Monday 29 July 2013

How To Keep Restaurant Construction Costs To A Minimum

By Maryanne Goff


Starting a restaurant business is no different to starting any other venture. Make no mistake, the venture is usually quite pricey as well as exciting. Therefore, underneath the excitement, there is probably concern about restaurant construction costs. However, by being smart you can save a lot of money.

What absolutely needs to be decided is who is going to do the building. If you're a laborer that has experience with building an establishment, then by all means you can do it yourself. By doing it yourself you will save a fair bit of cash. Whatever the decision, make sure you bear in mind that cutting costs can save you money but also damage your brand if the premises looks cheap and tacky.

By using fake materials you can make your establishment look more expensive than it actually is. For example, instead of using antique pine for the decor, you could use a cheaper wood that can be finished off to look like antique pine. The same can be said for flooring. Using a cheaper vinyl flooring, one that looks like hard wood flooring, will save a lot of money and customers may not know the difference.

Choosing a contractor can be fraught with problems. Some have reputations for going over budget constantly, others might not even have experience of building a commercial property. To counter this, ask around and get the opinions of those people you have respect for. Choose a company that does things on time and within budget.

A way of saving a lot of money is to buy all furnishings from manufacturers. By purchasing in bulk you should get a discount and benefit from the cheaper prices they usually give to those that buy direct. Of course, if the manufacturer doesn't allow this then go to a wholesaler and ask for a discount.

It's a good idea to cut out middle men when buying any products for your establishment. They usually charge a little more than if you go direct and this will eat into any profit. Sometimes you may not have a choice. In that situation you should try and get itemized lists of all costs, so you know what you need to fork out in advance.

When designing or building the premises, bear in mind that space should be utilized efficiently. Try to cut out things that use too much space unnecessarily. Conversely, don't try to save space when it means compromising your brand. This will all depend on the type of restaurant and type of clientele you wish to attract.

It's very important to make sure you keep restaurant construction costs to a minimum. However, doing so at the expensive of your brand's good name is probably counter-productive. In fact, in some circumstances it's provably better to spend a little more to project the right image. Much of this depends on the clientele, and on what you would consider to be important.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment