If you are starting a restaurant then there are many things that you have to consider before actually opening the doors to your restaurant. The five main things you have to think about and plan for are waste control, sourcing, what niche you want for your business, management, and operations.

One of the biggest budget killers you will find when you own a restaurant is waste control. Waste control involves trying to prevent as much food waste as possible. Obviously all the food that you buy that doesn't get used and goes to waste is a complete loss of money. Therefore, when starting a restaurant you need to think about the foods you will buy, how you will buy them, how you will store them, and how you will serve them before they go bad. You should consider the percentage of food that will go bad in forty-eight hours and the percentage of food that will go bad in a week. The prices of food may have to be raised in order to justify the waste of the food that isn't used.

Part of the waste is of course where you will get the food, and that means you need to consider sourcing, which is the second important thing to consider. You need to think about and plan where you will get your food from and factor in transit time. Then you need to have a policy set-up so that the older food gets used before the newer food - first in, first out.

The third thing you need to consider about is your niche. Base your food choices on what you think will sell the best. And make sure you have contingency plans to get that food in case your primary source is unable to deliver. And remember, your best customers usually buy the bulk of your food - twenty percent of customers give you eighty percent of your business. So be sure to keep those customers happy.

The fourth thing you need to consider when starting a restaurant is the management side of things. This includes food (which we've been discussing), staff, and budget. You need to plan every last detail in all three of these areas. These three things are so important that if you don't keep track of them then you are destined to fail.

Finally, you need to come up with a way to keep track of the operations of your restaurant. This involves everything in the restaurant, especially a way for you to know how effective all the different parts of your restaurant are (wait staff, bar tending, valet, etc.).

If you are starting a restaurant then those are the five main things that you have to keep track of before you actually begin operating the restaurant and even after you open the doors to the restaurant. These five things are waste control, sourcing, what niche you'll operate within, management, and operations.