Start a restaurant: guide and checklist

Are you starting a restaurant? Here is a complete checklist for premises, permits, budget, purchasing, wholesalers, and a profitable restaurant launch.

Completely free of charge

Start a restaurant: guide and checklist

Are you starting a restaurant? Here is a complete checklist for premises, permits, budget, purchasing, wholesalers, and a profitable restaurant launch.

Completely free of charge

Start a restaurant: guide and checklist

Are you starting a restaurant? Here is a complete checklist for premises, permits, budget, purchasing, wholesalers, and a profitable restaurant launch.

Everything you need to open a restaurant

A restaurant wholesaler delivers food, beverages, consumables, and other products that restaurants, cafés, bars, and commercial kitchens need for their daily operations. However, which wholesaler is the best fit is not determined by price alone. Assortment, deliveries, agreements, bonuses, service, and purchasing terms all affect the overall deal.

Starting a restaurant is both exciting and demanding. Before you can welcome your first guests, you need to find the right premises, create a business plan, arrange financing, apply for permits, choose a restaurant wholesaler, and build a business that is financially sustainable.

Here is a complete guide to starting a restaurant in Sweden. We go through the entire process, from the initial idea to purchasing, pricing, and opening.

Do you want help with your restaurant's purchasing, suppliers, and agreements? As a member of Svenska Krögare, you get access to better purchasing terms, advice, analysis, and benefits for restaurants.

Membership is completely free.

Get help with starting your restaurant

Checklist

A checklist for starting a restaurant

When you are going to open a restaurant, it is easy to get bogged down in details. Start by dividing the work into clear steps.

☐ Determine the restaurant's concept and target audience

☐ Conduct a market analysis

☐ Develop a business plan and budget

☐ Choose a business structure and register the company

☐ Find the right restaurant location

☐ Check which permits are required

☐ Register the food business

☐ Apply for a liquor license if alcohol is to be served

☐ Choose a restaurant wholesaler and other suppliers. See our range here →

☐ Plan menu, portion cost, and pricing

☐ Buy or lease equipment and interior design

☐ Choose POS system, booking system, and payment solution

☐ Take out insurance, electricity contract, and other necessary agreements

☐ Recruit and train staff

☐ Plan the marketing ahead of the opening

☐ Establish routines for purchasing, inventory, and follow-up

☐ Determine the restaurant's concept and target audience

☐ Conduct a market analysis

☐ Develop a business plan and budget

☐ Choose a business structure and register the company

☐ Find the right restaurant location

☐ Check which permits are required

☐ Register the food business

☐ Apply for a liquor license if alcohol is to be served

☐ Choose a restaurant wholesaler and other suppliers. See our range here →

☐ Plan menu, portion cost, and pricing

☐ Buy or lease equipment and interior design

☐ Choose POS system, booking system, and payment solution

☐ Take out insurance, electricity contract, and other necessary agreements

☐ Recruit and train staff

☐ Plan the marketing ahead of the opening

☐ Establish routines for purchasing, inventory, and follow-up

Start with a clear restaurant concept

A good restaurant concept is about more than just the food. Determine the target group, type of restaurant, needs, price level, and whether the focus is lunch, dinner, bar, catering, or takeaway. The concept later guides the choice of location, menu, staff, equipment, suppliers, and marketing.

How much does it cost to start a restaurant?

The startup cost is affected by the premises, equipment, and concept. Expect costs for rent, renovation, kitchen equipment, furniture, POS systems, permits, insurance, initial inventory, and working capital. Create a cash flow budget and plan for margins.

Find the right restaurant premises

Check the area of use, ventilation, grease traps, fire protection, accessibility, electricity, water, sewage, kitchen, storage, deliveries, and waste management. Do not sign a lease agreement before the premises work for the business.

What permits are needed to start a restaurant?

The need depends on the business and municipality. Common areas are food registration, serving permits, building permits, outdoor seating, fire protection, cash registers, and music licensing. Always check your municipality's and Verksamt's current requirements.

Choose the right restaurant wholesaler

Compare more than just article prices: assortment, discounts, deliveries, minimum order value, service, payment terms, and the possibility of bonuses. Most restaurants also need contracts for drinks, coffee, meat, fish, energy, payment, and insurance.

Create a profitable restaurant menu

For each dish you need to monitor raw material cost, portion size, waste, labor time, selling price and gross profit. Update calculations when prices change and combine sales statistics with portion cost.

