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I often get asked by people who are thinking about buying a bar restaurant in Spain:
“Would we be tied to working all year round?”
Very few bars or restaurants in Spain are open all year round. You have to take into consideration that there is significant tourist trade and this last about 6 months of the year, peaking in July and August.
If you work hard and efficiently during the summer period you then have another 3 months where trade is still pretty good (March, April, November) and you probably can afford to close for winter.
Most businesses are quiet for the three winter months (Dec, Jan, Feb) so you can afford to close for these winter months if you so choose. The exception to this, is where a bar has regular organized events to keep the customers coming in even throughout the winter (pool competitions, Karaoke etc.)
You also need to take into consideration any other income you may have. Most people with bar income operate their businesses for about 9 months a year and then enjoy life relaxing during the 3 winter months.
We work 11 months per year taking a month off for Christmas. We can do this because we have all year round trade due to the location of our bar and restaurant.
You will need an efficiently laid out kitchen, which is equipped with the machinery you will need to enable you to produce all the items on your menu quickly.I have seen plenty of kitchens that are really badly laid out so that the chef has to walk backwards and forwards all the time whilst working and of course this means that it takes longer to get orders out so, you sell less food and take less money.
My suggestion is that you develop a clear idea of what you are going to have on you menu and then give a lot of thought to how the kitchen will need to be both equipped and laid out. You’ll need to take into account:
- Where you want food fridges, freezers to be.
- Where you want to store vegetables, dried pasta etc.
- Location of bottle fridges if they are to be in the kitchen.
- Location of sink and dishwasher, plus space for d/washer baskets.
- Location of hob, grille, deep fryer, food warmers and oven.
- Location of microwave oven.
- Plate storage area.
Our business sells a lot of food, so we need all the stuff listed above in our kitchen, and the layout has been honed and improved over many years, until now we have a kitchen that is really easy to work in. However if you are not planning to offer a lot of food then you will be able to live without much of the above equipment and your kitchen design will become a much simpler job.
Try to find a bar which is kitchen-wise more or less as you want it, but if you can’t then be prepared to re-model to suit your needs. The money you invest will pay you back many times over.
