Published on : 06/11/2025

Opening a restaurant: the concrete guide to move from idea to opening

Build a concept that attracts and retains

Find an idea that suits you (and has an audience)

Before opening a restaurant, one must first ask oneself a fundamental question: why this project? Your concept must reflect your personality, your skills and meet a real expectation in the market. In 2025, consumers are looking for unique culinary experiences, whether it is local, organic, vegan or gourmet fusion cuisine.

Listen to your intuition, but validate it with facts. Do you dream of a Mediterranean tapas bar or a coffee library? Great. But this must also meet a need in your geographical area. Test your idea on target groups, exchange with other restaurateurs and collect the first customer feedback. Authenticity, combined with a clear vision, is often the key to opening your restaurant successfully.

The decor and atmosphere: more than a detail, a business lever

Opening a restaurant also means creating an atmosphere. The design of a restaurant is not just a dressing. It is a strategic tool for differentiation. The atmosphere is the first sensory contact of the client: smells, materials, lighting, furniture - everything counts. A well thought out arrangement turns a simple meal into a memorable experience.

Choose a style that suits your concept and your target: refined for business customers, warm and woody for a family atmosphere, or raw and industrial for a street food concept.

This is where a partner like Tradis comes into play: solid wood furniture designed for professionals, durable and aesthetic, which reinforces the brand image and creates valuable visual coherence.

Market study, forecast, business model: laying the foundations

Where to set up your restaurant and why?

Opening a restaurant is much more than a culinary adventure: it is creating a place that suits you, and its location is one of the pillars of its success. Prioritize a lively neighborhood, in touch with your target clientele: offices, tourist area, residential district, or dynamic city center. Analyze pedestrian flows, hours of passage, neighboring businesses, and above all, local consumption trends.

A successful implementation is based on a good balance between visibility, accessibility and rent cost.

Identify your competitors without copying them

Knowing how to open a restaurant in France also requires careful competitive analysis. Spot similar establishments, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and position yourself intelligently. The goal? Stand out without being off-topic. For example, if you open a French bistro in a neighborhood saturated with pizzerias, you bring an alternative, but your card must remain competitive.

The financial forecast: a management tool, not just a bank document

Many think that the forecast is only useful for convincing a bank. In reality, it is an essential management tool for opening a restaurant. It helps you forecast cash needs, adjust your prices and anticipate slack periods.

Include all items of expenditure: purchase of furniture, works, salaries, social charges, communication... and of course, the cost of raw materials. Also plan a safety mattress for unforeseen events.

What budget to open a restaurant in France?

The budget to open a restaurant in France depends on many factors: type of restaurant (fast, traditional, gastronomic), size of the team, location, layout, kitchen equipment, restaurant furniture, ...

On average, plan between €100,000 and €300,000 for a medium-sized restaurant. This budget includes:

30 to 40% for works and development,
20% for kitchen equipment
15% for furniture (tables, chairs, counters...),
10 to 15% for communication,
The rest for cash, licenses and legal fees.

A good investment in professional solid wood furniture, such as those offered by Tradis, enhances your establishment from the start.

The layout of the restaurant: transforming a place into an experience

The layout of a restaurant cannot be improvised. To open a restaurant in the best conditions, it is essential to structure the customer journey, facilitate service and optimize space. A well-organized room increases profitability (more cutlery, faster rotation) and improves the user experience.

The layout includes the arrangement of tables for restaurant and wooden counters, lighting, sound system, waiting and traffic areas and finally the harmony between furniture, materials and colors.

By using a specialized planner, you gain in comfort, consistency, and above all, efficiency.

Choose the right legal status and carry out the administrative procedures

Possible statuses for a restaurant: which form to choose?

SAS, SARL, self-entrepreneur, sole proprietorship... Each status has advantages and constraints in terms of taxation, responsibility, and formality. Understanding how to open a restaurant also involves choosing the right legal status, adapted to the nature and ambition of your project.

To open a restaurant, the most common legal forms are as follows: the LLC, reassuring and well suited to projects with several partners; the SAS, very popular for its flexibility of operation; and the individual company or micro-company, which are more suitable for small-scale launches or activity tests.

A legal advisor can guide you towards the most appropriate solution according to your personal situation and objectives.

The classic mistakes to avoid when creating the company

Not registering your company on time, poorly drafting your articles of association, forgetting compulsory insurance, neglecting hygiene or safety standards... are frequent mistakes when one wishes to open a restaurant.

Take the time to train yourself, or surround yourself with experts to secure each step of creating a restaurant and succeed in your project to open a restaurant.

Find and transform the right commercial space

The essential criteria for choosing a location

Visibility, accessibility, surface area, rent, condition of premises... Every detail counts. Visit several premises, at different times of the day, and analyze pedestrian flows.

The choice of premises must also take into account the technical feasibility of your work, and compliance with ERP (Establishments Receiving Public) standards.

Work and compliance: do not neglect the role of the developer

The layout and compliance with standards (accessibility, fire safety, ventilation, hygiene) are often expensive, but essential. Surround yourself with professionals who know the specific constraints of catering.

At Tradis, our layout solutions are designed to meet standards while bringing warmth and character to your establishment.

Recruit your team, choose your suppliers, launch your communication

Once the place is found, you have to set up your team: cooks, servers, manager. Recruit profiles who share your values and understand your vision of service.

If you have taken training to open a restaurant, you will have acquired the necessary skills to structure your team and delegate effectively. On the supplier side, prioritize quality, responsiveness and proximity, as they will be key partners in your success. Finally, don’t wait for the opening to communicate!

Create a teasing on social media, talk to the local press, organize an inauguration and start building a community around your concept.

Why layout can make (or break) the success of a restaurant

The 5 layout errors that harm the customer experience

Too many tables, too tight: immediate discomfort
Bad lighting: too cold or too dark
Unergonomic furniture: the seat must be pleasant
No stylistic coherence: messy mix of genres
Difficult traffic: slow service, disrupted customers

The tailor-made support of Tradis

At Tradis, we believe that opening a restaurant is not just about choosing a good location or a tempting menu. The layout plays a key role in the success of the project, and that is why we accompany restaurateurs at every stage, from the initial idea to the actual opening.

Our restaurant furniture, designed for intensive professional use, combines robustness, aesthetics and modularity. Our furniture is designed to evolve with you: possibility of rearranging, adding modules, or renewing certain areas without questioning your entire layout. The customer experience, the ergonomics of the service and the enhancement of your universe are at the heart of our concerns.

Thanks to the expertise of Tradis, you transform your restaurant into a welcoming, functional and memorable place, where every detail reflects your values!