Fine Dining Restaurant Business Plan

Gabri's Restaurant & Lounge

Executive Summary

Opportunity

Problem

The rapidly expanding borough of Long Branch, New Jersey ‘on the shore’ is in need of a warm and friendly place with excellent food. A place where you always know you will get the best of everything. 

More opportunity than problem, actually … unless it’s dinnertime and you’re in Long Branch. 

Solution

Gabri’s Lounge & Restaurant will feature a cozy dining room and an elegant lounge. Comfortable furnishings and decor with soothing warm tones. The lounge has comfy couches and antique love seats with a softly lit bar. It will be the perfect place to stop in for a bite to eat, for a drink or for a small business meeting. For extra comfort and to please a large group of people we will make up special hors d’ oeuvre platters for customers.

Market

The outlook for the future of Long Branch is promising. Developers are recreating a $150 million first-class resort project. The old pier will be rebuilt with ferry service to Manhattan, New York City, beach cabanas, boardwalk and a bike path over a total of 25 acres. There will be 100,000 sq. ft. of commercial space, and over 700 residential units with condo and townhouses ranging from $200,000-$500,000; rentals from $1000-$2,500 a month, and a two-tier garage. The combination of these elements will provide the city with a year-round economy.

Competition

Our biggest competition is the town next to Long Branch, called Red Bank which has a large selection of restaurants. Currently, many people who live in Long Branch drive seven miles to Red Bank to dine out. With the redevelopment in Long Branch and with Gabri’s Lounge & Restaurant, we will convince these people to stay in Long Branch and eat at our restaurant.

Why Us?

Gabri’s is a great place to eat, combining an intriguing atmosphere with excellent, interesting food. The mission is not only to have great tasting food, but have efficient and friendly service because customer satisfaction is paramount. We want to be the restaurant choice for all families and singles, young and old, male or female. Employee welfare will be equally important to our success. Everyone will be treated fairly and with the utmost respect. We want our employees to feel a part of the success of Gabri’s Lounge and Restaurant. Happy employees make happy guests.

We will combine menu variety, atmosphere, ambiance, special theme nights and a friendly staff to create a sense of ‘place’ in order to reach our goal of over all value in the dining/entertainment experience. We want fair profits for the owners, and a rewarding place to work for the employees.

Expectations

Forecast

The most important assumption in the Projected Profit and Loss statement is the gross margin, higher than industry averages. We are also planning to spend more on payroll than the industry average.

We do see moderate growth over the first three years, because restaurants depend on word of mouth and we’ll be able to meet capacity requirements to grow as shown here. 

Financial Highlights by Year

Financing Needed

$465,000 of funding is needed to finance $300K startup expense (in detail in company section) plus $85K of startup cash reserve and $80K non-cash assets at launch. We plan to put in $225K owner investment and land a $240K long-term SBA loan. 

Opportunity

Problem & Solution

Problem Worth Solving

The area is in need of a warm and friendly place with excellent food. A place where you always know you will get the best of everything. The residents need a food place in long branch that has great food and fits their needs. They currently need to drive 7 miles for the closest "local" spot. 

Our Solution

Gabri’s is a great place to eat, combining an intriguing atmosphere with excellent, interesting food. The mission is not only to have great tasting food, but have efficient and friendly service because customer satisfaction is paramount. We want to be the restaurant choice for all families and singles, young and old, male or female. Employee welfare will be equally important to our success. Everyone will be treated fairly and with the utmost respect. We want our employees to feel a part of the success of Gabri’s Lounge and Restaurant. Happy employees make happy guests.

We will combine menu variety, atmosphere, ambiance, special theme nights and a friendly staff to create a sense of ‘place’ in order to reach our goal of over all value in the dining/entertainment experience. We want fair profits for the owners, and a rewarding place to work for the employees.

