How to open your own establishment: tips from the founder of a chain of wine bars

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

How to motivate the team, why it is important to correctly define the concept and what emotional service is - useful for those who are planning to open their own restaurant, cafe or bar.

Having worked in different positions in different companies, many come to the decision to create something of their own. At first glance, your own business is completely your field, your choice, your interests. But it is also a big responsibility and risks, primarily financial. Having opened my first wine bar four years ago, I faced many difficulties, worked on mistakes, found the right solutions and is ready to share my experience.

Decide on the concept

Initially, I did not want to open a wine bar at all, but a wine boutique, since the sphere and the scheme of work was well known to me. But my partner wanted something close to a wine bar. As a result, we decided to create a cross between a vinotheque and a bar.

The project was conceived as a wine boutique, where people would be pleased to go at any time, have a glass of wine and buy a bottle or several with them. We had only three tables, there was a minimal set of snacks for wine like olives and cheese, there was no usual wine list, a large assortment of wine was presented on the shelves, and all prices are indicated on the bottles.

But the choice of such a store format did not justify itself: the very first month of work showed that the format needs to be adjusted. Visitors tried the wine at our tastings, but were in no hurry to buy it in boxes. On the other hand, people liked to sit at tables in the hall and drink wine. We gradually increased the number of seats, and they were sure to fill up. Then it was decided to abandon the store format and develop the project as a bar.

All this is a preface to the fact that the choice of concept is the most important stage.

You need to understand who your audience is, what you are going to offer it and what you want to get at the end.

If, as in my case, you still made the wrong choice, the main thing is to understand this in time and take measures to work on the mistakes, without allowing a complete failure.

Find the perfect room

Decide on the location of your establishment. It is better if it will be a place in the center, with good traffic, but not necessarily on the first line. The presence of a good residential cluster nearby is a definite plus. It is better to take a room in a non-residential building, but this is ideal: such sites are very rare, especially in Moscow. In addition, the cost of their rent is greatly overestimated. Another option is the first floor of a residential building, but be prepared for possible conflicts with your neighbors.

Very small premises, about 100 m², are suitable for a wine bar, which most restaurateurs are not ready to take. And renting such a site will cost you much less.

Be sure to pledge a considerable amount for repairs. Unfortunately, most often the premises for catering are rented not in the best condition. There used to be a law office in place of one of our bars, and we spent about a million rubles only on repairs: it was necessary to demolish partitions, repaint white office walls, and so on.

Participate in every breath of the project

Yes, of course, you need a team that you can trust, but just watching the development of the business from the outside will still not work. The best way to understand a project is to dive into all the details. Complete an internship in all positions, from a waiter to an administrator, go into full-fledged shifts. This will give you experience and understanding of the work in all, even the smallest details.

When communicating with guests in the hall, you can get excellent feedback, see the reaction and emotions of guests, better understand their preferences and expectations, and adjust the work in the right direction.

This experience helped me a lot. Working in the hall, I was able to understand that people come to the wine bar for the atmosphere, mood and live communication. They want a little more than just good service. Guests want engagement, attention, an elementary smile and a kind look. I realized that the emotional service story is exactly what people lack. Just good service when the waiter politely set the plate down is great, but not enough. Experience shows that the more emotions a guest gets from visiting an establishment, the faster he ceases to be a critic and takes your side.

Motivate your team

The main emotional charge is, of course, the employees. But restaurant owners often miss one crucial point: the employee must not only charge the guest with positive emotions, but also experience them himself. And if your employee perfectly performed all the actions, but experienced negative emotions at that moment, the guest will definitely feel them.

As a leader, you must show the team how important the contribution and role of everyone in the life of the restaurant is. Always try to capture the emotional background and climate in the team.

It is important to pay special attention to the selection of employees. These should be people who, in principle, are ready to offer such a service. Unfortunately, not everyone can work with emotions.

You can teach the basic techniques of the service in general, but it is impossible to teach how to smile, feel people, communicate and give warm feedback.

Try to give each employee maximum exposure, support the corporate culture, devote maximum time and effort to team building. Arrange trainings, internal events, corporate breakfasts, field trips.

For example, we send the best employees to wineries: the guys have an interesting time, relax, gain new knowledge, get charged with emotions and return full of impressions and motivation to move forward. Another great example is corporate breakfasts, where the whole company can meet and take stock.

When employees know that the company needs them, when they can always find support in the team, are infected with a common idea and understand that the higher their results, the more successful the company is, they are more involved in the process. Then the result will not be long in coming.

Tell about yourself

If you think that right after the opening of the restaurant there will be a queue at the door, then this is not at all the case. Especially if this is your first project and you don't have a name on the market yet. Word of mouth has worked well at all times, but now it's not enough. With the current competition (and over the past few years, the restaurant industry has made a bold leap forward), it has become even more difficult to interest the guest, influence him so that he chooses yours among the variety of establishments. And it became impossible to ignore such tools as social networking and working with the media.

Tell about yourself, news and events, be it a new menu, achievement or event, share moments from the life of the project and the team.

You can attract bloggers and opinion leaders, work with an existing audience and attract a new one at the expense of the media.

Also, now many people pay attention to the promotion of the personal brand of the restaurateur. Guests began to perceive projects through the founder's personal brand, and one can observe interest not only in the institution itself, but also in the people behind it.

The restaurant business is very risky. The market has been transforming especially rapidly over the past couple of years, and guests are becoming more informed and selective. Therefore, in the restaurant business, it is very important to keep your finger on the pulse, follow trends or dictate them yourself. Quickly adapt to external factors, be it fashion trends or an unstable economic situation. Listen to the opinions of your guests, but at the same time follow the chosen concept and not try to be comfortable for everyone.