Are you thinking of opening a new restaurant?

Introduction:

This can be an exciting time but also a lot to think about and to plan for. While the food and drink industry can be highly rewarding, it’s also highly competitive. You want your restaurant to be the talk of the town in the best way.

An important aspect to having a successful restaurant is the initial fit out in the construction phase of setting up a restaurant. The fit-out would include both design and construction work that is carried out. The interior design concept layout of the space, furniture, lighting and what type of material used all come into consideration. The fit-out stage is the key to achieving both the aesthetic and functional goal of the business. Seeking to balance between the two to create success. This document will help you get some ideas flowing and give you more insight into what the process is when opening a restaurant.

Concept:

One of the first things to think about is defining your target market. A business plan which details your business objectives and a budget for all the design work, construction work and a contingency with an estimated timeline and marketing approach.

The quality of the final product is shaped in this early groundwork. Success is not just built on-site—it’s architected from the outset.

Branding:

It is important to highlight the brand of the restaurant when speaking about the fit-out. It is important to establish what brand and therefore design decision need considering and agreeing. What kind of dining experience do you wish to provide? Are you a high-end restaurant or are you a fast-food grab and go style unit. The fit-out of the restaurant should reflect the brand. The fit out should be in harmony with the theme of the restaurant and the environment should be suitable for the brand. Create a clear idea of the atmosphere you want to manifest to streamline your renovation or fit out decisions. You could spend time visiting other local restaurants to take note of what works and what might not. For example, a fine dining restaurant space should include high-quality materials used to reflect the high-quality branding whereas a fast-food outlet wouldn’t necessarily need such high-quality materials and may need to focus costs to making the items durable, functional and ease of maintenance.

The cost of your finishes for a fine dining restaurant will be more than your fast casual. Your type of finish is dictated by that type of use and how durable your restaurant fit-out needs to be in consideration of your location but also the quality of the finishes and level of specification of your kit and infrastructure.

Budgets:

Setting a budget for the build can be confusing and overwhelming. One question to begin with is where are you sourcing the money from? You will need to think about loans, grants, crowdsourcing or investors. Securing financing in advance will help maintain cash flow throughout so it’s a good place to start.

When setting your budget, make sure it’s comfortable and includes a sufficient amount of contingency to accommodate for any unforeseen expenses. It’s important to understand the factors that drive your budgets. Including a Quantity Surveyor with experience in this sector of fit out work would be helpful to get an idea of the general spend but also where the costs are focused. At the design stage, a designer would share their initial drawings with the Quantity Surveyor and then this would be ‘costed up’ in a cost plan to give an estimated initial budget. Cost planning is an iterative process which is performed in steps in increasing detail as more design information becomes available.

On average, the cost of building a restaurant is between £1,500 and £4,000+ per square meter. However, this can vary depending on the size and level of specification.

The general cost to area can also be affected by fixed costs such as your kitchen, bar, toilets, and other necessary areas. Typically, you should expect to allocate 60% of your budget towards the front of house and 40% towards the back house.

The kitchen is a significant proportion of your restaurant fit-out costs, accounting for up to 50-70% of your entire budget. Consider the electrical and gas connections, plumbing, and commercial catering equipment. An average 60-square meter kitchen can cost between £100,000 and £360,000, depending on the type of cooking and its purpose. If the unit has an existing kitchen space, this can dramatically reduce the construction costs however you still need to expect to refurbish, upgrade/ maintain to suit the day-to-day requirements of concept.

Another aspect to think about is repeat fit-out/roll out work. The financial model for the creation of a new restaurant concept will increase the £/m2 on initial implementation vs established roll out concept. For example, Starbucks or Caffe Nero might cost £1000/m2 but unlikely to provide the same level of fit-out on new concept at the first site.

There are other ‘fixed costs’ which won’t relate to £/m2 costings which include the kitchen, bar, toilets, shopfront and signage.

