Ultimate Guide to Launching Your Hospitality Business

You’ve painted the walls, installed the equipment, hired a team and stocked the kitchen – it’s nearly time to open your restaurant and welcome guests through your doors.

However, standing out from the crowd can be challenging in today’s busy world, especially if you’re a new business. That’s why it’s so crucial for new venues to build a restaurant launch plan and focus on marketing efforts before opening your doors. 

To ensure your restaurant opens with a bang, we’ve created this ultimate guide for new restaurant owners to empower you to successfully launch your business

What is a restaurant launch plan?

A restaurant launch plan maps out the different steps required for you to successfully launch a new restaurant and makes sure you stay on track to achieve your goals. It typically includes several elements, such as target audience identification, marketing and event planning.

In a nutshell, a well-designed restaurant launch plan will help ensure that your restaurant opens without a hitch, lays the foundations for your marketing strategy and establishes a strong foundation for long-term success.

Why do you need a restaurant launch plan?

Your restaurant launch plan is essential for setting your restaurant up for success from the get-go.

Your launch plan ensures a strong start for your restaurant, and by carefully planning and executing each step, you can avoid common pitfalls and challenges that new businesses face.

Marketing is an integral part of cultivating a successful business and will be instrumental in crafting your launch plan. With the majority of customers checking out a business online before deciding to visit, your launch plan will ensure your restaurant is easily accessible and visible on as many digital platforms as possible.

What to include in your restaurant launch plan

As every venue is different, there’s no one size fits all approach to crafting a restaurant launch plan. For example, a fine dining restaurant will strategize its launch in a completely different way from a quick service restaurant.

However, there are several elements that every restaurant owner should include in their launch plan – no matter the type of venue.

• Outline your target audience
• Create a timeline
• Build a restaurant website
• Get started with social media marketing
• Consider partnering with an influencer
• Feature on local listing and review sites
• Host a soft opening
• Prepare for your grand opening

Outline your target audience

The first step in creating your restaurant launch plan is to outline who your target audience is. Once you’ve defined your ideal customers it’ll be easier to shape the rest of your launch plan and pinpoint exactly how you’re going to promote your new restaurant.

Researching generational marketing is a great place to start when it comes to outlining your target audience and understanding the best ways to communicate with them. 

In a nutshell, generational marketing provides businesses with a tool kit on how best to communicate with certain customer groups, how to reach them, which channels to promote your business, and the type of offers likely to resonate. 

While generational marketing is a great starting point for your restaurant launch plan and overarching marketing strategy, it shouldn’t be the only way of defining your target audience. Therefore, it’s important to take other factors, such as income, location and occupation, into consideration when crafting your launch plan.

Create a timeline

The next step in building your restaurant launch plan is to set out a realistic timeline for when you want to open, and all the different things you’ll need to achieve beforehand. 

Researching your target audience, building a website and creating content for social media can be very time-consuming, especially if this is something you haven’t experienced before. 

While your provisional opening date might seem far in the future, it’s a good idea to set weekly goals for your launch plan to help build excitement and gain momentum online. 

Build a restaurant website

Once you’ve outlined your target audience and created a timeline for your restaurant launch plan, the next step is to get started with your marketing. Building a website for your restaurant will provide the foundations for the rest of your marketing efforts and will play a key role in promoting your restaurant.

Having a website for your venue is essential. For many people, it’s the first interaction they’ll have with your restaurant – it’s where they look when they want to make a reservation, check out your menu, or find out where you’re located. 

Your website doesn’t have to be overly complicated – it just needs the key pieces of information that potential customers might be searching for. To get started, ensure your restaurant website includes the following:

• Contact details – including your address, email and phone number
• Menu – with a selection of photos
• Your story – a quick overview of your business, its goals and values
• Social media – link to your social media pages e.g. Instagram
• Reservations – make it easy for people to make a booking

Setting up a website on your own can be pretty straightforward, thanks to user-friendly website builders like WordPress and Wix. If you don’t feel confident creating your website, you can hire a freelancer to do this for you. Check out platforms like Airtasker and Fiverr for suitable web developers.

Get started with social media marketing

After you’ve built your website, the next phase of your restaurant launch plan will be setting up your social media channels and planning what content to post. 

Social media, particularly Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok, is an excellent way to generate exposure for your venue. It’s vital to dedicate time to nurturing a community of followers by regularly posting and showcasing your offering to reach new customers.

Which channels you decide to use will largely depend on your target audience. For example, if your restaurant appeals to a younger demographic, like Gen Z, then you should consider using Tiktok. If your target customers are Millennials, Instagram might be more suitable. 

If you’re stuck for ideas on where to get started with content creation, here are some ideas to spark your imagination. 

• Venue tour video
• Meet the team video or photos
• Behind-the-scenes videos of your venue
• Photos of your dishes
• Videos of dishes being prepared 
• Photos of your drinks offering 

Tip: Social media advertising is also a great way to boost awareness in your local area. Before opening your doors, consider investing in social media adverts to promote your restaurant and drum up excitement.

Consider partnering with an influencer

It’s estimated that 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations before making a purchase. Therefore, teaming up with a local influencer is a great way to boost your profile gain exposure to a new audience before you open your doors.

Research local influencers in your area who specialise in creating content around food, hospitality, things to do, lifestyle and local tourism. You can then reach out to them directly to see if they’d like to come and have an exclusive first look at your venue, in return for exposure on their social media channels. In return, you can offer them a free meal, drinks or pay small fee for their time. 

Feature on local listings and review sites

As part of your restaurant launch plan, it’s crucial to get your business out there as much as possible. A great way to do this is by registering with local online directories and review sites.

Make it easy for potential customers to discover your restaurant by setting up profiles on directories and review sites such as TripAdvisor and Yelp. These websites attract thousands of visitors a day and are often the first port of call for people scoping out a new place to eat. 

You should also set up a Google My Business account to ensure your venue appears at the top whenever someone searches for your business on Google.

Listing your business on Google My Business is a great way to boost your visibility online. Setting up an account is easy, and once it’s live, it’s pretty much guaranteed to appear every time your business is searched for, so it’s important to keep it up to date so potential customers can easily find the info they’re looking for.

Host a soft opening

Once you’ve nailed the marketing for your new restaurant, it’s time to put the wheels in motion to open your doors to the public.

Before diving in at the deep end and opening your restaurant to the world, host a soft opening with your friends, family, suppliers and local business owners. This will allow you to test-run your menu, workflows and service to iron out any issues.

It’s also the first time your team will get to work together (aside from training), so be prepared to give feedback if necessary. Plus, the benefit of hosting a soft opening with friends and family is that they’re likely to be more forgiving if mistakes are made.

Plan your grand opening

The final step in your restaurant launch plan will be preparing for your grand opening. 

Your grand opening is the first time you’ll open your doors to the public and marks the final step in your journey to opening a restaurant.

Drum up excitement before the big day on your website and social media to encourage people to come and try you out. And don’t worry if mistakes happen. It’s very rare for a restaurant to open without at least one small error being made.

Good luck!