Choose the right system from the start

Good systems reduce administration. Consider POS systems, payment, booking, staff, inventory, purchasing, finance, and digital self-monitoring. Ensure that systems can be integrated to reduce duplicate work.

Sign the right contract

Review insurance, electricity, payment, laundry, waste, fire protection, pest control, alarms, broadband, and telephony. Compare prices, binding periods, and what is actually included before you sign.

Recruit and plan staffing

Staffing must match sales. Plan roles, induction, holidays, sick leave, and peak times. Document routines for opening, closing, hygiene, inventory, waste, and guest relations.

Market before opening

Build interest before the premiere with a name, graphic identity, website, Google profile, social media, menu, images, and booking link. Verify that contact details and opening hours are identical across all channels.

Concept

Start with a clear restaurant concept

A good restaurant concept is about more than just what food you will serve. The concept needs to answer why guests should choose your particular restaurant.

Think about:

What type of restaurant do you want to open?

Which guests do you want to reach?

What need should the restaurant fill?

What price level suits the target group?

Will the restaurant offer lunch, dinner, bar, catering, or takeaway?

What will distinguish the business from its competitors?

The concept affects almost all future decisions. It guides the choice of premises, menu, staff, equipment, suppliers, marketing, and price level.

A clear concept also makes it easier to present the business to the bank, investors, the landlord, and potential partners.

Cost

How much does it cost to start a restaurant?

The cost of starting a restaurant varies greatly. The condition of the premises, the size of the restaurant, the kitchen equipment, and the concept's level of ambition have a major impact.

Common startup costs are:

Deposit and rent

Renovation and customization of the premises

Commercial kitchen and kitchen equipment

Furniture, lighting, and interior design

POS system and payment solution

Tableware, glasses, cutlery, and kitchen utensils

Permits and registrations

Insurance policies

Signage and graphic identity

Website and marketing

First inventory of food and beverages

Salaries and employer contributions

Working capital for the first few months

It is important to distinguish between the startup cost itself and the capital required to run the restaurant before sales have stabilized.

Therefore, create a month-by-month cash flow budget. Build in a margin for delays, unexpected repairs, waste, and a slower start to sales than planned. Once the restaurant has opened, staff, raw materials, beverages, rent, energy, and other ongoing contracts become central costs.

Small differences in purchasing prices can have a major impact over time. Therefore, it is wise to review the restaurant's wholesale agreements and supplier terms even before opening.

Local

Find the right restaurant premises

The restaurant premises need to function for guests, staff, deliveries, and regulatory requirements.

Check, among other things:

The approved area of use for the premises

Ventilation and exhaust duct

Grease separator

Fire protection and escape routes

Accessibility

Electricity capacity

Water and sewage

Space for kitchen, dishwashing, and storage

Possibility for goods delivery

Waste management

Noise levels and nearby residential housing

Possibility for outdoor seating

The restaurant's visibility and customer flow

Do not sign a long-term lease agreement before you have verified that the premises can be used for the planned business. If the premises need to be renovated, both building permits and other approvals may be required.

Permissions

What permits are needed to start a restaurant?

Which permits and registrations you need depends on the restaurant's setup, premises, and municipality.

Common areas to check are:

Registration of food business

Restaurants, cafés, and other businesses that handle food normally need to be registered with the municipality before the business starts.

Alcohol license

If the restaurant is to serve alcohol, you need to apply for an alcohol license. The municipality assesses, among other things, ownership conditions, financing, knowledge of the Alcohol Act, the suitability of the premises, and the setup of the business.

Building permit and change of use

If the premises are rebuilt or start to be used in a new way, a building permit or notification may be required.

Permit for outdoor seating

Outdoor seating in a public place normally requires a permit. Depending on the location and design, additional approvals may be needed.

Fire protection

The restaurant needs to have functioning fire protection with clear routines, the right equipment, and safe evacuation routes.

Cash register

Businesses that sell goods or services for cash payment or card payment normally need to use a cash register that meets current requirements.

Music license

If you play music in the restaurant, agreements and licenses for the use of music may be required.

Requirements may differ between different businesses and municipalities. Therefore, always use information from your municipality and the official checklist at Verksamt.

To Verksamt →

Wholesalers and suppliers

Choose the right restaurant wholesaler

The choice of restaurant wholesaler affects the restaurant's prices, assortment, deliveries, and daily workflow.