Target Market

Market Size & Segments

615,301 people live in Monmouth County, 50% between 25-55 years old. That is the age group that dines out two to three times a week and spends an average $795 a month on food and drinks.

There are 224,447 households in Monmouth County and an average 2.7 persons per household. The median family income in Monmouth County averages, $64,271/year. There are 636 registered businesses in Long Branch with 7,885 employees. 

We mention that there are over 200,000 Scandinavians living in New Jersey and most of them live within 30 miles of Long Branch. We will be serving some Swedish cuisine as there is no Scandinavian restaurant in New Jersey.

Our primary customer base is from Long Branch, West Long Branch, Monmouth Beach, Rumson, Little Silver, Middletown, Red Bank, Shrewsbury, Deal, Eatontown, Freehold, Oceanport, Allenhurst, & Asbury Park.

Between they have combined population of 100,000 people with median income of $70K

Gabri’s focuses on local and tourist restaurant seekers. People that have a desire for good food and a fascinating atmosphere.

Long Branch is located 50 miles south of New York City and 75 miles north of Atlantic City on the ‘Jersey shore.’ The city of Long Branch is in the process of revitalizing. In 2003, the city will be developing a new look and will be attracting a larger community of affluent residents.

Long Branch tomorrow: 
The ocean front district includes five sectors which are identified as:

1. Pier/Village Center (mixed commercial, entertainment & residential),
2. Beach Front North (residential & entertainment),
3. Beach Front South (residential),
4. Hotel Campus (office & hotel) and
5. Broadway Gateway (mixed commercial).

The boundaries for Pier Village are Melrose Terrace to Laird Street, and from Ocean Avenue to Ocean Boulevard. The developer has broken ground to build 420 residential units, including a two-tier garage, 100,000 sq. ft. of commercial space, beach cabanas and a restoration of the boardwalk.

Beach Front North is located above the Hotel Campus and just south of Seven Presidents Park. It will have 350 residential units, 1,100 parking spaces, and a bike path over an area of 25 acres. This project, along with Pier Village, will change the face of the city’s ocean front for the next hundred years and provide a major economic boost to the city of Long Branch. 

The influx of permanent residents will provide the city with a legitimate year-round economy. One to three-bedroom rentals with 850 to 1,200 sq. ft.. will range from $1,000 to $2,500 a month. The condominiums will range in size from 1,000 to 2,000 sq. ft. and in price from $200,000 to $400,000; the townhouses, with 1,500 to 2,500 sq. ft., will cost $225,000, to more than $500,000.

The new, 600-foot pier offers ferry service to Manhattan, New York City. The hotel facility now hosts 60,000 guests a year and is planning to add a tower with 250 more rooms.

As the city of Long Branch is re-developing, we can see that a fine dining establishment like Gabri’s  is needed here. The city will have much to offer and the people that it draws expect a place where they will get the best of everything. Gabri’s Lounge and Restaurant will offer a new fine dining concept to the area. The elegant atmosphere, our excellent food and our friendly staff will stand out and make a name in Long Branch and Monmouth County. We will succeed by giving people a combination of excellent and interesting food in an environment that attracts successful people that want to get a little bit more out of life than just the ordinary!

Market Segmentation

Gabri’s Lounge & Restaurant intends to cater to a wide group of people. We want everyone to feel welcome and relaxed in a cozy atmosphere with a wide and varied menu. It is our goal to have "something for everyone" everyday on our menu. In looking at our market analysis, we have defined the following groups as targeted segments. 

The Business Man: They work hard all day and often stay overnight in a strange city. He needs a competent establishment that helps impress his clients and prospects. Afterward, they want to relax and use the money they are making. They are the people that spend the most on drinks, food and tips.

Happy Couples: The restaurant will have an intimate, romantic, sophisticated atmosphere that encourages people to bring dates and to have couples arrive. Gabri’s wants to be a search place where people meet each other and develop a network. These young couples are generally very successful but balanced and won’t be spending as much on drinks.

