If you’re thinking about opening up your own restaurant, you’d better have some friends at the bank or loads of money…
It’s impossible for us to sit here and tell you that you need an exact amount of money to start a restaurant. This is because each and every one is unique and will have a different cost. What we can tell you is that it’s expensive. Very expensive. First of all, you need to know what you’re wanting to do: open a franchise restaurant or your own unique one.
Even if you’re opting for a franchise, it’s going to be costly. You will have to buy the rights to the franchise, which is normally more than a million rand. Next, you’d probably have to pay rental for land and the building (if it’s not built into your franchise fee), training for staff, stock… all the little things. If, however, you’re doing it on your own, you need to look for a site. There’s no point renting a building or mall space if there is no traffic going past. You will need to assess what your market is like and how many people will be interested in coming into your restaurant. Remember: buying land is expensive and renting is even more costly (some malls charge upwards of R30 000 for a teeny, tiny amount of floor space – that’s a lot of plates you’re going to have to sell just to pay the rent).
Once you’ve found a spot, you will need to decide on the type of cuisine that you will be catering. This is important as it will determine where you will be able to source your supplies – if they’re exotic and need to be imported, it’ll cost. If they’re local and can be found in abundance, you shouldn’t have a problem finding a cheaper alternative around the corner. It’s still going to cost you. After that, it’s time to work on designing the restaurant’s decor and the smaller details such as uniforms, menus, etc. – you’ll need to hire a graphic designer and photographer, and depending on who you get, how many drafts and photos you have taken, you could be spending thousands of rands on these alone. Then there’s hiring staff, training staff, finding a chef and hiring the kitchen staff, buying crockery and kitchenware… the list of expenses is endless.
When you’ve decided that you want to open a restaurant, finance is one of the biggest problems you’ll face. Even for a “cheap” restaurant, you’re looking at well over R2 million to get set up and running. And don’t expect to see the money rolling in… you’re going to be spending a lot more money before your pockets are full.
