EP Restaurant Group is a concept development specialist group with partners Tom Missios and Nick Goddard with over 50 years of experience in the restaurant and hospitality industry. We advise and support aspiring restaurateurs who wish to create their own concept and open a unique restaurant, instead of buying a franchise. As a franchisee, you could be paying 6 to 10% of gross sales in standard franchise royalties that could amount to as much as 40 to 50% of your net profits. We provide the same operational manuals, proven management systems and hands on training as a major franchise. We charge only a one-time fee, payable in stages, with no ongoing royalties.
RESTAURANT CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT:
- START WITH A PROFITABLE CONCEPT
STARTING A RESTAURANT BUSINESS
When it comes to developing a profitable concept, EP Restaurant Group will help you find your way. There is an abundance of mistakes that aspiring restaurant entrepreneurs make when they come to us with their ideas. Here are just a few examples:
They focus on a menu of foods that they grew up with, perhaps family recipes handed down through generations, that they think will excite people. But just because those recipes appeal to them, doesn’t mean it will have enough appeal to others to generate the sales volume needed to produce profits.
They want to offer something unique and new – but how do they know that there is enough demand for the new concept to make it profitable?
They want to offer too broad a menu to appeal to too broad a market. By doing so, they increase their initial investment in equipment and bury themselves in too much complexity of operations for someone who is relatively new to, and has limited experience in, restaurant management.
they don’t specifically define “a brand” and thus never establish an identity.
EP Restaurant Group views a concept from the standpoint of risk. We strive to sculpt a concept with our clients that meet these criteria:
The concept has been proven to be successful in the same or in a similar form. Offering a concept that’s already working, but doing it better, is much less risky than bringing a whole new concept to the marketplace.
The concept must be able to produce an operating profit margin of 5 to 10% or more.
- WHY USE A RESTAURANT CONCEPT SPECIALIST?
There are hundreds of decisions and tasks that have to be addressed in the process of opening a restaurant, with typically hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake. Where do you start? EP Restaurant Group makes the process logical and linear. Even for the experienced restaurateur, a road map can translate into tens of thousands of dollars in savings. Mistakes made in the planning process can cost the restaurateur potential profit for the life of the business. For example, a poorly laid out equipment plan in the kitchen can reduce operational efficiency and dictate higher labor hours in order to meet production requirements. Even inefficiencies that cause the need for 2 hours of extra labor on average per day will translate into nearly $10,000 of lost potential profits when accounting for hourly wage, payroll taxes and employee benefits. That’s money out of your pocket simply because you laid it out wrong.
Why use a restaurant concept specialist? In some cases, it’s a very good question. Some consulting groups delegate the functions to relative “newbies” who have theoretical experience in the industry, but no real-world experience. That’s not the case with EP Restaurant Group. Tom Missios and Nick Goddard are your partners in the process of opening your restaurant. Their combined experience opening and operating restaurants spans decades and includes concepts ranging from fine dining, to casual dining, to fast-casual, to fast food.
- FRANCHISE VS. YOUR OWN CONCEPT
OPENING A FRANCHISE RESTAURANT
How do you know if you should buy a franchise restaurant or start your own independent restaurant concept? This is a complicated question and the answer depends on a number of variables. Ultimately, it comes down to your motivation and your degree of risk tolerance.
BUYING A FRANCHISE RESTAURANT
When you buy a franchise, you’re usually buying a “proven concept”, something EP Restaurant Group advocates for. However, some franchises are young and don’t really have a long and consistent record of success. These types of franchises are much higher risk ventures. With franchises, you’re buying a “brand” instead of building your own. If your motivation is to get into the restaurant business with a concept you like, and there are franchises out there doing it, then it may be a good option for you. The franchise will dictate how your restaurant looks, what’s on your menu, your operational procedures, how often you have to remodel, and how you market your business. Because the “brand” that you’re buying is typically recognized by the public, the task of marketing the new restaurant is significantly easier and greater initial revenue can be expected. But franchises also contractually require royalty payments be made to them on an ongoing basis for the life of the business. These royalty payments typically fall in the range of 5 to 8% of your gross sales. Often, royalty payments equate to as much as 50% of your bottom line. Their claim is that your royalty payments support the ongoing brand development through research and development, national pricing and effective marketing programs. Some franchises deliver, and many don’t. Looking at the cost to open a franchise restaurant, we find that there is very little, if any, savings opening a franchise versus opening your own concept.
