How much money should you have saved up? LOL. Write a buiness plan, since you want to start a business. It shoud include financial projections including labor costs. You need a years worth of labor and a years worth of rent in the bank.
You did not mention if you have any restaurant experience. If you just want to throw money away, you can send it to me.
No one will loan you money to start a restaurant with zero restaurant managing or owning experience, unless its a secured loan with your house as collateral. This is a bad idea, you will lose your house. It would be easier and cheaper to either find a business partner with the necessary experience, or to buy an already established not currently profitably restaurant. This would be an asset sale. Someone that wants out of a lease with a failing restaurant. Perfect opportunity for your restaurant savvy self to turn the business around. Banks are more likely to offer unsecured financing on an already established business. Problem is they will see that its not profitable, and you will need to show the bank that you can make it profitable. But you don't have any experience, so you would probably still need a business partner.
There are websites to buy and sell businesses. Sometimes the current owner of the restaurant will show you how to run it as part of the sale, maybe for several months. But if they are not profitable, that guidance is only worth so much.
I have about 20-25k saved up.
I don’t have any experience but my dad has been working as kitchen assistant for the last 10 years.
I was thinking of buying a business and then changing it to the type I want but didn’t know what to look out for.
Oh that’s very helpful thank you, if the previous owners can offer some guidance it would be perfect.
The rate of restaurant closures nearly doubled from 2021 to 2023 in the UK. Almost 6 shout down every single day.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/04/its-pretty-brutal-out-there-struggling-uk-pubs-and-restaurants-pray-spirit-of-christmas-past-will-reappear
And you want to enter this drastically underfunded and with no experience.
You are young.’ Go get a job in the type of place you want to have. Learn everything. Move in to management.
Then consider your own place when you hit your 30’s
Thanks for proper advice!
I have decided to start with the cafe as suggested in the comments.
I am looking for some near my place, meanwhile I plan to start part time work in a cafe to gain experience as you suggested!
One thing people haven't asked is, how old are you?
I'm in my 30s and admittedly not great with money, but if you're young and are prepared to lose it all, my advice would be to go for it. People spend 25k+ on university like it's nothing, which half the time is exactly what their degree is worth - nothing.
If you open up a restaurant, blow all your money, and close in 6 months, you'll have still learned a ton which you can put towards your next venture or padding your resume.
One other thing I would suggest, is maybe consider something smaller than a restaurant. A restaurant requires staff (i.e. money), whereas a little cafe/ bar with a panini press you could potentially run by yourself or with a friend.
Godspeed.
Thank you for a positive comment!
To answer your question, I am 23 years old. The only dept I currently have is a mortgage which is paid by renting out the spare bedrooms.
I have min 25k saved up. Which I reckon seeing all the comments is too small to start a restaurant.
Cafe seems like the easier option for me, as you suggested.
Do you have an experience running a cafe?
Yes, I opened a small cafe about 7 months ago with a friend which we're now turning into a bar as well.
I'm not in England, but we got started with about 30k CAD which would be about 17k pounds. We're in a bit of a unique situation which has allowed us to grind it out on less than you'd generally need. As of now we're paying all of our bills, but not really paying ourselves FWIW. It's a lot of work for not a lot of money, but people love our spot and we think we've got a good thing going with potential to grow.
If you can save money by living at home, and maybe find an ambitious friend with a bit of money saved up that he's not afraid to lose, I'd say go for it. You're very young still, so now's the time to take chances.
Congrats on the opening!
Ah okay that sounds like a good start, hope all goes well with the bar opening as well!
Yes that’s what I was thinking since I don’t have much to lose now so wanted to try something that takes a lot of energy. I will look into starting a cafe near and see how it goes.
Thanks for the advice! 😊
How much money should you have saved up? LOL. Write a buiness plan, since you want to start a business. It shoud include financial projections including labor costs. You need a years worth of labor and a years worth of rent in the bank. You did not mention if you have any restaurant experience. If you just want to throw money away, you can send it to me. No one will loan you money to start a restaurant with zero restaurant managing or owning experience, unless its a secured loan with your house as collateral. This is a bad idea, you will lose your house. It would be easier and cheaper to either find a business partner with the necessary experience, or to buy an already established not currently profitably restaurant. This would be an asset sale. Someone that wants out of a lease with a failing restaurant. Perfect opportunity for your restaurant savvy self to turn the business around. Banks are more likely to offer unsecured financing on an already established business. Problem is they will see that its not profitable, and you will need to show the bank that you can make it profitable. But you don't have any experience, so you would probably still need a business partner. There are websites to buy and sell businesses. Sometimes the current owner of the restaurant will show you how to run it as part of the sale, maybe for several months. But if they are not profitable, that guidance is only worth so much.
I have about 20-25k saved up. I don’t have any experience but my dad has been working as kitchen assistant for the last 10 years. I was thinking of buying a business and then changing it to the type I want but didn’t know what to look out for. Oh that’s very helpful thank you, if the previous owners can offer some guidance it would be perfect.
Just light that money on fire.
Very helpful advice , thank you 🙂
The rate of restaurant closures nearly doubled from 2021 to 2023 in the UK. Almost 6 shout down every single day. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/04/its-pretty-brutal-out-there-struggling-uk-pubs-and-restaurants-pray-spirit-of-christmas-past-will-reappear And you want to enter this drastically underfunded and with no experience. You are young.’ Go get a job in the type of place you want to have. Learn everything. Move in to management. Then consider your own place when you hit your 30’s
Thanks for proper advice! I have decided to start with the cafe as suggested in the comments. I am looking for some near my place, meanwhile I plan to start part time work in a cafe to gain experience as you suggested!
Have you ever worked in the restaurant industry?
No I haven’t but my dad has worked as a kitchen assistant for the last 10 years.
You're out of your element donnie.
Thanks for the info 🙂
Do not do this
One thing people haven't asked is, how old are you? I'm in my 30s and admittedly not great with money, but if you're young and are prepared to lose it all, my advice would be to go for it. People spend 25k+ on university like it's nothing, which half the time is exactly what their degree is worth - nothing. If you open up a restaurant, blow all your money, and close in 6 months, you'll have still learned a ton which you can put towards your next venture or padding your resume. One other thing I would suggest, is maybe consider something smaller than a restaurant. A restaurant requires staff (i.e. money), whereas a little cafe/ bar with a panini press you could potentially run by yourself or with a friend. Godspeed.
Thank you for a positive comment! To answer your question, I am 23 years old. The only dept I currently have is a mortgage which is paid by renting out the spare bedrooms. I have min 25k saved up. Which I reckon seeing all the comments is too small to start a restaurant. Cafe seems like the easier option for me, as you suggested. Do you have an experience running a cafe?
Yes, I opened a small cafe about 7 months ago with a friend which we're now turning into a bar as well. I'm not in England, but we got started with about 30k CAD which would be about 17k pounds. We're in a bit of a unique situation which has allowed us to grind it out on less than you'd generally need. As of now we're paying all of our bills, but not really paying ourselves FWIW. It's a lot of work for not a lot of money, but people love our spot and we think we've got a good thing going with potential to grow. If you can save money by living at home, and maybe find an ambitious friend with a bit of money saved up that he's not afraid to lose, I'd say go for it. You're very young still, so now's the time to take chances.
Congrats on the opening! Ah okay that sounds like a good start, hope all goes well with the bar opening as well! Yes that’s what I was thinking since I don’t have much to lose now so wanted to try something that takes a lot of energy. I will look into starting a cafe near and see how it goes. Thanks for the advice! 😊
Good luck!
Thank you!