This paper serves as a business planning guide for entrepreneurs considering opening a health-focused restaurant. It examines key topics including restaurant management structures, U.S. obesity and overweight statistics, the rise of organic and functional food trends, the fast food industry's shift toward healthier options, and the standards required of certified green restaurants. The paper argues that aligning a new restaurant concept with current consumer health trends — particularly the demand for organic, locally grown, and nutritionally conscious food — represents the most strategically sound approach, and concludes with practical recommendations for sustaining quality, customer trust, and brand reputation.
When one decides to invest in setting up a business, some people choose to create a restaurant. However, even from the beginning, if they do not have a clear view of what they really want and simply decide to create it and see how things develop, they may find that it is a highly risky decision. For one thing, it is not always obvious which restaurant profile works best for a given location. So what should you do? How should you choose? Should you pick the location first and then decide on the concept, or should it be the other way around?
The best alternative is to choose the profile of the restaurant before selecting its location. The logic behind this argument is that people tend to do better with things they are passionate about or have an affinity for. However, the smartest approach is to conduct a market survey and determine which type of restaurant is underrepresented locally, or which trends are currently dominant. For instance, although one might personally want to open an Italian restaurant, research might reveal that there are hundreds of similar establishments in the same city, or that the market is oversaturated with Italian food while consumers are eager to discover something new, such as African cuisine.
Moreover, if the decision is to follow current trends, one should notice that the most important trend of recent years — and most likely of the years ahead as well — is the movement toward green and organic food. To help guide the creation of your restaurant, this paper addresses the following subjects: restaurant management, weight loss programs and obesity statistics in America, organic food trends, the fast food industry, and green and sustainable restaurants. The aim is to present the best alternatives, provide options, and leave you with the single responsibility of finding the perfect location for your new restaurant.
Depending on the size of the restaurant, you might need anywhere from one to five managers. Restaurant management generally refers to the team responsible for overseeing the operation of the establishment. If the restaurant is very small — a start-up, for example — the owner could serve as the sole manager and be in charge of everything. However, this is likely to be a too demanding and time-consuming role for one person to handle alone. Average-sized restaurants typically employ three managers: a general manager, a front-of-house manager, and a back-of-house manager. Larger restaurants may have up to five managers: two front-of-house managers (a bar manager and a floor manager), two back-of-house managers overseeing the kitchens, and a general manager to supervise overall activity and coordinate shifts.
As one source notes, "Scheduling of managers will overlap, covering the busiest times of the day. For example, one manager will open, from 7 to 5, the mid manager will work an 11 to 9, and the closing manager will work a 5 to close. This ensures that every area is well covered at the busiest time of operation."
There are several ways to select your personnel. You may place an advertisement and choose the candidates yourself, or hire a recruiting company to find the best staff for your restaurant. Each selection method has its advantages and disadvantages, but using a recruiting and placement company is strongly recommended. The reasons are fairly straightforward: such firms have access to a larger pool of candidates and are professionally trained in personnel selection, making them capable of providing reliable and experienced staff backed by certified and verified references.
America is currently — and most likely will continue to be in the near future — facing a serious public health problem. It is a problem of extreme importance made more dangerous by the fact that many people do not recognize it as a problem in the first place. The following statistics from 2006 illustrate the scale of the issue: 58 million people were overweight; 40 million were obese; 3 million were morbidly obese; eight out of ten adults over the age of 25 were overweight; 78% of Americans were not meeting basic physical activity recommendations; and 25% were completely sedentary.
Furthermore, obesity is responsible for 88–97% of cases of type II diabetes, 57–70% of cases of coronary heart disease, 70% of gallstone attacks, 35% of cases of hypertension, 11% of breast cancers, and 10% of colon cancers.
In view of the type of restaurant one would want to open, these sociological factors — along with national statistics and global trends — must be taken into account. People want to eat good food, but if they were to choose between a place offering good food and a place offering both good and healthy food, common sense suggests they would choose the latter.
Americans are becoming increasingly aware that the quality of food takes precedence over its taste and appearance alone. However, to attract customers effectively, a restaurant must combine all three elements — quality, taste, and presentation — with excellent service: friendly, attentive staff and a good beverage selection. A restaurant that can offer all of these things may justifiably charge higher prices than competitors, because customers will return to a place where they trust both the food and the service.
Speaking of trends, organic food is the trend. Everywhere you look, consumers are spending double the amount on the same type of product simply because it carries the label "organic." Statistics show that "Consumers in the United States and the European Union (EU) make up 95% of the world's retail sales of organic food products, which is estimated at more than $25 billion worldwide" (USDA ERS).
Beyond the market data, organic food is widely regarded as substantially healthier than conventionally produced food. According to CNN, future meals will increasingly include nutraceuticals, genetically engineered food, organic food, and a greater emphasis on dining experiences rather than mere convenience. The same source identifies five trends in the world of healthy food that are worth following: flexitarianism, locally grown foods, functional foods, organic food, and slow food.
Flexitarianism is the dietary approach of those who eat a primarily plant-based diet composed of grains, vegetables, and fruits, but occasionally incorporate protein from lean meat, fish, poultry, or dairy. Locally grown food is supported by community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs and farmers' markets, which "give consumers direct access to produce, meats, cheeses, breads, honey, and other foods that are produced in nearby communities." Functional foods are "enriched with nutrients that may not be inherent to a given food," such as orange juice enriched with calcium. Organic food refers to products "produced following a government-regulated practice of growing and processing that minimizes exposure to pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals used in traditional farming." Finally, slow food consists mainly of "choosing locally grown and produced items, preparing them in traditional ways, and eating with friends and family — celebrating a relaxed approach to living."
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