OPENING YOUR OWN CONCEPT
If you’re the creative, entrepreneurial type and you have your own ideas of the restaurant you want to open, this is the better option. Is the risk higher? If you’re a novice, or have limited restaurant experience, the risk is much greater. However, if you use consulting services such as
EP Restaurant Group, your risk will be dramatically reduced.
EPRG can advise you and support you in either decision. Contact us for a free telephone consultation.
- RESTAURANT BUSINESS PLAN
The restaurant business plan is an essential document for anyone opening a new restaurant. The primary purpose of a restaurant business plan, typically, is to raise money to fund the start-up, either through a bank or from investors. But, at ep Restaurant Group, we believe that the restaurant business plan is an invaluable tool for our clients by being a road map for opening the restaurant. It lays out the concept and the process on paper with the financial data that supports the risk.
A professional restaurant business plan will articulate your concept and why the concept will be successful in the first section called “the Executive Summary”. It will lay-out the timeline of development and within it, financial projections are presented. These projections range from casting all of the capital and start-up costs, to projecting income and return-on-investment (ROI) over the course of the first five years. Other financial projections may include, break-even and a month by month cash flow analysis for the 1st year.
Restaurant business plan formats vary based on the who the audience is. Banks look for certain things, while investors look for other things. It takes a professional to write an effective business plan. EP Restaurant Group provides this service to all of our clients. For more information, contact us or call 647 209-4153
- MENU & RECIPE DEVELOPMENT
RESTAURANT MENU PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT
EP Restaurant Group guides you through the arduous process of restaurant menu planning & development.
How does your menu best support your brand?
How do you cross-utilize ingredients?
How many menu items should you have?
What about extras like adult beverages, appetizers, sides, and desserts?
What will sell and what won’t?
What’s the cost and the profit of each of your menu offerings?
How do you build your standardized Recipe Book?
How is each menu offering executed from cooking to serving?
These are just some of the many questions that must be considered to create a winning menu. And make no mistake about it, a winning menu is one key to success. Menu development is an intricate art that mixes culinary skills with operational and marketing skills. EP Restaurant Group will guide you to a final menu that is priced for profitability, that is executable, and that supports your brand.
Don’t try to do this alone! Contact us for a free telephone consultation.
- RESTAURANT LAY-OUT
RESTAURANT LAYOUT DESIGN
PROPER RESTAURANT LAYOUT DESIGN IS ANOTHER OF THE MANY “KEYS TO SUCCESS”
EP Restaurant Group specializes in efficient restaurant layout designs with a focus on traffic flow and labor efficiency and optimization.
Properly laying out your restaurant is another of the many “keys to success”.
How do you place your equipment in an order that is best for production under pressure?
What is the most effective table configuration in relation to your brand and you seating capacity?
Where should you place the host station, service stations, TV monitors, shelves, faucets, etc.?
EP Restaurant Group founder and professional Interior Designer Nick Goddard & his team will provide solutions and help you make these crucial decisions.
- RESTAURANT EQUIPMENT
By using professional restaurant consultants to create Restaurant Equipment Specifications, you can ensure that you have the right equipment to keep your operation running without breaking the bank on equipment that you don’t need or won’t grow with you. EPRG provides an equipment list with specifications, and coordinating ordering and installation through a reputable allied restaurant equipment dealer.
From ovens to dish washing machines, mixers to cash registers, your new restaurant has a huge list of equipment needed before you can open your doors. Having proven consultants help you create a laundry list of equipment, show you what to buy new, what pieces need warranties and a whole list of other needs, you will save time and money and have an operation that will grow as you do.
BUILDING A BRAND
We work with you to create a concept that fits your specific ideas, budget and market demographics. Whatever your desired concept, our philosophy is that there are three necessary criteria that we try to meet:
The concept, in some form, must be proven by demonstrating profitability and staying power. Your risk increases if you attempt to educate the market to a new concept.
It must show by its realistically projected operational numbers (rent, food cost, labor cost) that it can achieve Operating Income of 10 to 15% of Net Sales.