Many people both inside and out of the service industry dream of opening or buying their own restaurant. If you have passion, skill, and determination, you can succeed in this highly-competitive business. From tabc licensing to hiring and opening, here are the major benchmarks.

Get Your Paperwork in Order

After you’ve picked or assumed ownership of your location, make sure the lease, utilities, vendor contracts and food and liquor license are in your name. Be sure you have the right type of tabc licensing and bone up on any area-specific ordinances your city might have.

Understand Your Target Audience and Competition

Successful restaurants fill a need. Whether that’s the type of cuisine you offer, or the environment you serve it in, what you project will attract different types of customers. Decide who you want to go after and plan your décor and menu accordingly to make sure you appeal to them by having the right kind of fare and appropriate things lined up like tabc licensing.

Hire the Best People You Can

If you can build your menu and recipes yourself, great. If not, you need to start by hiring the best executive chef you can find and afford. Either way, you need great, personable waitstaff, experienced cooks, and a team of people who work well under pressure.

Have a Strategy for Soft Launch, Opening, and Marketing

Once you have the pieces in place, carefully craft a strategy to test things out with a soft launch. Choose a reasonable date to open after that and plan a grand opening event. Determine how you will spread the word through conventional advertising, social media, or other means. Don’t stop after you open; the first few months are critical to your future.

Success in the restaurant world comes down to planning and people. Use this checklist to make sure you have your bases covered!