Sushi has become something of an international wonder, first starting out in Japan before making its way across the globe. It’s difficult to find someone that doesn’t have a love for sushi dishes, to the point where it’s possible to find sushi not just as restaurants and bars, but even at supermarkets.
But there’s nothing quite as good as having sushi at a proper restaurant, and like most eateries, it takes countless hours of preparation and dedication to ensure that customers are offered top-quality food every time.
Starting a sushi restaurant might seem intimidating at first, and there’s no doubting that it carries a fair amount of risk, especially in terms of lost capital.
But if it’s done step by step and with the right amount of research and preparedness, it’s possible to find real success.
1. A Feasibility Report
Before putting anything into motion, it’s vital to conduct a feasibility report. This is a compilation of all of the market research within a specific region.
This deals with the core intended audience, the popularity of restaurants within the area, the other competition around and much more. Doing this kind of report ensures that a new business owner won’t rush into things blindly, and it’s an important step in saving as much money as possible.
2. Put Together a Plan
A business plan is what comes next, and it’s a layout of all the financial, technical, and logistical details that need to be considered along the way.
This is where a name has to be chosen, how many employees will be part of the operation, the costs of training, managers, the physical location, and the supplier of the ingredients.
Like the feasibility report, this needs to as comprehensive as possible to try and mitigate any unforeseen problems that may arise further down the line.
3. Finding Good Chefs
Most people can make sushi after watching a few YouTube videos, but it takes a trained chef to create meals that customers will love and remember.
There are a lot of trained chefs in the world looking for work, and it shouldn’t be too difficult to find ones that are good with sushi.
It’s a good idea for the owner of the business to learn the basics of making sushi, too, as this will give them special insight into the food making process, allowing them to decide what changes should be made, if any.
4. A Marketing Strategy
It’s not as easy as putting a restaurant together and hoping people will magically find it, which is not fun for all involved. People need to be led, and this done through marketing.
Google has a wide array of tools, for example, that can help potential customers find a sushi restaurant, but it’s up to the manager to make sure the information is available online. Social media is also a powerful tool that needs to be utilised as much as possible to draw in customers.
5. Insure Everything
Insurance is mandatory when running a business, especially one that interacts directly with many customers at a time.
Insurance can be expensive, especially for a newer business, but if it’s important that the safety net does exist in the event anything goes wrong.