When you compare restaurant wholesalers, you should not only look at the price of individual items. Evaluate the entire offer.

Compare:

Prices and discounts

Assortment and brands

Delivery days and cut-off times

Minimum order value

Delivery fees

Backorders and product availability

Returns and complaints

Ordering systems

Personal service

Payment terms

Statistics and purchasing data

Possibility of bonus or rebate

The restaurant often needs more suppliers than a traditional food wholesaler. You may also need agreements for beverages, coffee, fish, meat, fruits and vegetables, non-food, laundry, workwear, insurance, energy, payment, and pest control.

See our range of wholesalers and suppliers →

As a member of Svenska Krögare, you gain access to negotiated agreements, advice, analysis, and benefits that help you gain better control over your restaurant's costs.

You receive support in reviewing your restaurant's purchases without having to manage each supplier and agreement area yourself.

Membership costs nothing.

As a member of Svenska Krögare, you gain access to negotiated agreements, advice, analysis, and benefits that help you gain better control over your restaurant's costs.

You receive support in reviewing your restaurant's purchases without having to manage each supplier and agreement area yourself.

Membership costs nothing.

Do you need free advice? Contact us

Menu and calculation

Create a profitable restaurant menu

The menu must be attractive to the guest and financially sustainable for the restaurant.

For each dish you need to know:

Ingredient cost per portion

Portion size

Expected waste

Preparation labor time

Selling price

Gross profit

How often the dish is expected to sell

Avoid pricing solely by comparing with other restaurants. Competitors' costs, rent, purchase prices, and business models can look completely different.

Create recipes with clear quantities and follow up on actual portion costs. When ingredient prices change, the calculation needs to be updated.

A popular dish is not automatically a profitable dish. By combining sales statistics with portion cost, you can see which dishes both sell well and contribute to the restaurant's bottom line.

System

Choose the right system from the start

Good systems reduce administration and provide better control over the business.

Common systems for restaurants are:

POS systems

Card terminal and payment solution

Booking systems

HR systems

Scheduling and time reporting

Stock and inventory

Purchasing systems

Accounting systems

Gift cards and loyalty programs

Digital self-monitoring

Check that the systems can be integrated with each other. If sales, inventory, purchasing, and finance can share information, the risk of duplicate work and manual errors is reduced.

Agreements and insurance

Sign the right agreement

Before the restaurant opens, you need to review the business's protection and ongoing agreements.

This may include, among other things:

Business insurance

Liability insurance

Property insurance

Business interruption insurance

Electricity contract

Payment solution

Laundry and workwear

Waste management

Fire protection

Pest control

Alarms and security

Broadband and telephony

Read the terms carefully and compare price, commitment period, and what is actually included. A low introductory price is not always the most advantageous contract over time.

Recruitment

Recruit and plan staffing

Staff costs are one of the restaurant's largest expenses. Staffing needs to match sales during different days and times.

Plan which roles are required in the kitchen, service, dishwashing, bar, and management. Also take into account vacation, sick leave, onboarding, and periods of higher workload.

Clear routines and a good onboarding process help staff work more consistently. Therefore, document routines for opening, closing, hygiene, self-monitoring, ordering, inventory, waste, and guest relations.

Marketing

Market before opening

Start marketing the restaurant before the doors open.

Create early on:

Name and visual identity

Website

Google Business Profile

Accounts on relevant social media

Menu and restaurant photos

Plan for local marketing

System for booking or table inquiries

Collection of email addresses with proper consent

Tell the story of the work behind the restaurant, the concept, the food, and the people. This way, you can build interest and an initial group of followers before the grand opening.

Also, make sure that the address, opening hours, phone number, and booking link are identical across all channels.

Start a restaurant with better control from the beginning

You don't have to handle all purchasing, supplier agreements, and cost issues yourself.

Svenska Krögare helps restaurants get better terms, better control, and access to benefits that strengthen their business.

As a member, you get access to:

Negotiated agreements and better purchasing terms

Benefits with selected suppliers

Advisory services regarding the restaurant's purchasing

Analysis and better cost control

A network within the restaurant industry

Support when the business grows and changes

Membership is always completely free.

Contact us

Not necessarily. For many restaurants, it is more important to have the right purchasing mix and good terms than to consolidate all purchases with a single wholesaler.

Price matters, but assortment, bonuses, agreements, deliveries, service, and the ability to track purchases also affect the overall business.

Contact us for advice