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Opening up a restaurant is not an easy job. This is because, there is a lot of planning involved in it. Before starting a business, you need decide on the type of restaurant you would like to open, its location, the type of customer you want to cater to, the volume of your business, the number of staff to be employed initially, kitchen equipment required, the overall ambiance, the quality of food to be served and many more things that will constitute your restaurant. However, I will not go much deeper into the planning, as it is only the restaurant start up costs that will be dealt hereof.

Factors to be Considered Before Starting Up a Restaurant

At the outset, I’ll advise you that, while calculating the restaurant start up costs, always assume that the costs of everything will be higher than what you have yourself estimated and accordingly start looking for startup business financing. Taking this into consideration, the following factors would help you in calculating your restaurant start up costs.

Permits and Licenses: Well, before starting up a restaurant, you need to obtain the necessary permits and licenses. This is an important prerequisite, in order to avoid legal issues. To get essential permits and licenses, you have to pay the government for all the legal charges involved. Therefore, this is the foremost factor, you need to consider in the estimation of your restaurant costs.

Location: Location of your restaurant is the most important factor to be considered, while estimating costs. This is the area, where you will have to spend the most. The location where you are planning to set up your restaurant is important. Locations that have high profile people staying in the neighborhood would obviously be expensive, whereas, a comparatively low profile area would be less expensive. Also, locations in the midst of the city or in the downtown areas would cost you much more, than those in the suburbs. However, it is up to you to decide, which location to choose.

Restaurant Construction: Now, that you have decided the location, you also need to decide on the costs incurred in constructing the restaurant. The amount of construction materials required, the legal permissions involved to construct a restaurant at that place, all form a part of the restaurant construction costs.

Marketing: Market surveys, research and analysis all form a part of the marketing activity and will also cost you. You will have to pay heavily for the service charges, if you give your marketing work to some professional marketing service providers. However, if you do the marketing yourself, it would not cost you as much.

Advertisements: Quite obvious! To increase the popularity of the restaurant you need to advertise it sufficiently. Therefore, cost of advertising, also needs a consideration in your restaurant start up costs.

Restaurant Equipment: This includes purchasing the equipment, instruments, kitchen tools and accessories, furniture, safety measures, interior designing costs, and the installation costs. Decide the quality and jot down a brief estimate of the cost of all these things.

Employee Recruitment and Payments: You cannot go searching for employees for your restaurant yourself . To ensure that you hire the best for your restaurant, you need to contact a local recruitment agency that will shortlist the best people for you. Therefore, the charges of such agencies should also form a part of your restaurant start up costs. Further, employee salaries, incentives and uniforms, also need a consideration.

So folks, I hope after reading this article, calculating the restaurant start up costs will no longer remain a difficult job for you. Before signing off, I would like to say that correct cost estimation, financial planning, proper business handling and most importantly, vision for everything together, make an ideal entrepreneur. So, now go ahead, and see your dream of becoming a restaurateur turn into reality!
By Ujwal Deshmukh

I am sure we all have experienced that when we look for a rating for a hotel. we find the same hotel ranked with three different ratings on different websites. Why does that happen? This happens because there is a lack of a Unified global system for rating hotels. Different countries, different websites and different rating agencies follow different methods for rating hotels. For example: The Sanctuary Hotel of South Beach in Miami, Florida is rated as a 5 star, 4 star and 3 star by different websites.

As you go up from one star to five star hotels, the services, facilities, staff, decor, ambiance and comfort provided, increases.

★
These hotels are the most affordable options.

Amenities: A single star rating for a hotel indicates minimum quality of maintenance, cleanliness, furnishings, and other services. The items provided are very basic and functional. The staff members are more informal and the food services are normally provided in a common designated eating area. Rooms would be small and even congested sometimes.
Accommodation: Only the basic necessity-services are provided by the one star hotels. Variety of cuisines are not offered and the hospitality is also minimum. TV’s and AC’s may or may not be provided.

★★
These hotels are affordable and convenient.

Amenities: A hotel with a two star rating will provide a wider range of items. The rooms will be larger and services are of a better quality and standard. The beds and the washrooms are well maintained.
Accommodation: They normally have a restaurant which is operational for all the three times; breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food will be cooked with greater care. The staff will be considerably formal and the variety of dishes offered will be limited.

★★★
These hotels fall into the semi-luxury category.

Amenities: Extra care is taken in maintaining the cleanliness, hygiene, furnishing, hospitality and F&B services. The decor is good, good provisions are made for the recreational and the kitchen services.
Accommodation: The staff members are formally dressed and are hospitable. The beds and the washrooms are well maintained. There will be a good range of choices for cuisines and the food is cooked with good care.

★★★★
These hotels fall in the luxury category.

Amenities: The standard of furniture used, cleanliness, hygiene, and the decor will be high. A good provision for recreational services and a well stocked kitchen is provided. The space available in the rooms will be more. The bedrooms, washrooms are well maintained and quick rooms services are provided. Many luxuries like jacuizzis, dance-floors or discotheques and lawns will be provided.
Accommodation: Staff members will be perfectly dressed in uniforms and they provide personalized services. Great care is taken in the food cooked and in the utensils and crockery used. You will find multi-cuisines offered here. Two or more restaurants are created and are also made available to outsiders.

★★★★★
A five star hotel is a synonym for luxury.

Amenities: There is class in the decor and the ambiance. The furniture and the interior designing will be affluent. A wide range of items are offered and all the needs of the customers will be taken care of, personally. Recreational activities and F&B services provided will be of a high quality.
Accommodation: Every guest’s personal needs are addressed to. The beds and the maintenance is of an excellent standard. Rooms would have ample space and all the facilities like heaters, AC’s, TV and jacuzzies will be basic services. Multi-cuisine dishes will be offered and the crockery, utensils and the inputs used in cooking are of the best grade. Many extra facilities like conference rooms, lawns, cafe, casino’s and bars are provided.

Six and Seven Star Hotels
The hotel ‘Burj Al Arab’, in Dubai is conspicuously known as a seven-star hotel. It is really rated as a 7 star hotel? The fact is that, no rating body has till now rated any hotel more than 5 stars. The hotels that claim to have 7 or 6 star, address themselves like that to show their supreme-luxurious status. They do offer a better range of amenities and luxury rooms and services. The customers who live at Burj Al Arab come via helicopters and use Rolls Royce automobiles as taxis. Every room has a Jacuzzi and rain showers in it and the customers have easy access to the Helipads. Even after having all of these affluent features, Burj Al Arab is still called a self-proclaimed seven star hotel.

Besides the star rating system, the other widely used hotel rating system is the Diamond Rating system.

One cannot rely completely on the hotel star ratings as different rating measures are used by different bodies. You will need to look for customer reviews to see if it matches your need. Also look at the pictures that are put on hotels official websites; they can give you a clearer picture. You can also rely on one particular authentic website and follow it, as you will learn about how they rate a hotel and will be able to understand their future ratings too.