Challenges in Starting up a New Restaurant

Culinary art schools deliver freshmen every quarter and all of them have their own ideas about their career and how they’d want to shape it. Some of those are the ones who have been mentally preparing to set up their restaurant once they’ve graduated. Even though a lot of them dream of being a restaurant owner, only a handful of people are able to actually achieve the part of opening one up. Ever wondered what it takes to set up a full sized restaurant? Read on below to find out what it takes to set up a full fledged restaurant without getting to the point of being successful. 

Finding the Right Location – The place you’ve been thinking of turning into a restaurant once you graduate will probably not be the one due to the rent, deposits and infrastructure. You’re on a hunt to look up a space within your budget. Now, bear in mind that you’re currently shortlisting a place. The kind of restaurant you have in mind with the food you will serve should be something that isn’t found anywhere or you’re simply awesome! Infrastructure is another key aspect of your restaurant’s ambience. You need to ensure it gives a good & comfy feel when people come in. Now, right from the time you started your hunt and up until now, it has at least taken up 1-2 months of your time considering all other things were in your favor. 

Getting the place Licensed – Your new restaurant cannot run without having a city license to serve commercially. The place will be inspected by the city officials and grant you a health check pass along with approving your setup to be suitable for commercial dining. If you decide to serve beer and wine, that probably may not require a license, but if you intend on having a full bar, that will require one. Licenses are not issued the same day like the drivers licenses. Your inspection date is booked a few days to weeks in advance and after it’s inspected, licenses get rolled out in a week to 10 days from there if not more. 

 

Hire & Train Staff – Depending upon the size of the restaurant and the seating capacity, your restaurant may require wait staff accordingly. Hiring experienced staff may require you to pay more, but that will surely cut out the training part. Hiring freshmen will require you to train those people at least for a week before they are ready to wait. 

 

Customer Acquisition – Considering all the things that are part of your setup are as per plan, this is the final step of setting up which is retaining the customer base. Every dish and cuisine that is cooked in that kitchen needs to maintain the same taste over and over and over. If you have your Chefs that have just graduated, they may not be able to match up every time. That is where you lose your customer that just walked in. Taste is just one of the factors of customer acquisition. 

These are just a few challenges related to setting up a restaurant and there are many more. Foodjin prevents you from most of these challenges and gets you to set up shop in less than a week and at the least possible expense. Come, visit foodjin.org to learn more about signing up as a Chef. 

What is a host Kitchen and How to get in on It?

All cooks like to have their kitchens neat and tidy with every piece of cutlery kept in a disciplined manner. For those who have a Chef at home, they can relate to what this means. Nobody likes a greasy floor or scattered items on the kitchen counter. Even the trash that gets accumulated when making a dish needs to be taken out. These are basic practices found in every kitchen of every home and every restaurant. Every restaurant has multiple Chefs and all of those are assigned with the responsibility of keeping their area neat while ensuring quality service. If a Chef happens to be a restaurant owner, they will put out specific instructions for other Chefs to maintain cleanliness throughout their shifts. Once again, this turns out to be an expensive affair. 

Foodjin has come up with a sophisticated alternative that helps Chefs put up their shop without all that fancy ambience or the fat cost of setting up something like that. Its called a “ Host Kitchen “. This is where you go when you have customers to serve. This kitchen gives you the ability of working from a commercial kitchen as per the law and Foodjin’s requirement. You are welcome to flexibly choose your working hours and you are only expected to pay a rental fee for those used hours. Obviously, every person who wishes to cook cannot simply jump onboard and start cooking, but yes that is also possible provided they get certified and licensed by Foodjin to cook 🙂 Every Chef that is onboarded has to get certified by the Foodjin authority to be able to serve food from the platform. 

Signing up to become a Chef is easy on Foodjin. Simply select the option “ Sign up to become a Host Kitchen “. Once your details are registered, a team from Foodjin will pay a visit to your Kitchen before it can be approved as a commercial Kitchen. Pictures of your Kitchen will be taken for display also. After its approval, it will be showcased on available Kitchens on the Foodjin platform. Interested Chefs will then be able to apply to take it up on rental basis. All Foodjin onboarded Chefs will be given clear instructions and have to follow guidelines for using a commercial rental facility. The rental payments are also collected by Foodjin and paid to you by Foodjin as well. You, as a host, do not have to worry about the payments or the Chefs that rent your Kitchen. 

