How to Start Your Food Business: an 8-step Guide

 Not sure how to start your food business? Find out what to consider, and how to make it happen with our practical 8-step guide.

Are you an aspiring restaurateur with a fresh new business idea, but not sure where to start? Well, it turns out that now might actually be a great time to take the plunge. Research shows that the food service industry is booming, and is set to reach $4.2 trillion with an annual CAGR of 3.6% by 2024.

But the idea of starting up your own F&B business may seem daunting, especially when the outlook for start-ups is bleak. Research shows that as many as 90% of new restaurants fail. The silver lining is that 10% don’t.

So to help you get started, we’ve pulled together an 8-step beginner’s guide, with insider tips to give you every chance at success.

1. Make a solid Business Plan

The first thing you’ll want to do before making any investment is do your research, diligently. Spend a few weeks (or even months) getting a deeper understanding of the broader foodservice landscape, your customer target, latest trends and competitors, and start writing a business plan for your investors. Think of it as exploring your 4C’s: customer, consumer, channel and context.

For this, you’ll want to:

Define your target market: Who is your new business targeting ­– baby boomers, gen X, gen Z, empty nesters, seniors? Once you’ve defined your target segment, make sure you understand what they buy, why they buy, where they buy from and what makes them tick. This will help you create a relevant, targeted offering.

Define your USP: Find what sets you apart from the rest of the herd. Have a look at what your direct (and indirect) competitors are doing, and establish your point of competitive difference. Now here, it doesn’t’ have to be radical, but it does have to be relevant. For example, if you’re targeting young families, creating a child-friendly establishment with nutritious children’s meals could be enough to give you a leg up on the competition.

Define your restaurant style: Are you thinking of opening a bakery, coffeeshop, quick-service, fast-casual or full-service dining restaurant? Each one of these channels requires their own unique approach, operating hours and investment, so make sure to pick one that suits you as an individual, and the work schedule that you’ll want to have.

Select your food type/menu offering: Think carefully about your menu and the type of food you’ll want to offer – and do so early on in the process. Find out what the latest menu trends are (especially for your target market) and tailor your offering to them. Some of the hottest trends right now include: vegetarian/vegan diets, allergy-friendly & gluten-free menu options and sourcing your produce locally.

Define your brand: Your branding – from your logo and the imagery you use, to the design of your menu, music you play and even and uniforms of your staff – define what your business is all about, and what you stand for. It sets the tone for your restaurant and lets your customers know what they can expect. Think carefully about how you want to position yourself and what you want your identity to be.

Once you have your business plan in place, go out into the world – and test it. Find some of your target customers and ask them for their thoughts and impressions. This could be as simple as polling a handful of people off the street to a full-blown market research study.

2. Secure your financing

Now it’s time to sort your finances. But not everyone who wants to start a restaurant has the personal funding to do so. In fact, most don’t.

Thankfully, there are lots of other ways that you can find funding for your new venture:

Get a business loan

Turn to family/friends

Find outside investors or bring in a partner

Use crowdfunding

Get government aid

Just remember that it’s likely to take years before you turn your first profit, and money will be tight at first. So think about starting small (you can always scale up) and choose your business partners wisely, because they’ll be around for a good while.

3. Choose your location

You know what they say: “location, location, location”. Well, as it turns out, that’s not always the case. The location you choose for your establishment will depend on the a number of factors, and unless you’re relying heavily on foot-traffic, you don’t necessarily need to be in the hottest new retail location.

Here are a few factors you’ll want to consider:

Cost: based on your sales and profit projections, what can you afford to spend on rent?

Accessibility to potential customers: how are you customers getting to your restaurant, by foot, by car, by public transport?

Restrictive ordinances: some neighborhoods have strict noise regulations or restrictions on the times when your suppliers can deliver your produce

Proximity to other businesses: competitors and other businesses can influence your traffic, so map out what’s happening around you, and how it could affect your business

Plans for the future: consider what the neighborhood will look like in 2, 5, 10 years, and if there are any major development projects underway that could change the local landscape

 

4. Design the layout of your space

Once you have the a venue, it’s time to start working on the layout and design your space.

Of course, this will depend on the type of establishment you’re running, but typically restaurants dedicate about 45-60% of their space to the dining area, about 35% to the kitchen area and the remainder to storage and office space.

