Ready to Open a Second Restaurant Location?
April 13, 2019If your current restaurant is booming, it might be time to consider a second location.
Congratulations on your current success – you’ve already beaten the odds!
Opening a second location can be easier than your first one – you’ve already worked out a lot of the kinks. However, it’s not always a slam dunk. Here’s what you need to know to make sure your second commercial kitchen is as successful as your first.
Decide on the Theme
Do you want your second commercial kitchen to create the same menu as the first, or do you want a different theme? Will you keep the name the same, or change it?
You can also think about whether you’ll open a new full-time restaurant, a pop-up location, or even a food truck. There are more ways to expand your restaurant than ever before!
In order to make sure you succeed, you’ll want to think carefully about the location and theme of the second restaurant.
Think About Staffing & Management
Before you commit to opening a second location, determine who will lead the restaurant. Do you plan to step away from the first location to open the next one? If so, how will that go in your first establishment?
You want to make sure the quality of your first commercial kitchen doesn’t drop off because of your focus on the second restaurant. You want to make sure you have personnel in place at every level of the restaurant to make sure it can succeed autonomously.
Take a page out of your own book – you already have a successful business! Take a look at what makes your restaurant so high-quality now. Make sure you transfer those best practices to your new location.
Work Out the Numbers
What type of establishment you open – pop-up, food truck, or traditional restaurant kitchen – has a lot to do with what your finances look like.
It’s never worth it to overextend yourself to open a second location. There’s nothing wrong with simply enjoying success in the current situation. Before you take the plunge, make sure the numbers make sense. You’ll want to combine that with a great business plan and a strong new team.
You might consider a business partner or investor, but be sure you know them well. It’s unfortunately too common for a lot of stress to come from poor business matches – and it can leak back into your current restaurant and hurt that business as well.
Create a Great Marketing Plan
How will you get the word out about your new commercial kitchen? A great marketer, Dan Kennedy, likes to say, “You aren’t in the business of doing a thing. You’re in the business of SELLING the thing.”
What that means is that you aren’t in the restaurant business, you’re in the business of SELLING eating at your restaurant! You’re already doing this well if you’ve succeeded once. Be sure you have a great plan and keep things going strong so your new location sees similar results!
Get the Supplies Your New Commercial Kitchen Needs
Of course, we haven’t even touched on the most important element – the kitchen equipment you’ll need for your new location!
From cooking equipment to smallwares, your commercial kitchen will need to be completely outfitted. If budget is a concern, don’t shy away from high-quality used equipment. We can help you find everything you need – contact us today!
Kitchen Equipment in Little Rock
Tipton Equipment Restaurant Supply has a selection of kitchen equipment in Little Rock that will help enhance the menu of any restaurant, deli, or supermarket. Our span of kitchen equipment will help you keep up with growing consumer demand for fresh, high-quality...
What You’ll Need: Arkansas Convenience Store Equipment Freezers and Refrigerators
Your convenience store can't just have any old piece of equipment.What’s a Convenience Store? A convenience store is what the name implies; a store of convenience in an easily accessible area where customers usually have a variety of household products, beverages,...
Commercial Ice Cream Freezer: Keeping it Clean
To many, cleaning an ice cream freezer merely means pulling out all the food and allowing the appliance to defrost. Defrosting is a vital step, but it is not the only thing that needs to happen to maintain a clean freezer. To ensure optimal performance and keep your...
Getting Your Commercial Kitchen Up and Running
Getting your commercial kitchen up and running. Serving Ware If there's nothing to serve the food on, there's no restaurant. You'll need tons of cutlery, plate ware, bowls, ramekins, cups, and glasses. Consider the number of tables you can fit in your restaurant and...
Safety Tips for Your Commercial Kitchen
Safety tips for your commercial kitchen to keep it running smoothly and keep disease out. A well-run commercial kitchen means maintaining the utmost cleanliness and safe conditions for your food preparation. If you were to contaminate an area with Salmonella or other...
Cooking Equipment You Need Today!
If you've ever attempted to purchase cooking equipment for a new kitchen or tried to improve the quality of tools in your current kitchen you've found that stocking up on high-quality kitchen essentials is much more complicated than it should be. Nowadays everywhere...
Cooking Equipment Disasters You Can Avoid
Cooking equipment disasters you can avoid through proper safety procedure and careful proceeding. Kitchens are the heart of the home, but they’re also home to a lot of cooking equipment that can pose safety hazards. Cooking fires top the list of things that can go...
Why You Should Maintain Restaurant Supplies Religiously
Excellent quality and well-functioning restaurant supplies are the backbones of a restaurant’s success. While you may be able to operate a restaurant without regular equipment maintenance in the short run, the long-term effects will add up. Decreasing equipment...
What Restaurant Supplies Does Your Café Need?
What restaurant supplies does your café need? Our Pro's Do It All: Provide, Install & Maintain From soda fountains to most any frozen beverage machine, we offer a fantastic variety of beverage equipment and restaurant supplies. Tipton Equipment is one of the few...
Three Benefits of Using Used Kitchen Equipment
Three benefits of using used kitchen equipment are more straightforward than you would think. SavingsUsed kitchen equipment will save you thousands in, starting a restaurant. High restaurant failure rate leads to restaurant kitchen equipment only being in service for...
Kitchen Equipment Spotlight: How to Maintain a Commercial Freezer
Your commercial freezers are a vital part of your restaurant operation. They hold the food and supplies you’ve bought to keep them at their freshest until you need them. Unfortunately, when a freezer malfunctions, you can lose hundreds or even thousands of dollars’...
How to Run a Successful Event & Party Room
Do you have a large space in your restaurant set aside for special events and parties? Does it get reserved as often as you wished?If you’re like most restaurant owners or managers, the answers are yes and no. You probably have a space – almost everyone is expected to...
Philadelphia Outlaws Cashless: What it Means to You
In early March, Philadelphia became the first city in the U.S. to forbid restaurants from refusing cash payments. As of July 1, all Philadelphia restaurants will have to accept cash payments and cannot charge cash-paying customers more than non-cash ones. Several...
Types of Insurance Your Restaurant Needs
No one gets into the restaurant business thinking about insurance and paperwork, but it’s still an important part of doing business. Insurance helps protect you from natural disaster, theft, employee injuries, and liability. Many times you can get insurance discounts...
Control COGS in Your Restaurant
Restaurants are known for having razor-thin margins, but you can improve your profits if you have a good handle on your costs. That doesn’t mean you have to skimp on restaurant supplies, but it does mean you can be strategic about what you spend. Do you know your cost...