Restaurant opening guides

• Should You Close Your Restaurant During Slow Hours?

  Work through a slow-shift example to decide whether shorter restaurant hours save cash. Includes labor percentages, avoidable costs and a copyable worksheet.

• Should Your Restaurant Hire Its Own Delivery Driver?

  A worked restaurant delivery comparison: full driver pay, app fees, break-even orders, route capacity and the cost of losing customers. Includes a copyable worksheet.

• Set Up the Restaurant Business Before Taking Money or Hiring

  Organize ownership, entity, bank, accounting, taxes, insurance and approval responsibilities with the right professionals.

• Your First 30 Days: The Numbers to Check Every Week

  Compare actual sales, labor, food consumption and cash with the plan, then assign specific corrections.

• Get Your First Paying Restaurant Customers

  Build local discovery, accurate ordering and a small measurable launch plan focused on paid visits and repeat business.

• Choose Restaurant POS, Insurance and Services by Total Cost

  Compare written offers, test actual workflows and assign recurring operating services before opening.

• Build Your Food-Safety System Before the First Order

  Assign responsibility, verify local requirements, and use documented receiving, employee-health, allergen and cleaning procedures.

• Buying an Existing Restaurant: Verify What You Are Buying

  Separate assets, lease rights and operating earnings; account for the seller’s unpaid work and your financing.

• A Former Restaurant Can Save Money—If Its Systems Fit

  Check what can genuinely be reused before paying for an existing kitchen or comparing it with an empty retail space.

• Control Restaurant Construction: Scope, Changes and Delay Costs

  Use a comparable scope, a dependency schedule and written change orders to keep the opening budget connected to reality.

• Negotiate the Restaurant Lease Beyond Base Rent

  Compare obligations, fit-out, concessions, guarantees and timing before asking your lawyer to finalize the terms.

• How Much Food Should You Order? Start With What You Have

  Calculate demand, pars, usable stock and case rounding; compare suppliers and verify invoices without overbuying.

• Hire and Train Your Opening Team Around Actual Readiness

  Build roles and coverage first, use job-relevant hiring criteria, and train against observable standards before increasing volume.

• Can You Afford the Restaurant Loan—and Still Pay Yourself?

  Compare usable proceeds, payments, fees, balloon risk and the cash left for the owner before accepting financing.

• Food Cost Percent: Purchases Are Not the Same as Consumption

  Calculate actual food cost, compare it with recipes, and investigate a gap without confusing sales, inventory and profit.

• Restaurant Rent: Learn the 10% Test Before You Sign

  Calculate base rent and total occupancy as percentages of sales, then work backward to the sales the space requires.

• How Much Should You Pay Restaurant Employees Per Hour?

  Separate legal minimums, local market pay and what your operating plan can support. Build a documented pay range.

• Labor Cost Math: Start With Dollars, Then Percentages

  Learn labor cost percent, weekly overtime, full employer cost and the sales needed to support a shift.

• Your Soft Opening Should Find Problems

  A controlled service plan with order caps, station checks, a problem log and specific decisions for the next service.

• Free Restaurant Opening Planner

  A connected workbook for opening costs, staffing, delivery fees and 12 months of cash. Includes a worked example and a slower-sales test.

• Used Restaurant Equipment: Check the Installed Cost

  Compare the installed cost, inspect the exact machine and put the acceptance terms in writing before paying for used equipment.

• Restaurant Permits: Find Out What Applies Before You Sign

  A practical approval map for NYC and New Jersey, with the documents to request and a status log that exposes the real blocker.

• How Many Orders Does Your Restaurant Need?

  Build a sales forecast from service periods, then calculate the orders needed to cover payroll, bills and owner pay.

• Opening Your First Restaurant? Start Here.

  A practical sequence: test demand, cost the menu, prove the cash plan, check the address, negotiate the lease and rehearse service.

• Five Ways to Find Your First Restaurant Space

  Use five search routes, send a specific property brief and screen each address before spending money on a lease.

• How Much Does It Cost to Open a Restaurant? Total Cost vs. Cash Needed

  Total opening cost and the cash you need before opening are different numbers. Count paid items once, then put every remaining payment on a date.

• Does This Neighborhood Need Your Restaurant?

  Test paid demand, repeat purchases and contribution before choosing a lease. A simple field test with clear pass and fail questions.

• Your Opening Menu Is Probably Too Complicated

  Build a smaller opening menu from costed recipes, shared prep and station capacity, then use sales and waste to decide what stays.

• RestaurantLaunch or Udemy? Choose Your Restaurant Course

  Work through a restaurant cash-flow example, build your own daily order target, and choose the English-language course edition that fits how you learn.