Spending money on a good fit-out does more than improve the dining experience, it creates a memorable experience for the customer which would improve customer retention.

See our blog post How To Manage Your Costs When Developing Your Bar or Restaurant for more on this aspect.

Permits and Licenses:

There are legal requirements that must be followed when opening a restaurant. These could include a premises license, alcohol license, register for VAT, music and entertainment licenses or business registration. Also, you need to consider if you are making any changes or adding to the structure, you will need to obtain planning permission in order to do this.

Your project manager or designer might help you with these. Any physical changes to the exterior of the building require planning approval through the local planning authority. This process can take between eight to twelve weeks on average to receive.

Planning is potentially also required for a change of use, although planning laws have been simplified recently in the UK with a broader use class. Please check with your specialist or solicitor.

You should consider advertising consent which relates primarily to the signage for your bar or restaurant. This will need permission similar to your general planning approval. A pavement license might be required if you’re looking for outdoor tables and chairs. This is usually renewed on an annual basis and will be with your local council. Check with them for their local requirements.

Once you complete your fit-out you’ll need to obtain other permits and approvals.

Some of these might include a food hygiene certificate which is a legal requirement for any restaurants with EHO visits.

Restaurant insurance, public liability insurance, and food premises approval which is done by the local council inspection and approval.

Licensing for alcohol and finally pest control. This is legislative and is monitored through the EHO.

See our blog post Discover ‘Required Approvals’ WHY they’re a MUST for any restaurant. for more on this aspect.

Hiring the right people:

It is important to hire the right people on the projects including designers, architects, quantity surveyors, project managers and contractors.

A project team with a portfolio of successful restaurant fit-out will likely have the expertise to handle the unique challenges of the project.

As mentioned before, the designer will draw up initial drawings of the concept of the fit-out and these will be amended throughout the phase as changes get made. The designers should have the knowledge of compliance and this will influence their drawings of the fit-out. Accessibility is something that need to consider ensuring that the layout is suitable/ wide enough and there are toilets that could be used by a wheelchair user for example.

Effective project management involves coordinating with contractors, suppliers and designers to keep the fit-out work on schedule. And within budget to the expected levels of quality. Regular, whether it be weekly, bi-weekly or monthly site meetings can aid communication between the team as well as identify any potential issues that may arise affecting the schedule timeline.

Site meetings provide several benefits that are crucial to the success of a building project. The key benefits of site meetings are enhanced communication and collaboration, a way to enforce Quality Standards, Identify and Resolve Issues, Ensure Contractual Record and improve Project Management.

See our blog post The Importance of Site Meetings: Ensuring Smooth Progress on Your Building Contract for more on this matter.

Compliance:

Compliance with legal requirements and safety standards is critical to any restaurant fit-out.
Fire safety is a requirement for compliance and something to consider is the layout of the restaurant. There should be clear paths to fire exits and placement of fire extinguishers and sprinkler systems. Ensuring the emergency exits are clearly marked is a non-negotiable of the fit-out.

Final Inspections:

As the fit-out approaches the final stages, the final inspection is key. During this stage, everything will be checked including safety measures and checking how the design elements align against the original concept.

This is the stage where certificates are issued, snagging lists are prepared and the account is finalised and when all remaining obligations are closed out.

After the inspections, a handover is the last step before opening. The handover is when the team will come together and go over every detail to make sure everything is completed to the standard.

It’s the culmination of everything. That moment of completion, pride, and shared accomplishment.

Then it is time for the grand opening!

Conclusion:

Opening a Restaurant may not be as straight forward as you would think, however we hope this document has given you some insight and a process to follow to get you started.

As always, we are here to help you so if you have any questions or would like to get in contact with Julian and the Team at JCA about opening a restaurant we are always happy to help.

Julian has produced a series of podcasts mentioned in this document and curated a playlist all about Opening a restaurant linked here: How To Start A Restaurant: A step-by-step guide. Julian Church There are multiple short videos to talk you through the process step by step.

Good luck with your projects!