Setting up a restaurant in a pub

Themag

I am thinking about setting up a restaurant in the pub I already own.
The only thing is I don't know much about food so looking for some tips and help....
There are already a few restaurants and pubs that do food but feel they could be better so think there is a market there.
However I also think there are only 8 months of the year worth opening for from match till October and maybe December.
The pub already has a lounge that could seat 60 people for food.
I am also thinking keeping it to simple tasty food and all locally sourced.
I also have 5 rooms above the pub which are been redesigned for B and B so that would help.
1.Is this a good idea?
2.How much would it roughly cost to set up a kitchen???
3.Would I be better going into partnership with a chief say 60/40??
4.What would be a good daily turn over??
5.How many kitchen staff would be needed??

dbran

Hi

I would see if you could come to some arrangement with a catering company where you charge them a fee based on turnover etc for the use of your lounge as a restaurant. They will be responsible for hiring staff, organising menues, preparing the food etc. You continue to sell the drinks and the alcohol to the customers of the restaurant.

dbran

If you watch a few seasons of Kitchen Nightmares you'll see the pitfalls of running a restaurant, especially for people who went into the business with no experience. You'd learn a good few things watching that show either way.

If your able to seat 60 people for food your going to need a smooth and efficient operation assuming you can fill the place, and I would suggest you consult with a chef first of all to get a handle on all the costs of setup for a decent kitchen. You don't have to partner with the chef - and this could be a bad idea anyway, due to chef 'volatility' . You could just hire a head chef and a couple of sous chefs + pot washers + additional waiters to your lounge team.

Lunch time trade is key, if you can master that, then the dinner trade will be gravy.

Its not really about what would be a good daily turnover right now. You need to get a handle on your costs, all of them, and then work out how many covers you need to cover that cost. Once you've established that you'll know whats a good daily turnover that will give you a profit and pay back your initial investment.

Sky King

The only thing is I don't know much about food so looking for some tips and help....

IMO You need to consider your market anyway first of all and tailor your business to suit their demands. Who is going to be eating ther? Is it truckers passing through the village who want a hearty slap up and somewhere to park their trucks? . Is it mainly office worker people you're giving lunch to, or are you aiming for evening meal with a slightly higher price and snazzier service?

I think that's your starting point anyway.

Then you need to consider your competitors (who you say arent any good) and ask yourself how you would differentite yourself from them.

Then you need to sit down with a friendly publican-cum-resturaunteur and get them to talk you though it. You HAVE to know someone in the business who will do this, there's loads of them around. I can think of at least two people I could go to if I was in your position.

You'll have a good idea after you do all of the above what kind of business you are setting up and how much it is likely to cost.

Vego

Min kitchen breakdown wages wise to scare you ....a decent head chef will set you back 38-40k , decent sous 32-45k probably 2 chef de parties at 25-26 2commis chefs on 10ph then maybe a trainee on some back to work thing ....two pot wash at 8.65 ph

I suggest leasing your equipment to fit out a kitchen. As I have seen how draining broken down second hand equipment can break you the owner and staff .....Then find a direction to go in 80s carvery or the deep fried cheese & chicken wing type menu or maybe the homemade stocks and cured salmon route ...all depending on finances and marketing

Need anymore advice you can pm ðŸ˜

Themag

Vego wrote: »

Min kitchen breakdown wages wise to scare you ....a decent head chef will set you back 38-40k , decent sous 32-45k probably 2 chef de parties at 25-26 2commis chefs on 10ph then maybe a trainee on some back to work thing ....two pot wash at 8.65 ph

I suggest leasing your equipment to fit out a kitchen. As I have seen how draining broken down second hand equipment can break you the owner and staff .....Then find a direction to go in 80s carvery or the deep fried cheese & chicken wing type menu or maybe the homemade stocks and cured salmon route ...all depending on finances and marketing

Need anymore advice you can pm ðŸ˜

I take it that these high wages are more for a fancy restaurant rather then just good pub grub restaurant

Bandara

Themag wrote: »

I take it that these high wages are more for a fancy restaurant rather then just good pub grub restaurant

They are irrelevant figures, in your circumstance you can expect to pay €12 an hour to a suitable decent head chef and have two commies with him at €9, and a KP for 4 hours a day on €8.65.

The hours you have a food offering are something you need to be very careful about. You can start the staff at 11am and they'll get lunch setup, in afternoon they can do their prep for evening service and lunch the follwoing day, last orders in kitchen at 9pm and after clean down etc they'll be gone for 10pm. Thats 11 hours a day for two staff, in reality your going to have your head chef there your best 5 days and the commies will cover for the other two quiet days (say mon & tues). With the Head chef and 2 commies are covering 15 shifts a week when in fact you only need 14, so you have the commies on 4 days one week, 5 days the following week.

