How to Start a Jungle Themed Restaurant

Saturday, July 6, 2013

How to Start a Jungle Themed Restaurant

Jungle-themed restaurants feature colorful décor and themed menu offerings. These unconventional surroundings provide an ideal setting for an experience that satisfies the senses, although restaurant staff must fulfill those customer expectations. "Entrepreneur" Magazine spotlights a rainforest jungle themed restaurant that has met that challenge in many locations.

Step 1

Establish your restaurant business structure. Select a business structure with a certified public accountant with restaurant expertise. Common business structures include sole proprietorships, limited liability companies and Subchapter S corporations. Meet with a commercial insurance agent with liability experience. Visit your city or county clerk's office for a business license and needed permits. Ask your city’s health department about a pre-opening inspection. Contact your state Department of Revenue for a sales tax license (See Resources).

Step 2

Lease a visible and accessible location. Find a building easily reached by main roads and with plenty of parking. Look for a site adjacent to a busy retail center or office park. Obtain written zoning approval before you sign a lease. Work with a sign-making company to create building signage with colorful jungle-themed graphics.

Step 3

List your regional restaurant competition. Identify regional niche and themed restaurants. Niche restaurants include vegetarian or soup and salad establishments. Themed restaurants include those with auto racing or Wild West décor (See Resources). Visit your local Chamber of Commerce for demographic data on residents’ age, income and education levels. This data helps you assess the overall pool of restaurant customers. Locate your chamber through the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (See Resources).

Step 4

Develop your jungle themed restaurant décor. Select an African safari jungle (See Resources) or an Amazon rainforest jungle motif (See Resources). Work with an interior designer to select your décor and furniture. Consider faux animal wall skins or lush leaved wallpaper borders, plus tables and chairs in jungle colors and textures. Purchase jungle-themed artwork and trees, and add appropriate water features. Locate an interior designer through the American Society of Interior Designers (See Resources).

Step 5

Publish your themed restaurant menu. Develop menu selections that mesh with your jungle restaurant theme. Adopt wildly creative names for common menu items, such as hamburgers and steaks, and develop signature menu choices. Work with a food stylist and a graphic designer to create an appealing menu that will hold customers’ interest (See Resources).

Step 6

Buy your restaurant equipment and fixtures. Order equipment, such as commercial refrigerators and ovens, along with food preparation tables and serving ware. Determine your specialty equipment, such as bread makers and grilling machines, after you evaluate your menu selections. Ask about a discount on the complete order (See Resources).

Step 7

Hire experienced restaurant staff. Find outgoing and adventurous employees of all ages through carefully worded newspaper Help Wanted ads, as well as through business networking groups. Contact local culinary schools or college hospitality management programs, and ask about recent graduates or students eligible for work/study programs. Outfit staff in jungle-themed attire, and conduct team-building trivia contests. Offer prizes for the team with the better knowledge of your menu and service policies.

Step 8

Host a jungle-filled grand opening gala. Welcome your customers with a grand opening that features a special menu and a celebratory cake. Show jungle exploration videos to enhance customers’ dining experience. Conduct drawings for restaurant gift cards, and create a mailing list with the entry forms. Offer a frequent diner program that rewards a customer when he fulfills his dining frequency requirements. Advertise the event in newspapers’ lifestyle sections, along with regional magazines and websites.

Things Needed

Business structure documentation
Insurance documentation
Business license
Permits (if applicable)
Health department certificate
Sales tax license
Written zoning approval
Lease
Building signage
List of regional niche and themed restaurants
Demographic information for your city
Restaurant decor
Restaurant furniture
Restaurant menu
Restaurant equipment and fixtures order
Ad rates and copy for newspaper Help Wanted ads
Jungle themed staff attire
Prizes for staff trivia contests
Grand opening menu
Grand opening cake
Jungle videos
Gift cards
Entry forms for mailing list
Frequent diner cards
Ad rates and copy for grand opening ads
Ad rates and copy for regional magazines
Ad rates and copy for regional websites

References (4)

Resources (6)

About the Author

Based in North Carolina, Felicia Greene has written professionally since 1986. Greene edited sailing-related newsletters and designed marketing programs for the New Bern, N.C. "Sun Journal" and New Bern Habitat ReStore. She earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration from the University of Baltimore.

