How do you define your concept if you want to open a winning restaurant? Here’s a question. The world of catering is vast, with many different ways of eating and drinking. That’s why it’s important for you to know which branches or sub-sectors you want to move into. It’s really important to think this through, and to envision the kind of restaurant concept you’re going to create. Is it a bistro, fast-food outlet, counter, restaurant? The creation of your future catering business will require you to develop a specific concept. Which begs the question: how do you define your restaurant concept? But what makes a concept, you might ask?
What are the most important points to consider for your concept and the opening of your restaurant?
A concept covers the different features of your restaurant and, above all, defines your overall service offering. By service offer, I mean the following aspects: the culinary theme, the types of service, the type of reception, the related or secondary services, the location itself… In short, as you can see, putting a concept together requires serious thought. Behind all this, a number of questions will come to mind.
Who will your restaurant concept appeal to? Who are the customers I want to reach with this concept? This is an essential aspect in defining your future business. Let’s take an example: you want to set up your own business and decide to create a fast-food concept. Very good. But what kind of fast food? Is it a fast-food concept, snacking, fast-casual, comfort-food, food counter or other? What food and why? You also need to think about service, which remains an important element to determine. Is it table service, self-assisted or self-service?
The type of service you put in place will make all the difference to the success of your business. It will have to meet the customer’s exact needs, which may be time saving, proximity of location, budget, speed of service… As you can see, once again, you need to THINK about your restaurant concept. You’ll also need to take your competitors into account, and use your restaurant concept to assess its potential for differentiation. This (pre-) work before you start writing your business plan will help you enormously. Your business plan will be much easier to implement, and you’ll find it much easier to move forward with your project.
From your market study, to the analysis and segmentation of your clientele, to the definition of your location… A concept takes thought. Don’t leave out this essential part of your future restaurant’s success. Don’t hesitate to research, to be curious, to read and above all to observe, because this last word is inseparable from your life as an entrepreneur-restaurateur. But above all, it’s vital to make sure that your future concept will meet one or more of your future customers’ needs.
