If you are wondering where to locate your cafe, then seriously consider opening a food service outlet along the road.

Such cafes have long ceased to be considered "second-rate" establishments, they are in great demand among most motorists, travelers and workers who, involuntarily, have to eat on the road. If you are wondering how to open a roadside cafe, then check out how to write a business plan.

Well-known restaurant chains started their journey precisely with the format of roadside cafes, and did not fail. So do not lose the same and you, an economy class restaurant or an ordinary roadside cafe.

Most points outside of both large and small cities have not yet been developed. This means that the competition in this business is practically zero. If we take into account the European experience of businessmen, then we can say with confidence that both a small cafe and a quiet cozy coffee house can be located on the highway, which will bring the same income. But, focusing on our population (central Russia), we understand that most people are in a hurry to the city and prefer to eat in a car rather than sit in a cozy cafe, so it would be more profitable to organize a catering point that will prepare fast food that you can use both in the institution and take away with you.

Let's draw up an approximate business plan and, using an example, consider how to open a roadside cafe.

There are several unspoken rules that a businessman who opens a cafe on the highway should follow.

• the room for your restaurant should not be very large, a small, cozy, even chamber atmosphere is preferable;
• your catering must be provided with a good entrance, and, if possible, parking, a motel and other amenities;
• cafes count on a small number of people, about 70-80 people;
• Cafe hours are preferably 24/7. After all, in any case, even if the cafe is open from 6 to 23, you will have to hire several shifts of workers.

The business plan should also take into account the payback of the enterprise. A cafe on the highway can be considered successful if more than 500 people visit such an institution per day.

• you should be extremely attentive to drivers and guides of popular tourist routes. If they appeared in your cafe several times, then this is a reason to make a deal with them: they bring the next group of tourists to "snack" exactly to you, and for this you offer the driver (guide) a free full meal;
• construction of a public toilet next to the cafe. With this maneuver, you will kill two birds with one stone: on the one hand, you will receive additional profit from the toilet itself, on the other hand, this is the bait of people to the restaurant (cafe). Most people passing by will stop at your public area. And on the way back they will drop into a cafe and, at a minimum, buy a pie and a bottle of water.

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Menu development and staff recruitment

The business plan should also contain the menu of your establishment. Here you need to find the "golden mean". On the one hand, everyone wants to eat healthy food, on the other hand, no one wants to wait long for it to be cooked. Focus on dishes whose cooking time is no more than 20-25 minutes.

The menu should contain several types of salads, the ingredients for which can be stored in the refrigerator for a long time. And right before serving, they just need to be crushed and seasoned.

Consider also dishes on the takeaway menu. Many truckers and travelers will want to bring fresh sandwiches, fruits, vegetables, second courses in sealed containers, chips and other long-term items with them.

Allow cafe patrons to use boiling water for free. Many drivers stop exactly in those places where no one tries to break money from them even for boiling water. In gratitude for this, they order very impressive dinners from you.

Never skimp on the quality of your food! Let your business plan be not entirely accurate and pay off a couple of months later than planned. Always make your meals fresh, even though all your patrons will be random and unlikely to come back to complain about food poisoning after visiting your cafe. But "word of mouth" will do its job. Always remember this.

For one shift you will need a qualified cook, 2 waitresses and a cleaning lady, with a 2/2 work schedule.

Depending on the "influx" of visitors, you can vary the number of waiters. Or you can even make a rack where one person will take orders, and then he will deliver them or give them out at the counter.

The task of the cleaner will be to clean the premises 2-3 times a day: in the morning, before opening, wet cleaning in the afternoon and after the cafe closes.

All service personnel must have sanitary books. Now the trend has become fashionable when the director gives out money to subordinates so that they "buy" a sanitary book for themselves. Now, don't do this! Indeed, because of one sick waiter, hundreds of people a day can become infected, to say nothing of an unscrupulous cook.

From time to time check the neatness of the waiters, make comments to the cook who forgets to wash his hands. This is not a way of displaying dictatorship, these are elementary rules that are worth recalling.

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The official side of the business plan:

If you already know how to start opening a roadside cafe on the highway and have definitely decided to test your strength by writing a business plan, then it's time to formalize your business.

And there are two options here: if you want to open a cafe without selling alcohol, an individual entrepreneur is suitable, but if alcohol is on the restaurant menu, you should register your business as an LLC, CJSC or OJSC so that you can get a license to sell alcohol.

Another feature of your establishment can be "order in advance" for regular customers. In this case, stock up on business cards and a work phone where orders will be received. So, a trucker driving up to a cafe will be able to order the dish he likes in advance and, having arrived at his destination, he will not waste time.