In Nigeria, food restaurant business has always been a profitable venture and it will continue to maintain this footing owing to the fact that a vast population of Nigerians cannot afford to prepare meals by themselves.

Even if you’re running a mini restaurant, you can expect to make at least #20,000 daily provided that you’ve chosen a thriving location and have kept up offering quality meals.

In this post, you’ll find out all that you need to start a food restaurant business in Nigeria.

• Conducting a Feasibility Study

A feasibility study is required for you to determine the practicability of your restaurant business in the desired business location. Through this study, you should realize whether there’s a considerably high demand for your chosen kinds of food in a specific area. Moreover, you’ll find out the level of competition among restaurant owners in that area and easily figure out your proposed business’ chances of survival.

• Setting aside a Business Space

Food business commands a high level of cleanliness and this is why you shouldn’t set up your restaurant in an unhealthy area. In choosing a business space for the restaurant, consider the size of the location, the condition of the environment and proximity to potential customers. For instance, it might not be favourable that you set up your restaurant in an area without any frontage that may serve as a parking lot for customers.

Advisably, do not try to cut corners in the event of choosing a business space simply because the chosen space will have a lot of impact on business success. Depending on the environment, the business space for a mini restaurant should go for an affordable rental fee ranging between #100, 000 and #250, 000. You should find out the rental costs of shops in your preferred business location.

• Decorating the Restaurant

In furnishing your restaurant, you should always bear in mind that you’ll be selling food to people through a restaurant and not a mere food shop. Therefore, the design of your restaurant shouldn’t give onlookers the impression that it’s a mere food outlet.

If you’re really bent on having an attractive restaurant, you should be ready to expend as high as #200,000 on furnishing your mini restaurant. To avoid conveying cheapness about the restaurant, endeavour to avoid plastic chairs/tables and go for well-decorated and sturdy wooden furniture instead. If going for plastic chairs/tables is the only affordable idea on your mind, then you should be ready to think out the other decorative ideas with which your restaurant can attract customers.

• Purchasing Restaurant Utensils

This is just one of the indispensable steps in your restaurant business startup. While your restaurant utensils will include plates, knives, forks, pots, cookers and several other kitchen wares, you should try as much as possible to avoid plastic plates.

Serving food to people with plastic plates will not project any good image about your restaurant business. You may consider dishes with ceramic finish so that your food can appear attractive to customers. Depending on where you’re purchasing the utensils and the number you’re bargaining for, you shouldn’t spend more than #60,000.

• Employing Cooks and Servers

Employing cooks for your restaurant is important but more important is the fact that you should employ only cooks with good skills. Quite frankly, cooks with poor culinary skills will only end you up with poor meals that would hardly attract customers.

In your attempt to cut costs, you may feel like employing only food servers and do all the cooking by yourself. This isn’t advisable except you have exceptional cooking skills.

Conclusion

Food restaurant business is one of the easiest businesses to start and run in Nigeria. But to ensure you’re able to reel in profit in the long run, conduct thorough research on the food types best sold in your preferred business location.