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I have grown tired of looking for work and finally decided I need to make my own employment. To this end, I am developing a business plan for a restaurant/bar. I want the food to be of the highest quality, but still things that are not extremely expensive or so high-class that they'd be hard to market in a community populated mostly by factory workers.

Since many of you have at least some background with the restaurant business, I'd like your input. I need some ideas for basic menu items, things that can be quickly prepared but are basic enough that the ingredients can always be stocked. A lot of the ideas I have are great for daily/weekly specials, but not for standard menu items.

So here are my questions:
1) What item(s) absolutely have to be on the menu in a restaurant with a bar?
2) Are there any items that you rarely if ever find on such a menu do you think would be a good/interesting fit?
3)Do you have any other suggestions that I may find beneficial?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Your Pal,
Jubber

AKA "The Gun"
AKA "ROFeraL"

World Renowned Mexican Forklift Artiste

LFW as short order, PST.

Duuude

One of my BFF's on wow started his own restaurant earlier this year. I'm sure he could help you/give you tips.

godslayer knows him to, some guy by the name of alphatrian/airianna.

Ill ask him on FB if hed be willin to talk to ya.

I am THE man.
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee15 ... 171424.jpg

if you're just going for a generic restaurant:
-burgers
-salads
-soup
-pasta
-appetizers
sounds simple but as long as you cover those basics you just need to come up with your own variations on them

really you should just go out to eat at places that you're looking to compete with and see what they have on their menu

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sunshine.kittens.bubblegum.happythoughts

Myself and the girls at work are currently managing our cafeteria in the wake of our lunchlady resigning. We've hired a local cafe to provide us food for morning tea + lunch orders, and while the food is nice, it's too fancy for most of our factory staff so they simply will not buy a lot of it. It's not even a price issue because we're subsidizing some of the cost so it comes out as being about the same money wise.

The problem is some of the food is too fancy, too much bullshit and fancy sauces and cheeses and sun dried tomatoes. I like all those things, but when you want to eat lunch, because you're working hard all day, and you get fancy shit with zero substance, it's not satisfying in the least compared to a simple sandwich packed full of lettuce, tomato, chicken, eggs and stuff.

The cafe just seems incapable of making simple food for simple people and it's quite frustrating. Everything has to be fancy, when fancy is not what our plebians want 9 days out of 10.

Oh ok rereading again you're looking at more of a restaurant, i had 'lunchbar' in by head after seeing the word bar.

Look for something that is already being done successfully in your target area (because market obviously exists) and then determine how you could either do it better or niche it down.l

Or do actual market research to see if you can bring a new idea your target area.

The former is safer than the latter, and just about anything is safer and lower cost than a restaurant.

fingerfoods and sandwiches.

my favorite bar does chicken sandwiches of various recipes, burgers, tacos, fried shrimp, various sandwiches, etc etc.

i would also recommend opening this in north carolina

specifically in the triangle

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sunshine.kittens.bubblegum.happythoughts

Restaurants are incredibly dangerous to start up, especially if you have no background in culinary and/or hospitality.

RETIRED.
[armory loc="US,Bleeding Hollow"]Mayonaise[/armory]
[armory loc="US,Bleeding Hollow"]Jerkonaise[/armory]

Danger Zone.

Go spend all your money on lottery tickets or slot machines. This way your road to bankruptcy will be quick as opposed to long and painful.

QFT. Not that I doubt your abilities Jubber...it's just that, as your pal, I want to make sure you have a firm grip of all the business factors that need to be in place.

To me, the Menu, while important, is a rather small part of all the things you need to think about. Elements such as location, marketing, financing, and labor can doom a restaurant just as easily as a bad menu can.


That being said, if you're going for a generic restaurant/bar, I think you should have the basics (hamburgers, fries, club sandwiches, a few salads [for any vegetarians])

HOWEVER

What will really make your restaurant successful is if you're able to differentiate yourself from all the other random restaurant bars that are out there.

Fake irish pub restaurant? Been done.
BBQ style? *yawn*
Tailgate style food? *ZzzzZZZzzzzZZZzz*

What you need to do sir, is find what us marketing nerds call a "blue ocean"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ocean_Strategy

Uncharted territory. You can have a few standard items, sure. But you need a dish that makes people want to go out of their way to come check out YOUR restaurant.

Case and point, there's this awesome local pub-type restaurant in Philly called McNally's.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/mcnallys-tavern-philadelphia-2

They are pretty standard, hole-in-the-wall pub/restaurant, except for one item. They sell a sandwich called "The Schmitter"

http://eatcharmcity.blogspot.com/2008/0 ... ss-on.html

It's so popular that they sell it at Phillies games.

That's the kind of thing you need if you want to be really successful, imo.

I like food and I like drinking but I've only had a real meal in a local pub once. Like people are saying, it's probably not the safest bet.

I don't have the slightest experience or knowledge regarding the field (short of actual cooking), but I'd assume the success rates aren't too far removed from, say, startups.

If destruction exists, we must destroy everything.
Shuruppak Yuratuhl
Slaad Shrpk Breizh

Starting a restaurant is a fool's errand.

More fail than succeed, and even if you succeed, the labor requirements are enormous and the profit margins slim. There are also many incidental risks that may put you out of business overnight.

I strongly recommend you do not do this.

You have a background in labor/construction, don't you? Why not become a handyman or self-employed contractor? Why not start some sort of contracting firm?

Why don't you become...a self employed forklift driver and do contract forklifting? I'm totally serious. I'm sure there's a market for consumer forklifting - moving heavy things without calling the fire department or a construction or moving company.

Aestu of Bleeding Hollow...

Nihilism is a copout.