Open your own cafe - are there people who have not dreamed about this at least once in their lives? Some would like a small family establishment where they themselves would receive guests, while others would be more ambitious and dream of a large and famous place that privileged people would visit. If you are ready to start translating dreams into reality, the first question will be the room for a cafe and the documents related to its legalization.
Location as a Success Factor
Cafeteria, restaurant - it's like a store. How successfully managed to settle down, such revenue is worth counting on. Of course, there are other significant factors, but it is the place that can cause the collapse of hopes or that which will ensure success. As experienced restaurateurs say, no successful concept can stretch a business if there is no suitable place for it. This means that the rental of non-residential premises for a cafe should be framed wisely, only where it is profitable for you, and not where it is cheap.
When selecting a place, pay attention to:
- transport;
- the abundance of pedestrians;
- infrastructure
- location relative to subway stations;
- signage visibility.
Classic and not only
It so happened that in most cases an entrepreneur tries to find a non-residential premise under a cafe in the city center. This applies to both the average level of value and the luxury class. If a person is brave, has the opportunity to take risks and is ready for this, he can try to open a suburban cafe. This option is also suitable for businesses that already have a well-known name.
Coffee houses and family establishments are successful if they are located in shopping centers, as well as on walkways. When planning such a business, try to rent a room under a cafe near the metro. This does not have to be the center, high passability is important.
And if the transport hub?
Of course, it is impossible to imagine an airport in the building of which there is no cafeteria. Usually several such establishments are opened at once. Practice shows that the most popular style in this arrangement is casual.
If you have the opportunity to rent a room for a dining room, a cafe at the station (bus or train), then fast food is the most profitable here. True, the division is somewhat arbitrary, much depends on the specifics of the public in the city where the institution is scheduled to open.
What to look for?
As experienced cafe owners say, when choosing a room, you should not get hung up on well-known tips. Try to trust your intuition, try to predict which room under the cafe, the restaurant will suit your conditions. Avoid thinking with stereotypes.
Take a look around: your city probably has several blocks built up with new nice houses. Residents of such new buildings are your very first customers, who will surely be happy to visit a cafeteria with an average bill of about a thousand rubles (the specific cost, of course, depends on the locality).
Important Nuances
If you are going to conclude a lease for a cafe, do not rush. Analyze the selected object, specify the following parameters:
- exact area;
- availability of emergency exit;
- electric power;
- ventilation system.
It’s good if the electricity system allows the coffee machine to work without interruptions, but you also have to equip the kitchen. As a rule, even in a small cafe, powerful electric machines are used, so the building should be equipped with new energy supply networks.
Another subtle point: if the building is equipped with all the resources, but the area of the guest hall is obviously small, such a thing also will not bring you profit. It’s just that they will not be able to accommodate a sufficient number of customers so that their service brings financial advantages. That is, renting a room for a cafe is not easy, and the most important thing here is not to rush.
Parking and porches
From year to year, there are more and more motorists in our country who value freedom of movement by personal transport. When planning a cafe and assuming that it will work for at least several years, you need to immediately evaluate the room you like in terms of the availability of parking space for customers of the institution. Remember that often businessmen choose decent cafes for holding business meetings in an informal setting, and such people always move in their own car. Your benefit is directly related to customer convenience. If the guest does not find where to leave the car, he will go to a competitor who has such an opportunity.
However, parking is only half the issue of transport accessibility for customers using their own cars. After all, you still need to drive up to the cafe! And for this there must be normal paths. For example, if an institution is open in the courtyards, where you can’t squeeze along the lane, then no upscale parking will save. Of course, in such conditions, renting a room for a cafe is noticeably cheaper than options that go directly to a major street, but you lose more than you get. Practice shows: if the place is located in the yards, it can only rely on regular customers from among local residents.
Financial component
This is divided into two factors:
- your finances;
- money of your customers.
The first depends on how much the road may be for you to rent a room for a cafe. The second determines how respectable the audience visiting you will be.
It is practically impossible to find a room for a cafe in the city center for mere pennies, especially when it comes to a large village. In order not to miss the opportunity, it is necessary to begin monitoring the situation on the commercial real estate market in advance. Estimate the income, expenses, analyze for which public you want to open a place. From this, draw conclusions about how much rent you can afford.