 

5 Things to consider before becoming a Chef

“ Everything is cooked great, and it tastes wonderful “. This is a typical review that most Chef’s receive when they cook something for their friends and families. It is very rare that someone might give an honest review. However, most Chefs are smart enough to understand when a false review is given. This is just one of the things that the Chef’s have to worry about when becoming a Chef on a commercial level and that does not come cheap. To give you a basic understanding, here are top 5 things you need to consider when becoming a Chef. 

 

What’s cooking? – When you decide to take up the role of being a Chef, always keep in mind that your quality will always beat quantity. While you may very well offer a good quantity to keep your diners happy, do not ever compromise on your quality. When your menu is up for public, ensure whatever is listed gets served with care and quality maintenance. Some customers may only like a couple of items from your menu and they always order the same thing on their visits. Its important that the same taste is maintained. 

Why will it sell? – Your dishes may also be listed in other restaurant menus. So, choose items that are not found anywhere or redesign certain dishes to your understanding by giving it a twist and changing its name, making it seem like a whole new thing. To sell that now, the presentation needs to be up to the mark and maybe make it look more in quantity to make it visually pleasing to the customer’s eyes. You also may need to market your dishes a bit to make it a bit popular on screens before they’re seen on plates. 

What’s the investment? – This refers to how much money are you willing to spend or have kept aside as your capital investment to establish yourselves as a professional Chef. This can mean, you’re ready to start up your own restaurant by taking up a place on rent, buying cooking utensils, hire waiters and other Chefs or study to become a Chef to take up a job at a restaurant or a hotel. 

 

How long before your Day 1? – If you’re looking to become a professional Chef by going to school of culinary arts and go by the book, you’ll be adding up time for the course, internship, and then get on to your own plan. 

 

What is the ROI? – After your investment is done, how long typically do you plan on waiting before you get your return on investment. Basically, this functions based on other business aspects that you have such as your service, product, price, quality and quantity to name a few. 

 

Considering all the facts above, we can safely conclude that there are a lot of factors to look into when becoming a Chef of your own restaurant. That comes with a good solid investment of time and money and sure enough, there is no guarantee of success. Foodjin can serve as an alternative to your plan and get you started as early as today with the least amount of investment capital. Your ideas for cuisines and dishes remain the same, the pricing can be yours and you’re also welcome to choose how its delivered and upto what point. Not only that, your monthly expenditure can be as low as your monthly rent or even lower. With so little investment, your focus on your specializations can increase trifolds and gain that spotlight sooner than expected. Come try Foodjin! 

Virtual Dining – Restaurant Food, Minus the Ambience

Foodjin is not just another food delivery service that you can look up to and hope that this service might be compared to the existing food delivery services such as Door dash, Uber eats, Grubhub or similar by bringing in greater deals and discounts. This is a major game changer that will drive people to switch from the regular way of ordering food. Delivering food may be the same, however it aims to bring about a paradigm shift globally.

Dining from your Chair

This new twist is all about fulfilling the customer’s precise need of when, how and where they want their food. The idea of focusing on every customer’s need is what makes them special by giving full attention to the dish being prepared in anticipation of keeping the customer fully content with their order. The downside of placing orders with restaurants generally is every order is expected to be delivered as required by the customer, however it’s never guaranteed. Sometimes, it falls apart and end up as a bad experience. Nobody likes that. With Foodjin, the responsibility is there and accountability is higher than restaurants. We do not discourage customers from placing orders with restaurants, but we certainly encourage them to experience Foodjin and its entire journey right from ordering a dish up until it’s consumed.

Book your Meal

A unique area where Foodjin is probably the only service that allows diners to book their meal. Because there is no restaurant involved, Chefs can provide a premium service of delivering dishes as per the requested time slot. And since delivery is not a concern, your requested dish can be served anywhere on demand.

Cuisine on Demand

This is another special feature offered by Foodjin. Your favorite dish from a Chef sitting overseas can now have it served to you at your location regardless of the distance from home. A network of Chefs can help deliver this service on demand by sharing recipes with other Chefs that are in proximity to the customer. Typically, a Chef is responsible for his / her dish. However, this setup will benefit both Chefs equally.

The benefits of partnering with FoodJin

With the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it is not always easy to prepare healthy meals at home. The vision of FoodJin is to replace unhealthy food habits with fresh, high-quality ingredients.

       By simply removing restaurants as middlemen, FoodJin is not only beneficial to those who have no time or skill to prepare their own meal, but also to those who love cooking or have a kitchen space to rent. Let us explain:

Go beyond the restaurant walls:

To sign up with FoodJin, one doesn’t need to be a professional chef. Hobbyist cooks are welcome too! This is a great opportunity for cooks to connect with their diners directly. With FoodJin, chefs can control their own working hours and menu, but the best part is saving thousands of dollars on setting their own restaurant. Instead, chefs can hire a commercial kitchen in their neighborhood through the app. This will allow cooks to concentrate on polishing their culinary skills or progressing in their cooking profession. Sign up here to cook.