Photo Credit (3)

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Easy Tips and Ideas to Start Business

Although anyone can start a business, many people fail because of a bad product or improper research. If you want to start your own business, you can improve your chances for success before you even begin. In order to make your business successful, start strong and make sure that your idea will hold out for the long haul.

Have a Good Product

Ensure that you plan to sell something useful. Although you may think that your product is important or special, that doesn't mean the general public will agree. Ask friends, family and strangers what they think of your product. If they don't seem that interested, ask them why. With their suggestions, you can either improve the product or scrap the idea completely. According to Brad Sugars of Entrepreneur magazine, most small businesses fail because they sold a product that didn't have an adequate market. This also applies to small businesses that provide a service. A lawn-care business might be useful for part of the year in a northern state, but it is in-demand year-round in the south. Consider whether people will actually want to use your service and get constructive advice from those not afraid to give their opinion.

Research Local Businesses

Research local companies before starting up your own business. This will not only give you an idea of the amount of competition you will have, but it will also help you price your product or service. If you're looking to start a wedding photography business, you may find during your research that the market is over-saturated in your area. If not over-saturated, you should contact each business and ask them for a price list. Alter your prices so you can stay competitive with the competition in town. Researching similar local businesses will also help you decide where to locate your business location. Try not to start up a store or office close to another business of your type. If your small business is located away from similar business types, this will cause locals to choose you over businesses that are farther away from where they live.

Get Professional Advice

You may know someone who has started their own successful business. Ask him for advice and listen to his stories of how he started his company. You may gain useful advice on the good and bad ways to start a business. Local entrepreneurs can also introduce you to local product providers or advertisers that you may not have met without their help. Accept any advice with open arms, especially if the advice is coming from someone successful in the area.

How to Calculate Business Start Up Costs

Starting a business in no easy endeavor. It takes a great deal of research, perseverance and hard work. While sweat equity will make your small business more successful, you will most likely need real capital to get the business started. Before you start raising capital and/or investing your own funds, the first thing you need to do is determine the total start-up costs.

Step 1

Determine your costs of sales. For most small businesses this means inventory, the cost of raw materials, manufacturing equipment, shipping, packaging, and warehousing. However, not all businesses sell products. In this case, the cost of sales is primarily the direct labor involved in making the sale. For example, to open a small shoe business entails purchasing enough inventory ($10,000) to stock the store.

Step 2

Determine professional fees. Planning your business structure, i.e., limited liability corporation or general partnership, means hiring an attorney. There may also be the need to pay an attorney for help with establishing trademarks, copyrights, and patents. In this scenario, that puts total professional fees at an estimated $20,000.

Step 3

Determine technology costs. Technology can greatly reduce the cost of labor for small business if used effectively. Most small businesses require computers, printers, cell phones, website development, Internet access, software applications, information security, data storage, and outsourced information technology (IT) consulting. If the cost of technology is $10,000 to start, add an additional $5,000 a year for maintenance (hint: maintenance is not included in start-up costs).

Step 4

Determine administrative costs. This varies with business types and may include items such as business insurance, office supplies, product packaging, parking, rent, express shipping, desks, chairs, fax machines, phones, or anything else necessary to operate the business daily. A good estimate for start-up administrative costs would be $5,000 for the first six months.

Step 5

Determine initial sales and marketing costs. Now that you have your product, you need to let folks know about it. Sales and marketing costs generally include marketing materials for presentations, printing stationery, business cards, advertising, trade show events, and public relations. These initial sales and marketing costs can add up to $3,000.

Step 6

Determine the wages and benefits needed to secure a staff. This includes employee salaries, benefits, workers compensation, and payroll taxes. Let's put the cost of wages and benefits estimated at $20,000 for the first three months of business.

Step 7

Add all costs associated with starting the business for a total. Be sure to only include business start-up costs that will be incurred in the first three to six months of operations. For this example, the calculation is: $10,000 + $20,000 + $10,000 + $5,000 + $3,000 + $20,000 = $68,000.

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Saturday, July 6, 2013