From Dream to Reality: Designing Your Concept

Before you can open a restaurant, you need to have a clear idea of what type of place it will be. Will you serve sushi? Italian food? Chinese? Is your ideal atmosphere a gastro pub, or do you fantasize about a menu based on molecular gastronomy? Do you dream of a farm-to-table urban eatery?

The public has certain expectations when they enter a restaurant. You don’t expect to or- der a Caesar salad at a family-style Chinese restaurant, and you wouldn’t look for seared foie gras in a sushi restaurant.

So how do create your concept?

First, envision your ideal. Make sure that you can describe the restaurant in very short phrase. If you description is more than a few carefully chosen words, you may need to work a little harder at defining the concept.

What’s in a Name?Naming your restaurant can help define the brand vision, and it’s not a task you should take lightly. Choose a handful of names that you think best match your concept. Test them by asking a group of people from your…