Maximize your income and save on marketing: 

Whether it’s on a full-time or part-time basis, FoodJin can be a get source of income. Not only through cooking, but if you possess a commercial space or kitchen, you can offer your space on rental blocks of time. Don’t worry, your kitchen will be in safe hands – the chefs using your space are pre-approved and certified.

      The icing on the cake is that we will do the marketing for you. Once you’re signed up with us, whether you are a chef or a kitchen host, we will promote your service for you! All you need to do is keep up to date with our blogs and posts, and make sure you offer the best price for your service. Sign up here to offer a host kitchen.

Meals will be cheaper and healthier: 

Without a middleman, as a customer, your meals will be cheaper. You can always be sure that the food delivered to you is of high quality. Before displaying any chef on our app, we do a thorough background check to make sure all of our chefs are trustworthy, skilled, and clean. We are totally against frozen and pre-made food, and we only accept chefs who agree with our ideology and policy. You can now enjoy restaurant-quality food from various ethnic cuisines in the comfort of your own home. Sign up here to order.

With FoodJin, everyone is a winner! Click here to get more information, and get on board with us to benefit from all of our advantages.

7 top tips to create the perfect menu

Congratulations – you’re officially a FoodJin chef! It’s now time to create the perfect menu. A menu is the first thing a customer sees, so it’s really important to treat it like a marketing and sales tool. Your food menu is more than a list of items and prices – it’s a reflection of your concept, style, and quality. 

We have gathered some tips to help you create a mouth-watering menu that will keep customers coming back for more. Let’s get started!

Create a theme:

Start by deciding what kind of cuisine you would like to offer. Whether your food is inspired by culture or locally sourced ingredients, discover your ‘why’ and use it to create a theme that shows what makes your cuisine special. 

Select your go-to dishes:

Start by writing a list of your signature dishes that have been tried, tested and loved by your family and friends. You could highlight these food items as ‘best-sellers’, ‘chef’s choice’ or ‘weekly specials’ to attract attention. But, be ready to adapt! To keep your customers engaged, it’s recommended to revamp your menu every few months with new recipes and creations.

Take food allergies and intolerances seriously:

Let the diner be in control of their choices by applying colourful allergen symbols on your menu. If ingredients and symbols are not highlighted correctly, you can not only harm a customer’s health, but also damage your reputation which could potentially result in legal actions against you. 

Take appetizing food photos:

A customer is more likely to order if he/she knows what the food looks like.  Try to shoot a photo in front of a natural, neutral background with a good camera lens. Choose brightly colored food items and if possible, use a photo-editing software to enhance your images. 

Pricing the menu:

It’s important to keep profits high while offering affordable prices to the customers. Calculate how much you plan to spend on ingredients and don’t forget to include cooking tools and food containers as part of the budget.

Describe the dishes:

The words you choose to describe a dish is very important. Market research has shown that based on the adjectives used, it can either entice a customer or put them off. Don’t use complex words and describe the flavors, textures and preparation methods in simple, clear language. 

If you need any help in creating the perfect menu, drop us a line here and the FoodJin support team will be happy to help. We can’t wait to start cooking with you!

Top 5 Reasons why setting up a Restaurant is a Bad idea Post Pandemic

Ever since the Coronavirus aka COVID-19, the world has been battling to get up, dust off, and get back to being normal again. While the majority of the world has already revived, the remains and effects are still haunting people globally. Thousands have lost their lives across cities throughout the world combating the deadly virus, and along with them, people have gone from riches to rags in just a few days. Businesses got shut down for good, savings were spent in hospitals, expenses were not being met and in all that, only a few countries actually supported their citizens and residents. Now is the time to wake up, put your skill back to work, and its also the time to spend only where necessary. The restaurant industry also took a major blow during this time and many small-sized restaurants got closed for good. Situations are now permitting to restart your gig and come back to life again. And if you are one of those culinary arts professionals looking to reestablish or start a new restaurant, here are the top 5 reasons why you should run your show, without setting up a new restaurant. 

Cost 

Securing a place for a restaurant doesn’t come cheap and also isn’t a one-time thing. There comes a monthly rental expense to start with and followed by salaries for chefs, cleaners, waiters, and utility bills at the very least. Setup cost also includes infrastructure that wasn’t calculated. 