The Family: The perfect place for a family dinner. Families will come for the accommodative menu and friendly service. The excellent value in their meals will keep Gabri’s in favor with the parents. 

High-end Singles: We will attract them with our decor and layout. Our international menu, striking artwork, wine tasting evenings and events, excellent service and engaging clientele will confirm the feeling of being in "the coolest place" in Monmouth County.

Tourists: Long Branch is a city that attracts many vacationers during the summer months of May through September. Gabri’s will be a destination with its attractive atmosphere, international menu, and outdoor patio.

Target Market

Gabri’s Lounge & Restaurant will focus on attracting a wide and diverse clientele ages 25-60 with an annual income of at least $30,000.

We want the business man, happy couples, high-end singles, families, tourists with money, wealthy image seekers and compulsive spenders. We focus on these specific groups because these are the types of people who frequent other restaurants and bars in the area. They are the ones that are willing to spend their money on good dining and service at a value price. We generally know the characteristics of our clientele with the available demographics.

Our demographics include people from the local Long Branch area, restaurant patrons from neighboring cities, and tourists from other cities and states. The characteristics of our clientele will be people who are creative, entertaining and sophisticated diners.

Competition

Current Alternatives

Our biggest competition is the town next to Long Branch, called Red Bank which has a large selection of restaurants. Currently, many people who live in Long Branch drive seven miles to Red Bank to dine out. With the redevelopment in Long Branch and with Gabri’s Lounge & Restaurant, we will convince these people to stay in Long Branch and eat at our restaurant.

There are three restaurants in Long Branch that are similar to Gabri’s. These are also the three most popular places in Long Branch. Each of these restaurants will be important to us. We feel the clientele they have is the class of clientele that Gabri’s will appeal to.

1. The first place is an 80 seat restaurant, open six days a week and serves lunch and dinner located uptown on Broadway. It is very busy for lunch as well as at dinner time. Their price range is $7-$15 for lunch and $12-$29 for dinner entrees. 
2. The second is an upscale lounge/food bar with a small menu. It is located in the West End district two blocks away from the ocean. They are only open for dinner. The small items on there menu range from $8-$15 and a mixed drink is $8-$10. 
3. The third place is an upscale Contemporary American restaurant at the Ocean. They are open seven days a week, dinner for two without wine averages $100.

Everyone that sells prepared meals is our competition though because we all compete for the same home meal replacement dollar. However, there are two segments of the restaurant industry that are our main competition: the casual dining restaurant concept and the fine dining value restaurant. If the value of the food and price and service is better at a fine dining restaurant than a casual restaurant, where will is a customer more likely to go?

The key is to deliver the best food at the best price with the highest level of service. This is the very definition of value. This concept is at the heart of Gabri’s Restaurant & Lounge.

Our Advantages

People will choose us for: 

 Location – they can walk to our place instead of driving 7 miles of traffic to our competitor red bank. This matters to locals, they don’t have a neighborhood place to eat. 

Hours – We will be open Monday night for "Restaurant Night" where owners and staff of other restaurants can come in and enjoy a meal on their nights off. This is special since bars and restaurants in the area are closed Mondays. 

Special Evenings – these are mostly Wine Tastings which are a five-course meal featuring new wines sponsored by our distributors. Customers can come and learn more about wine and food! Other special evenings at Gabri’s are Easter dinner, Swedish Midsummer, our famous Smörgåsbord, Fourth of July celebrations, Labor Day weekend and Christmas dinners.

A place with a "little extra" – They can have business meetings here, a place for a quiet conversation, or for a special occasion. We will make up special hors d’oeuvre platters or full-course meals for customers’ special occasions.

