4 reasons that hinder successful launch of a new restaurant

The summer is coming closer and closer and so several new restaurants and cafes are opening.  This means that it is the right time to review all details that matter for successful opening of your restaurant, café or bar.

We are telling about four reasons that tend to bring unpleasant surprises for restaurants. You can be smarter and avoid these.

1. No internet connection

You have just finished all repairs, decoration and preparation works to open your dream restaurant, café or bar.

A week before opening you are calling an internet provider to sign the agreement. And then it comes out that for certain reasons it is not possible to install it so quickly.  

So it is the sad truth that the only possible temporary alternative is to use a 4G router and a mobile ban terminal. It brings along bigger costs and a need to change the system later.

It is important to remember that both, your point of sale system and bank terminal require internet to work. So, make the internet agreement early enough!

2. Delay in construction work

In today’s somewhat overheated construction sector the delay is more a rule than an exception. This is just something you need take into account, even in case you are real optimist.

Discuss early on from your construction or repair company which tasks are still not done and agree the deadlines for delivery.   

It would be reasonable to agree the final deadline to two months before opening your restaurant to have enough time for handling unexpected issues.

3. Looking for a point-of-sale system in the last minute

If you start to look for a suitable point of sale system one week or even a couple of weeks before opening you may get into trouble and make a bad decision in rush. There are several possible choices available and choosing the right one for you takes still time.

It makes sense to start with mapping your needs as there are several different aspect that are relevant for choosing the most suitable point of sale system for your business.

Comparing different sales solutions you should check if they have, for example:

• a web based solution, that allows you to access the sales system both from the office or home;
• CRM system, to track purchases of loyal customers and make personal offers to them;
• inventory management option.

The best way to get a good insight into the possible solutions is to visit the solution providers, try their demo versions or get to know it on spot.

In case you leave choosing the point of sale system for the last minute, you may find yourself in a situation when you personnel is not trained for using the system, your goods are not registered and you have no solution to print a cheque for your client. Without having an inventory you may have a mess about what you have and what you don’t.

4. The team compiled just partially

Hiring personnel for the first time it is difficult to predict how smoothly or harshly the process will go.

But you can be sure that in these times fining personnel is not easy and you should start hiring early, at least 2-3 months prior to the opening of your new restaurant, café or bar.

You can also consider an option of self-service instead or in addition to the waiters. The self-service solutions work nicely for example in a café in Tallinn Bus station, in BlissTray restaurants, Tallinn University of Technology and elsewhere.

An additional option is to use a customer or waiter calling system which also reduces the need for personnel.