Think carefully about the layout of your kitchen and dining areas, and make sure there’s a smooth flow between the two. Prep space is also critical, so make sure your chefs have enough room to plate, garnish and decorate their dishes.

And most importantly: don’t cut corners in your dining area. This is the stage of the show – literally where all of the magic happens – so finding the right ambiance and decor to make your customers feel welcome is critical to success.

5. Choose your suppliers

As a restaurateur, you’ll be working with a number of different suppliers – from furnishings to POS systems, bar equipment, kitchen appliances and of course, food. Make your wish list, scope out your short and long-term budget, and go on the hunt for your partners. But remember that while you don’t want to cut corners when it comes to quality, over-priced suppliers can minimize your margins and run your business into the ground. So make sure to negotiate, hard.

But where do you start looking? Try going to wholesale retailers, local farmer’s markets, F&B conventions, ask for recommendations from fellow restaurateurs or just do a simple Google search.

You’ll be looking for a trustworthy supplier, who has a good track record of providing quality products and rota of successful partnerships. For food suppliers, be sure to about their delivery schedules and food safety management practices. And go local – they usually offer fresher ingredients.

6. Get your licences and permits 

When it comes to regulations, every country, county and city is different. But make sure that you check in with your local regulatory office, and consider getting legal counsel to make sure you adhere to all of your local health & safety codes and food regulations. Just know that some licenses can take months to acquire, so make sure to get started on this process well before opening day.

7. Start hiring your employees

First, think about what staff you need to hire for your restaurant type. Based on the scale of your restaurant, this may include: HR managers, purchasing experts, accountants, marketing & sales managers, chefs and sommeliers, waiters, hosts, bartenders and cleaning and dish-washing staff. Make sure to hire enough staff for each job, and anticipate shift planning and back-ups in case of illnesses and vacations.

Look for candidates with sufficient experience and a successful track-record, who are quick on their feet, can multi-task and are efficient. All of your employees should work well under pressure, and customer-facing staff should have exceptional social skills.

And when it comes to hiring staff, you can never be too careful – so do your due diligence. Make sure to do background checks, conduct several face-to-face interviews and call their references.

8. Advertise your business

Before opening your restaurant, you’ll want to do a fair amount of advertising to alert your local community that there’s a new eatery on the block.

And while word of mouth is still the best form of publicity, here are a few other ways you might like to consider announcing your new venture:

Build a great website: make sure that it’s easy to navigate and includes all of the key information, including your opening times, menu, a booking engine and if/how you cater to special requests

Use social media: create accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Instagram, and share relevant news and high-quality photos of your restaurant and the behind-the-scenes process as you’re getting ready for opening day

Put an ad in the local newspaper (and online news platform)

Host a soft opening: this is not only a great practice-run before opening day, but will also help create some buzz about your restaurant within your local community. Make the guest-list small, and consider having a soft opening for family & friends, followed by one for local businesses and partners.

Offer promotions to new guests: offer a free drink or dessert for the first 10, 50 or 100 customers – you’ll be remembered for your hospitality and generosity. After all, who doesn’t love free stuff?

And with that, we leave you with one last tip for success: work hard, don’t give up, and be prepared to risk it all. Starting any new venture will be a challenge and most likely an uphill battle, but in the end, nothing tastes sweeter than victory.

Source: https://hospitalityinsights.ehl.edu/how-to-start-your-food-business

Commercial Food Hygiene

Starting and running any form of food business has its challenges. But of all the things that you need to concern yourself about, the one concern that should be on top of your list when you start a food business is hygiene. This should never, never be overlooked, because doing so will lead to serious health, business, and legal repercussions for you and your business.

In the year 2000, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) was established by an Act of Parliament. The FSA is an independent department of the government that protects the health of the public and the interests of the consumers on all food items. In conjunction with this agency, The General Food Regulations 2004 and the General Food Law Regulation (EC) 178/2002 are legislations that were put in place for food safety; both were based on the Food Safety Act of 1990.

