Takeaway + restaurant owners: advice & numbers needed!

[Kfaff]

Hi everyone - particularly takeaway/restaurant owners!

Basically, I am searching for wise advice on starting a takeaway in London/Brighton and anybody kind enough to share some of their own experiences and/or figures.

My partner is an extremely talented private chef who has struggled with health problems over the last few years following a virus (not Covid!). Together with his brother, the three of us want to put his great culinary skills into a business and start up a high-quality takeaway in either West London - Acton/Chiswick and nearby - or Brighton and Hove (these are general areas we've lived in a long time and know well). The problem is, we really need to get a good grip ASAP on start-up costs and realistic projections. We have thought about doing this for years and I have some figures from back in 2015, but they are now presumably out of date.

My partner has a few different concepts for the takeaway, which could be chosen according to the needs of the local area. But essentially we would be doing absolutely excellent (and he really can do excellent) and reasonably healthy versions of a crowd favourite, of course with his own individual twists - this could be wraps, burgers or pizzas.

Although we have his brother on board to work in the takeaway at first as well as me, and the brothers have the money to start it up (so they would be the two partners) we think we would also be looking for someone with some experience to partner up with and help run it - both because the experience and extra hands are needed and because my partner's health is still unreliable. Not sure if there is a network of people looking for such opportunities, but thought I’d mention this as well, in case any thoughts come to mind. Btw we also have an interested investor and are keen on the idea of creating a second takeaway shop as soon as possible, but really need some more solid example figures so we can try and make projections.

Huge thanks in advance!
Kat

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Kat,

welcome to the forum and well done on trying to start a business.

Well, that's the good news out of the way!

You are looking at starting a business that will rely on the skills of an excellent chef who has health issues. Whilst i hope they are not serious, that is a big red flag/threat right at the beginning.

Because you are looking at a takeaway, you need to look at location and footfall, especially if you want to hit passing trade. Get prices for suitable properties. Understand business rates, utility costs, staffing, compliance, insurance etc - write a basic business plan.

Whilst the area you are looking at is flooded with existing options, with today's app based food ordering world, there is still an opportunity to do something good, but over 50% of food businesses fail in the first couple years, so be prepared!

 

[Kfaff]

Thank you Paul! I understand your point about the chef, but given that this will be a fast food takeaway, the idea is that (like in Gourmet Burger Kitchen, for instance), everything is done to a recipe and sauces, marinades etc could be created in big batches and the servers don't have to be gourmet chefs themselves.

We are working on a basic business plan. I would love to see example real-life numbers from businesses that have done something similar. Is there anything you recommend to find these?

Yes – it's extremely competitive in these areas. I am certain we could make something of outstanding quality, we just need to know that the numbers stack up in our particular circumstance, to make it viable! i.e. it can't be the three of us taking the bulk of the shifts – we will need to pay extra staff because of my partner's health problems. Trying to wrap my head around realistic figures for outlay and break-even estimates in light of this.

Thanks!

 

[Mark T Jones]

Other people's numbers are unlikely to be a meaningful guide unless you have specifically identified them as a directly compatible business

If you take a cashflow template and start thinking numbers then you can come and ask some more targeted questions which will get direct answers (sometimes uncomfortably so)

My advice on completing projections is just to get on with it. Version 1 will be nonsense, but it is the foundation to start thinking about your numbers in a logical way.

I'm sure you are away of the current staffing crisis in this industry. If you are building a reputation for quality you really must have access to chefs who can uphold that reputation.