Behavioral factors
Remember: respectable, wealthy clients will not attend a cheap eatery. On the contrary, even low prices are unlikely to lure an unsecured client into a shabby institution - he will be scared of the design and decide that this entertainment is not for his wallet. No decent client with money will go to a wretched exterior of the building: he has a fairly large selection of those places that look prestigious.
If your choice is a mid-range establishment, then the ideal room for a cafe is spacious, with large windows, quite simple and not pathos, but stylish, tastefully decorated inside and out. By the way, large windows encourage people passing outside to look inside if they see customers in the cafe. Someone becomes interested, others have a different motivation.
Standards for cafes
Despite the importance of the issues described, they are not exhausted. In order for the cafe premises to really meet all the requirements and conditions, it must be selected taking into account the current legal standards. In our country, laws regulate the restaurant business quite strictly. This applies to both indoor conditions and the area, as well as the number of permissible seats.
There are several government agencies that monitor compliance with GOSTs. If, say, you were able to open your own institution without taking into account some legal norms, it is worthwhile to eliminate any shortcomings as quickly as possible, since the checks may suddenly come up without warning. Such are sometimes rare, often - the process is completely unpredictable.
Communication with the surrounding civilization
Communicating with people is good, but this task will lie with the staff. But providing communications with the workflow is what the owner must decide. It's about utility networks. For the cafe to function correctly, access is required:
- to electricity;
- water
- gas;
- heat.
There must be a ventilation system.
If the supply of at least one of the resources is disrupted, the work immediately rises. However, even if you try to continue customer service and at that moment a check comes to you, the sanitary and epidemiological station will immediately cover the establishment, and the owner will be sent a considerable fine. In order not to lose customers, equipment and reputation, try to set up the workflow so that everything is there and nothing breaks.
In the case when it is planned to open a coffee shop in a residential building, it is additionally necessary to provide increased sound insulation. Imagine: if a person lives on the floor above, who is at home all day? And if he also has a difficult character? Conflict situations can be avoided in only one way: make soundproofing so that each other is not heard at all. The benefit of modern technology allows.
History is important too
Before renting an attractive room, specify who was located here before. If it was a restaurant or cafeteria, do not be too lazy to find out from independent sources what was the reputation of this institution. If it was a place that was “fined” in front of customers, the first time they would only have to build a reputation, trying to prove that the new cafe was not at all what it was here before.
Do you need such problems? If the place is very good, the rental is low, the location is good, perhaps the risk is justified, but in most cases - no. If possible, avoid this situation, because word of mouth is almost impossible to defeat.
Room requirements
So, we will repeat all of the above again, but briefly and structured. The room should have the following parameters:
- entrance from a major street;
- back entrance;
- all communications;
- showcase glazing;
- own parking;
- ground floor;
- the possibility of opening a terrace, veranda.
Paperwork is a delicate matter
Finally, remember that opening a cafe is also a big job with official documents. First of all, you need to contact the fire department and SES. Each instance has its own requirements for catering establishments, they will have to comply.
Attention pay:
- to the area of the room;
- room sizes;
- light level;
- humidity;
- general structure;
- fire protection level;
- the presence of a fire alarm;
- ventilation.
Regularly, all new legal and regulatory acts regarding the requirements for public catering establishments come into force, so try to study the most current issues of laws so as not to be refused.
There are also additional difficulties. In particular, when choosing a room in a residential building, the entrepreneur will first have to obtain the consent of the residents, certified officially, only after that the authorities will consider and coordinate the project.
Looking to the future
If you managed to satisfy all the requirements of the fire service and the SES, you need to analyze your plans for the future. Say, if now all communications are normal, with the growth of the cafe such capacities will not be enough. This means that it is better to immediately invest in the modernization of the electric energy supply system. It is best to do this by arranging an additional source of electricity. To get permission, you will need to rework the wiring inside the cafe.
Redevelopment does not always occur precisely for this reason. It also happens that you need to change the location of walls and windows, add rooms or combine existing ones.In order not to encounter future problems with inspections, re-planning should be done only with the appropriate permission. To do this, you will have to contact the BTI. Remember that sometimes paperwork is extended for up to six months. Get ready for it.