Laws are there for compliance, and as a food business owner, you should do everything you can to make sure you know the law and comply with it. Of course, reading these laws line by line might be time consuming, so just to start you off, here's a quick summary of the most important parts:

1. Hand washing. Yes, complying with these standards starts with something as simple as washing your hands (1) before you handle food and (2) several times during the cooking process, especially when you handle raw meat. Cross contamination is the most common method through which food borne illnesses spread, and unwashed hands are the most common vehicles for passing harmful organisms around.
2. Food washing. All the food, especially fruits and vegetables, must also be washed properly before they are cooked or served. However, because some foods spoil faster once they have been washed, you should wash them only right before they are to be used. Do not use soap for washing, as this could be absorbed by the food and be toxic to your customers. Instead, use cold water in washing, and for hard produce such as potatoes, use a clean vegetable brush to scrub its skin.
3. Site inspection. Regular inspections of the kitchen and all food-related areas such as freezers should be made. These inspections should be done as often as possible, and things that can be improved on should immediately be taken note of and corrected. Additionally, food areas should be cleaned whenever possible. Local authorities can sometimes do inspections themselves without notice, so you should always be prepared.
4. Transparency. Your customers should know what they are buying. For instance, they should know exactly what is in your sausages. The "nature or substance or quality demanded by the purchaser" should be what is given to the purchaser. Do not serve pork sausages if the order was for beef.
5. Food processing. Take all efforts to make sure that the food you serve is not made dangerous to your customers' health because of a substance or ingredient you added or removed from the food, or because of any processing methods that you subjected the food to. For instance, if a certain type of sweetener has been proven to affect people's health adversely, that sweetener should not be used, even if it is in your commercial interest to do so.
6. Traceability. Where did your food products come from? You should know, and you should keep records of all places from which you got your food, as well as all places to which you delivered your food. From time to time, authorities shall be asking for these records, and it is important that you be able to provide them.

Food hygiene legislation is strict, but it is that way for a reason. Keep your commercial premises clean and following these laws to ensure your customers won't get sick and your business will not, as a result, be closed down. It is for everyone's good - but surely, you already knew that.

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The Importance Of Quality Pest Control In The Food Business

Quality pest control is a must in food businesses such as catering, food production, food retail, and food preparation, whether they are operating within business establishments or from home.

The Problem With Pests

Pests are attracted to food premises because they offer shelter and food source. Once pests get into your establishment, they can contaminate your food, cause damage to your building, furnishings and furniture, and also cause diseases. Common pests such as cockroaches, mice and rats can carry viruses and bacteria that can contaminate food and the surfaces that food get into contact with.

A pest infestation can put your product including your business' reputation at risk; if your customers know you have pest problems they won't patronize your business and you may lose trade. Therefore, it is important that you do all you can to prevent pests from getting into your establishment.

The Solutions

Take action. You should do all your best in preventing pests from getting into your premises instead of waiting for the pest to get in before you take action. To save money and make your pest prevention more effective, you should start your pest management outside your building; remove the things that can attract them; and regularly check your premises for signs of pests.

Hire pest controllers. It is best to arrange for a pest control contract with a company or contractor that offer a range of services. Your chosen company should be registered with a recognized pest control association or trade body. Your contractor should be able to tell you about the potential problems, carry out work then check and report the results.

Pest control is not only about putting poisons in place; if your pest problem requires such action, you should leave the handling of poisons to the professionals.

Look after your business premises. The building, layout and design of your food premises should help in preventing contamination by pests. You should at all times keep your building and surroundings clean and tidy. Fix dripping faucets and keep unused equipment and materials liked stored wood metal and garden waste away from the building. Keep food in pest-proof containers off the floor when putting them in the storeroom.

Waste management. Keep your waste bins away from the outside wall of your building and you should have enough storage space to put all waste on a closed fitted cover.

Your staff should be aware of the signs of pests within the business premises. You should immediately contact a pest control contractor if you find a problem so that they can deal with it at once.

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Importance-Of-Quality-Pest-Control-In-The-Food-Business&id=8925368

How To Clean Safely To Protect Your Food Business

Creating and sticking to an efficient cleaning schedule is important for any food business, not just because it makes the process of maintaining food hygiene standards easier, but because it also acts as a written record for the dreaded Environmental Health Officer (EHO) inspections. However, allocating tasks and completing them is only half the battle. It is vital that business owners make sure that every task is carried out regularly enough and most importantly, that it is done properly and safely.