 

Marketing 

Another extra effort is marketing your offers, dishes, festival-based themes, and these strategies cannot be the same all the time. This has a cost associated with it too which keeps incrementing. 

 

Footfall 

This a much bigger risk to take especially after the pandemic given that a good amount of capital is already invested with no promise of a return. After a good chunk of money is invested, it takes months to regain and break even if the footfall turns out as predicted and nothing goes wrong. 

 

Maintenance Permits 

Every restaurant needs to be certified and licensed to serve commercially by the city it’s operating in. This includes hygiene, pest control, and bar to name a few. Certain restaurants are only allowed to serve wine and beer only and hard liquor requires a full bar license which isn’t easy to get and needs to be renewed on a regular basis just like all other permits. 

 

City wide serving 

A particular restaurant may only be able to serve those people who reside within the same area, city or in the suburbs at the most. To serve beyond that point, a new outlet needs to be added, repeating the same costs that you incurred the first time. 

 

If you are still thinking of setting up a restaurant, consider looking into Foodjin. Some major aspects are: 

• You’re mountain-sized expenses can become microscopically small. 
• You can sell your dishes at a very minimal cost and customized for every diner just like they want. 
• You don’t have to go thru seeking any permits. 
• You are in direct contact with your customers. 
• You will also be able to sell your dishes to those sitting on the other side of the world too. 

 

Come, explore Foodjin, your gateway to the world! 

Why are FoodJin’s home-cooked meals better than restaurant food?

With our busy lives, people find it easier to eat at restaurants or grab fast food on their way home. What people don’t realize is that this convenience comes with consequences. When it comes to feeding your body,  there is nothing better than homemade food..but why? There are several reasons so let’s jump right into it: 

 

1. Taste and quality:

While dishes prepared at restaurants can be delicious, the components of the dish are prepared in bulk and in advance. To enhance flavors, generous amounts of food additives and preservatives such as oil, sugar, and sodium are added. Needless to say, this in the long run will have serious effects on our health.

 

1. Expenses:
   With restaurant expenses increasing such as rent, labor, insurance, etc. it’s evident that restaurants will cover their expenses through their customers by charging them more. Even if you order a takeaway meal, you will still be charged for the delivery service leading to monthly budgets getting disturbed.

While customers think that pre-cooked meals are great alternatives, it’s actually as bad. Although some of these pre-cooked meals are provided by companies that promise to be cost-effective and healthy,  there is zero transparency on how and where they’re being produced. In reality, similar to restaurants, their food is made in bulk, frozen, nitrogenated and then supplied.

Say yes to FoodJin:

 

The best answer to all of these concerns is FoodJin. FoodJin combines the best qualities of a restaurant and home-made meals. 

FoodJin offers a limited numbered, daily-changing menu with global recipes to deliver freshly cooked meals every day by pre-approved, highly-skilled chefs. 

 

We welcome customers to visit chefs personally at their commercial kitchen to witness how our chefs prepare meals with high-quality fresh ingredients every day, and how they choose their method of cooking carefully to retain as many nutrients as possible.

Whether our chef’s menu is inspired by their culture, heritage or locally sourced ingredients, they are offering you their speciality. We guarantee that your taste buds will always be tickling with authenticity leaving you craving for more. 

 

Although with FoodJin there is no additional cost for take-aways, they are significantly cheaper than restaurant delivery charges as with FoodJin – no restaurant expenses need to be covered. 

 

With FoodJin, we want to help busy families adopt healthy habits in their schedules. But we also understand that not everyone has the time or talent to cook their own meals everyday. This is where FoodJin comes handy. Order your food online with FoodJin by staying at the comfort of your home or office, and be sure to receive innovative, fresh, healthy and exciting meals at your doorstep.

 

FoodJin’s expansion plans

To mark the success of FoodJin’s services, we are going to reveal to you our expansion plans.

 

Expanding to new cities: Our primary focus is expanding our business to various metropolitan cities in batches. We want to launch our service in new cities slowly to see how the day-to-day operations are going, observe what is and isn’t working, and then eliminate what isn’t. We want to learn from our customer’s feedback and fill loopholes in our processes to delivery and launch only the best. 

Bring the community closer: We want FoodJin to be the go-to food app for customers to try new varieties of food quickly. To complete this vision, we plan to have our food services available in each community within a radius of maximum 5 miles. 

 

Extend support: As demands for the service grows, FoodJin is rapidly onboarding new chefs. With a growing list of culinary talent joining, we plan to extend support to our chefs and kitchen hosts. Want to find out how? Stay tuned ☺