Keys to Success

Keys to Success

• The creation of a unique and innovative fine dining atmosphere will differentiate us from the competition. The restaurant will stand out from the other restaurants in the area because of the unique design and decor. We will offer a fine dining experience in a cozy atmosphere.
• Product quality. Not only great food but great service and atmosphere.
• The menu will appeal to a wide and varied clientele. It is International with an interesting twist.
• We will have special theme nights like restaurant nights, local artist’s openings, Easter dinners, Swedish Midsummer party, Fourth of July celebration, Labor Day weekend, wine tasting dinners, special ethnic food nights, and Swedish smörgåsbord. All this will attract a varied clientele to Gabri’s.
• Leave it to Linda Catering already has an established clientele in the area.
• Controlling costs at all times without exception.

Due to intense competition, restauranteurs must look for ways to differentiate their place of business in order to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage. The founders of Gabri’s realize this. With the re-development of Long Branch, it needs a place that will fit into the ‘new look’ of the community that is sophisticated and entertaining. The fact that no other restaurants in the area has this concept and atmosphere presents us with a window of opportunity and an entrance into a profitable niche in the market.

Execution

Marketing & Sales

Marketing Plan

We will employ three different marketing tactics to increase customer awareness of Gabri’s Lounge & Restaurant. Our most important tactic will be social media word-of-mouth/in-store marketing. This will be by far the cheapest and most effective of our marketing programs.

Word-of-mouth/In-store Marketing

•  V.I.P. Party – We will host a V.I.P. Dinner before the ‘Grand Opening.’ This will serve the dual purpose of training our staff and introducing ourselves to the community. The list of individuals we will invite comes from the Chamber of Commerce. We will also include a raffle on Facebook allowing some lucky members of the public to participate in the opening night. 
• Grand Opening celebration.
• Once a month invite a new local artist to show their work in the lounge. Social media outlets will be employed to get people interested with "surprise musical guest" or "local love". Good for the artists, and good for us. 
• "Restaurant Night" –  Every Monday night we will have a special evening for restaurant people. A perfect night for the local area’s restaurant owners and staff to get together on a night off!
• Valentine’s Day.
• Easter dinner.
• Swedish Midsummer party.
• Fourth of July celebration.
• Labor Day weekend party.
• Wine tasting dinner.
• Swedish Smörgåsbord.
• New Years Eve party.
• Special ethnic food nights.
• Memorial Day.

Local Store Marketing

• Make a brochure for the large hotels and popular bed & breakfast establishments in town to provide to their guests, containing interior pictures of our restaurant, menus and prices.
• There are several nursing homes in the city of Long Branch. We will approach them to sponsor meals for the elderly. This will offer us higher visibility to a group that may not be as mobile and we’ll be contributing to the community in a material way. Word-of-mouth referral is very powerful and particularly amongst the elderly to both their peers and their extended families.

Local Media

• Direct mail piece – Containing interior pictures of our restaurant, our menu, "Theme Nights," catering and an explanation of our concept.
• Website
• Target social media campaign to market directly to businesses for regular business lunch and dinner entertaining.

Sales Plan

Our sales plan is to establish and maintain position with our local customers. The strategy is to build more customers in order to increase revenue. Sales in our business is client service. It is repeat business. We will focus on making all our customers happy with our food, service and entertainment options.

Our strategy in the restaurant is to have an experienced staff that know the food, wine and liquor. We will train every new employee so they will fit in with Gabri’s concept, which is "Wonderful food, reasonably-priced wine and knowledgeable service in an outstanding atmosphere."

Operations

Locations & Facilities

We are looking for a restaurant space approximately 2,000 – 2,500 sq. ft. in Long Branch, New Jersey. We will open Gabri’s in March 2003. We will be open 7 days a week. Serving lunch Monday – Friday 11:30 AM – 2:30 PM. Dinner Sunday – Thursday, between 5 PM – 10 PM. Friday and Saturday Dinner 5 PM – 11 PM. The lounge will be open until 2 AM Friday and Saturday. Sunday – Thursday the lounge will stay open till 12 AM. Saturday and Sunday we will serve brunch between 11 AM – 3 PM. We will be closed on New Years Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. We will be open on large holidays such as Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day weekend. These are three big weekends ‘down the shore’ that brings many tourists to the area.

