Want to know what a soft opening for a restaurant is and see if it’s the best way to open your new restaurant location this year? This guide is here to help.
A soft opening prepares you for a successful grand opening of your new business location before settling into normal restaurant operations. In this article, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about a soft opening and some tips on how to put one together.
We’ll cover the following:
- What a soft opening means (what it involves and how long it lasts).
- The benefits of a soft opening to a new restaurant business.
- Tips for putting together a soft opening for your restaurant business.
Let’s start from the ground up by defining a soft opening.
What does soft opening mean?
A soft opening is when a new restaurant quietly opens its doors to a limited number of people to test out various aspects of the restaurant.
This soft launch may happen days, weeks, or even a month before the official opening date depending on the type of restaurant and its goals.
During this time, you can invite specific guests to experience and provide constructive feedback on the food, service, and atmosphere. It’s an opportunity for the restaurant management to check if all operations, from the back-of-house to the front-of-house, are running smoothly.
Of course, issues can arise during this process. For example, issues with slow service, mistakes in orders, or problems with your equipment. This is the time to iron out any operational wrinkles before the big day arrives.
But what does a soft opening in a restaurant really entail? Let’s break down this basic description further for additional context.
What does a restaurant’s soft opening involve?
So far, you can pick out four major characteristics of a restaurant’s soft opening from the basic description. In this section, we’ll introduce them in detail.
1. Limited audience
Often, a soft opening is an invitation-only event. It is limited to a select group of people rather than opening your doors to the general public.
The guest list usually includes restaurant owners and staff’s friends and family to dine at the restaurant. It is also open to local business owners, influencers, media representatives, and more. These people can get your restaurant’s name out there by word of mouth or through their social media platforms.
In addition, the crowd size is controlled to keep the soft opening event manageable. It isn’t widely advertised to the general public, so marketing is slightly reduced. Yes, you can reach out to local influencers and media, for example, to gain access to some of their local fan base. That’s a form of marketing.
However, the main goal is for the staff to focus on refining the dining experience rather than marketing.
This brings us to the next attribute of soft launch – operating in a controlled environment.
2. Controlled environment
The environment in a soft opening is slightly controlled but enough to simulate normal food business operations. Aside from its limited guest list, the restaurant operates with a limited menu, hours, etc.
Limited hours of operation
The restaurant may open only for a few hours a day. This could mean opening only for dinner service or a few hours during lunchtime. Some restaurants may operate on selected days of the week.
This controlled environment allows your staff to get comfortable with their new roles like food prep and serving customers, testing out the kitchen equipment, and identifying issues.
Note: Limiting the hours of operation can be a good option for restaurants that want to test their operations with a larger crowd but still maintain some control over the flow of customers.
Offer a simplified menu
This limited menu typically features signature dishes. You can adapt this menu to include family-friendly options, accommodate dietary restrictions, and a few crowd-pleasers like grilled chicken, pasta dishes, burgers, etc. Generally, you decide what will be on the menu throughout the soft opening.
A simplified menu also allows the kitchen staff to focus on consistently and efficiently executing a smaller number of dishes. The front-of-house staff can also use this opportunity to practice their service flow, test the POS system, and familiarize themselves with the full menu again.
3. Operational testing
Operating with a guest list, limited menu, hours, etc, puts your staff to the test. Employees can use this opportunity to train themselves, practice their roles, and refine their skills in a real-world setting.
By the time you’re ready to launch, everyone will be comfortable with the restaurant operations, solving problems, and how to coordinate with one another in-house.
Whether it’s the kitchen staff perfecting food prep and timing or servers mastering the menu and effective table management. Most importantly, this hands-on experience is essential for building confidence before the official opening date.
Conduct critical system checks
A soft opening allows you to test and adjust all the equipment, processes, and workflows required to run daily restaurant operations smoothly.
For instance, let’s assume you’re soft opening a new restaurant branch very soon. One of the system checks could be to test if the current ordering system manages orders efficiently for this new location.
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