Our Top 10 Safety Tips when Cleaning

1. Before you start cleaning, make sure that food is safely stored out of the way and cannot be contaminated
2. If you are cleaning a refrigerator, cold room or freezer, ensure that the food is kept at a safe temperature outside the danger zone
3. Switch off and isolate electrical equipment, such as slicers, refrigerators, vending machines, processing machines with dry hands before you start to clean
4. Ensure that you know how to use a cleaning chemical safely and always follow the manufacturer's instructions
5. Do not leave items to soak in disinfectant for longer than the manufacturer's recommended contact time because bacteria may become resistant to the chemicals. Never leave them to soak overnight
6. Wear protective clothing, such as rubber gloves and goggles, appropriate to the job
7. Never mix chemicals together, they could explode, cause toxic fumes or burn your skin
8. Work through the stages of cleaning in a way that does not spread dust or dirt, avoid being distracted in a way that puts you, other people or food at risk
9. Clean and disinfect mops and cloths soon after use and leave them to dry in the air
10. Always store chemicals, cleaning equipment away from food and only store chemicals in the original labelled containers designed for that purpose

It is important to remember that bacteria can be present on food that arrives at your business and if this is the case, these bacteria will remain present while the food is in storage. It is therefore essential that workspaces are as clean as possible to minimise the chance of such bacteria spreading. Keeping staff up to date with information and informing them of the risks and situations in which bacteria can multiply will give your business the best chance of maintaining a sufficiently hygienic and safe environment.

Cleaning should be considered as part of the job role for anyone who handles food, even in the smallest capacity. Because of this, all staff should be suitably trained for any cleaning tasks they will be expected to carry out so that they know exactly how to go about the process in a safe and reliable manner. As a business owner, if you are depending on your staff to carry out the necessary hygiene maintenance to run an effective food business, you need to be certain that each team member can be trusted to do things properly.

Cleaning should never be an afterthought in any food business and it should be given prominence within the daily routine. A slap dash wipe over surfaces does not mean that they are safe to work on and it won't be considered as a genuine attempt to uphold Food Hygiene Legislation by any EHO

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Clean-Safely-To-Protect-Your-Food-Business&id=7714386

Tips on How to Choose Fresh Food Items

It is a good thing to follow a healthy diet but it is much better if you're the one preparing the healthy dishes for yourself and for your family. Learning how to prepare delightful recipes is important especially for those people who want to enter the food business. It is not enough for you to taste the food but it is a must that you learn how they are prepared.

When you enter into the food business, you should be hands-on when it comes to managing and supervising your employees on how to properly handle and prepare each recipe that they will serve. This can help prevent the occurrence of food poisoning. Food poisoning is the common result of improper handling and preparation of food. Chefs should make it a habit to ensure that all the ingredients are safe to be used and that the cooking equipment and utensils are well-cleaned and properly stored.

Sea food is an example of food items that easily get spoiled. That is why it is advisable to inspect it thoroughly to be sure that it is fresh and that safe to eat. One important tip when buying sea foods is to purchase only from reputable stores or market. It is better if you buy from someone whom you trust. Check immediately the quality of the seafood and look for signs of spoilage. If you plan to buy crabs or lobsters, it would be best to choose the lives ones to ensure its freshness.

Another tip when buying sea food is to refrigerate it especially if you're not going to cook it that day. This can help maintain the freshness although it Is suggested that you cook the seafood within 2-3 days.

For other fresh food items that you want to buy, it would be better if you ask the vendor or merchant as to where the food came from before deciding whether to buy or not. For those who want to buy meat, it is wise if you buy from reputable stores or vendors. You should also check the color of the meat. Fresh meat is usually red or pinkish in color. Another wise move is to check the license of the vendor or the business permit of the market and make sure that the meats they are selling were checked by authorized meat inspectors.

When it comes to cooking meats, meats differ on what temperature they should be cooked. You should know the recommended temperature for the meat before cooking it to ensure that bacteria and contaminants will get killed upon applying heat.

Cooked food should not be left on the table or in the counter but must immediately be placed in the refrigerator. Never allow the food left longer than 2 hours.

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