Milestones & Metrics

Milestones Table

Key Metrics

Key Metrics 

• Sales, gross margin, expenses, and profits, obviously. 
• We need to watch sales per customer, sales per table, sales per square foot
• Meals served per month
• Drinks served per meal
• Drinks served per month
• Total customer traffic
• Catering sales
• Catering leads and closes. 

Company

Overview

Ownership & Structure

Ownership and Structure

The restaurant will start out as a LLC corporation, owned by its founders Linda Andersson and John Billeci. Ms. Andersson will function as the General Manager and Mr. Billeci as managing partner.

Mission Statement

Gabri’s is a great place to eat, combining an intriguing atmosphere with excellent, interesting food. The mission is not only to have great tasting food, but have efficient and friendly service because customer satisfaction is paramount. We want to be the restaurant choice for all families and singles, young and old, male or female. Employee welfare will be equally important to our success. Everyone will be treated fairly and with the utmost respect. We want our employees to feel a part of the success of Gabri’s Lounge and Restaurant. Happy employees make happy guests.

We will combine menu variety, atmosphere, ambiance, special theme nights and a friendly staff to create a sense of ‘place’ in order to reach our goal of over all value in the dining/entertainment experience. We want fair profits for the owners, and a rewarding place to work for the employees.

Specific plan objectives

Gabri’s Lounge & Restaurant’s objectives for the first three years of operation includes:

• Keeping food cost under 35% revenue.
• Keeping employee labor cost between 24-29% of revenue.
• Stay as a small restaurant with excellent food and service.
• Averaging sales between $1,000,000-1,500,000 per year.
• Promote and expand Leave it to Linda Catering in New Jersey & New York City.
• Expand our marketing and advertising in New Jersey and New York.
• Achieve 12% return on investment to investors for the first two years and 15% for the next three years.

 

 

 

Team

Management Team

Our management team is well compensated. We have a team that has considerable experience together and shares knowledge in many different fields of business and in life. In Year 2 we will hire a General Manager to assist Gabri’s Lounge & Restaurant to grow even further. The General Manager will also work to expand Leave it to Linda Catering in New Jersey and New York. Linda Andersson can then concentrate more on the kitchen and take her restaurant to yet a higher level.

Personnel Table

Financial Plan

Forecast

Key Assumptions

Our financial plan depends on important assumptions, most of which are shown in the following table as annual figures. The key underlying assumptions are:

• We assume a slow-growth economy, without major recession. This means our customer’s have money to pay for a meal out. 
• We assume that there are no unforseen changes in the expectancy in the popularity of our restaurant. 
• We assume access to investments and financing are sufficient to maintain and fulfill our financial plan as shown in the tables.

Revenue by Month

Expenses by Month

Net Profit (or Loss) by Year

Financing

Use of Funds

We plan on using the funds we receive will be used for: equipment, furniture, painting, reconstruction, rent, start-up labor, liquor license, six months operating cash, and legal and consulting costs associated with opening our restaurant. We plan on making our location look like new, and upgrade so we can service our restaurant customers as well as our catering customers 

Startup Expenses

Startup expenses of $300K break down as follows:

They appear on our balance sheet as a negative $300K retained earnings at launch. 

Startup Assets

As indicated on the balance sheet, our startup assets include $85K cash reserves, plus $50K long-term assets (mostly kitchen and furniture), $30K inventory, and $1K other current assets. 

Sources of Funds

We are personally committing $225,000 of owner investment (which appears as paid-in capital in the balance sheet at launch) plus a $240,000 long-term loan from our local bank with SBA loan guarantee. 

Statements

Projected Profit & Loss

Projected Balance Sheet

Projected Cash Flow Statement