There is a lot more to making a Chinese restaurant business successful than getting the right cuisine. Everything from the decor to the ambiance and regalia of your waiters must be on point. Better still, buy plastic takeaway containers to make it easy for customers. Getting these basics right is just the first of a series of steps you need to take to make your Chinese restaurant business a thriving enterprise.
If you have ambitions of setting up a Chinese restaurant, there is no time like the present. To remain competitive, target both walk-in customers and home deliveries. For the latter, you will have to get plastic takeaway containers. Meanwhile here is a set of three other steps in creating a successful Chinese restaurant business:
Get the Menu Options Right
The uninitiated assume that Chinese cuisine is very restricted. However, those who are familiar with Oriental culinary arts know that the variety of dishes and options is virtually unlimited. To attract the right kind of well-informed and appreciative clientele, you need to work on the menu options. Whether you opt for Cantonese, Szechuan or Hunan cuisine, your choices must be right on point.
Even when you choose a particular variety of Chinese cuisine, be innovative enough to ensure you meet the needs of different diners. Ensure that your restaurant offers an adequate choice of dishes that are gluten-free, vegan, and more besides the non-veg. Research what other Chinese themed restaurants in your locality are offering. What you end up offering should be distinctive and appealing to customers who may be finding their preferences curtailed by what is on offer at competing establishments.
Come up with a Pricing Strategy
As with other kinds of cuisine, the amount of money charged for your Chinese dishes will depend on the kind of ingredients amount of preparation and time that goes into making each dish. However, certain pricing norms are unique to clientele who prefer Chinese cuisine. This may run counter to the conventional wisdom that applies to other forms of international foods.
The first thing to note about your pricing strategy in a Chinese restaurant is that being too pricey is a nonstarter. Fortunately, few (if any) Chinese gourmet choices require you to source for exotic and highly-priced ingredients. It is, therefore, possible to offer a wide variety of tasty dishes with pricing starting at affordable to the mid-cost range. Even better, the art of making Chinese foods allows for considerable improvisation without ruining the taste of the dishes. As such, you can substitute alternative ingredients if the originals are too costly or unavailable in your area.
Choose the Location Carefully
The success or failure of your Chinese restaurant enterprise hinges on the location you opt for. What turns out to be a great location for your Chinese restaurant may run counter to your normal business instinct. For instance, it is often better to establish your restaurant where there is already one of more Chinese restaurants operating. As we have already explained in the first step of this guide, your strategy should be to offer something unique, not replicating what the other restaurateurs are offering.
For obvious reasons, locating your Chinese restaurant plump in the middle of your local Chinatown makes lots of sense. However, the establishment doesn’t need to be Chinatown. Provided the clientele you target can find your establishment with ease, you do not have to sweat unnecessarily over the issue of location.
