I would ensure that the staffs are properly trained, polite, helpful and kind. Most of all, I would ensure that I have enough money to run the business for at least a year even if there is no income. This is so that I would never run short of cash at any time during that critical first year.
Finally, I would open a premium restaurant, not those offering cheap food. Why? The margins are better.
Of course, there are a lot more things I would do before opening the doors. Considering that the restaurant business has one of the highest failure rates of all businesses, you must really do your homework before opening one. Make sure that you know as much as you can about the business before jumping into it. After all, if opening a restaurant is easy, any fool can do it. The trick is to ensure that the restaurant stays open one year, two years, five years from now – that is not so easy.
Don’t forget to invite me to the opening though!
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Azizi Ali runs property seminars in Malaysia. For more information on his upcoming seminars, call 03-7880 1051 or visit www.MillionairesPlanet.com
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