I'd question the need for the KP initally tbh, you aren't going to be that busy that the commies won't be able to manage, if you are then get a KP.

Rough Wage Cost:
Head Chef 55 hrs @ €12 = €660 & 8% = €712
(Good Standard) Commies 49.5 hrs @ €9 = €445 & 8% = €481

Looking at them figures again I'd now rule out the hourly option for the Head Chef and offer a 30k package with another 2k in incentives built into his salary. For example, he gets €250 quarterly on his food margin coming in at 70%, and a further €250 quarterly for keeping his waste below 4%. (Although these are bonuses they are also expected benchmarks for him to acheive)

As towards kitchen fitout, it is a bit how long is a piece of string. But for the purpose of an estimate I'd venture a minimum of 35k, but more practically budget towards the 60k mark and include a turbochef as it gives you the options of offering simple foods at all times of the day and can be easily operated by the barstaff if required due to the capability of the presettings on them.

Hope that helps.

Markcheese

Where the hell are you going to get an actual head chef for 12 quid an hour ??
You may get a chef for that (depending on where you are) . But the OP doesnT have a catering background so the chef is going to have to set everything up, be really effective, manage the other staff and not be able to get decent money elsewhere (or go on week a long bender)
The idea of going into partnership with someone experienced isn't bad,they rent facilities off you ,(reasonably cheaply) you sell the extra
beer and wine..

dbran

Hi

The key point is that the OP knows nothing or very little about food/restaurant business. In that case the best option is to get in the expertise that they have some "skin in the game" by putting in place a partnership or at least a good incentive scheme so that they are fully on board with wanting to make it work.

I dont think running a restaurant business is something that will come to the OP overnight. They could loose a whole ball of money trying to get it right and in the process ruin the existing pub business both in terms of its financial standing as well as its reputation.

Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares has been mentioned already and although it is certainly exagerated for dramatic effect the results of a badly run restaurant and poorly trained and supervised staff are not.

Its all about getting the right people and staff from the get go. If you dont know anything about the business you wont know what to look for to begin with and you will hire chancers and idiots who talk the talk but couldn't boil an egg. (Even ripped off if your not on the ball eg food disappearing, wastage etc!!)

Regards

dbran

Vego

Yeah sorry man Im talking reality on the wages ...a good head chef who can cost a menu and actually make things of a decent standard, have kitchen management experience & liaise with the environmental health officer to set up a haccp plan will cost what I said in my original post.

duploelabs

€12 ph for a HC????? Try €20ph upwards plus profit cut

Bandara

duploelabs wrote: »

€12 ph for a HC????? Try €20ph upwards plus profit cut

Have to disagree

We have 4 different resturants (all award winning, with some operating at the very highest levels in this country) in the family, the head chef in the most famous one is on 45k after over 10 years with us, with the others heads/sous on 25-35k.

30k +bonus for a decent standard Brasserie chef is perfectly fine. You won't have any problems filling the position suitably.

Anyway, maybe the franchising out the operating might be best for you OP.

YellowSheep

Hi Themag. Where is your pub located? I might be able to help. Please give me a PM. Thanks Oliver

Themag

hey all thanks for all your messages and advice. looking through all the suggestions i am leaning towards the idea of maybe renting out a kitchen and at least this way i can gain experience in the area too as well as giving a good chef a incentive to make the business work as they well be gaining profits if successful.

Markcheese

Only thing other thing I'd say is don't limit yourself to renting out to a chef... There's a lot of decent restaurant managers, front of house managers, head waiter types out there who could get a food service operation buzzing... A lot of the time chefs don't make good restauranters,cos they're stuck in the kitchen...
And I say that as a ( former) chef...

UBERTILT

Markcheese wrote: »

Only thing other thing I'd say is don't limit yourself to renting out to a chef... There's a lot of decent restaurant managers, front of house managers, head waiter types out there who could get a food service operation buzzing... A lot of the time chefs don't make good restauranters,cos they're stuck in the kitchen...
And I say that as a ( former) chef...

.

If the fare is going to be simple it's your front of house face that will attract and retain customers. Which part of the country are you based?

Themag

UBERTILT wrote: »

.

If the fare is going to be simple it's your front of house face that will attract and retain customers. Which part of the country are you based?

West of ireland and like most places it is now coming into off season and the more I think about it I'd say I would have to close the restaurant in the quiet times...