A restaurant startup in todays’ competitive environment is a very challenging proposition. But the food business has a unique advantage over other businesses and that is we all have to eat. The different geographical regions of our world have their own varied preferences for tastes and the texture of their food. This increases the scope of the restaurant business as our diets allow very niche-based food products to succeed.

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If you look at the statistics of the food industry, it demonstrates that passion is the necessary ingredient in a successful food business but an FBO also requires a pragmatic approach for great marketing, product positioning, and shelf strategy for a successful restaurant business. An individual may be very passionate about the business of a new restaurant but he may be overexaggerating the contribution of a taste part of the food product in the success of the new restaurant. When a consumer buys a food product from a shelf, he takes it for granted that the food would taste delicious. The taste of the food is assumed to be perfect so it can not be a distinguishing factor.   The selling feature of a food product could be attractive packaging, free gifts or small plastic toys for children.   

A new restaurant owner may be new to nuances of the business of Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG). It is a distribution channel-intensive business with many stakeholders like merchandisers, distributors and brokers. The presence of these variables may be confusing for an individual who is new to this business. 

What is the competition in the food business?

An FBO should have active participation in different kinds of food shows, food exhibitions, etc. Because if an individual is thinking of pursuing his passion in food, food shows will educate him about the food trends, the kind of food products that are currently in distribution and the new products which have not yet arrived on the shelves.

The Recipe to Success is Sustained Market Research 

An FBO needs to put every effort he can, into market research. It is necessary to spend money and effort to know the competition in the food business, in general, and for the product category, in particular. Both individuals and companies, large and small, operating in the food business have become experts in promoting interesting ideas. They have the means to determine if the idea is a profitable opportunity and if it is, then they can successfully execute a great shelf strategy. An FBO needs to take the help of various available market research opportunities to find as much information as he can about his prospective customers.