Chinese / Indian / Asian Buffet . Ideas And Tips Please .

[dieseldick]

for years now i have been toying with the idea of opening an asian style buffer, on a small scale to start off anyway. i have seen a lot of these buffets in uk but recently i went into one in amsterdams china district and there was a decent small buffet there where you could go in and have a beer or wine plus select from a medium sized menu all in buffet for around 6-7 euro i think. there were around 20 seats for sit in customers plus a lot of take away trade. the menu i imagine does not have to be excessive or complex, just simple finger foods such as pork ribs in chinese/peking/barbeque style, mini spring rolls, mini breaded scampi and crabs with chilli sauce dips, chicken legs,wings, selection of noodles, chips, fried and boiled rice, chinese style beef and chicken curry, penang curry, thai green and red curry and 2 indian curries such as a masala and a balti or korma. i am going to start advertising on gumtree etc for chef, start doing my homework on this, my wife absolutely loves cooking , she is allways cooking and i see it in her that its her passion. have any of you guys got any expirience in this and can advise me on anything, as i say i am really doing my homework on this but i am determined to open one in next couple of years definately. im working hard away at minute but i want to enrole on an indian cooking course in my spare time .

[Zacs-Master]

Do you have capital or will you need a bank loan? If you need a loan the bank will want a business plan (probably for the first 3 years trading) from you identifying all your outgoings / overheads / profit predictions etc.
One of the most important decisions is location. You need to do some thorough research on footfall at all times of the day (particularly lunchtime for your business model) and make sure there is no direct competition.

[janbee]

Seems like an excellent idea but as with everything. it's all about location location location. I hope you'll be doing veggie foods too? I wish you the greatest of success with your dream. Dreams can come true so ... go for it.

[dieseldick]

yes ithanks i will be looking for a good pedestrian traffic busy road etc. its my dream and i will work toward this.

[EcclesCake]

My best advice is for you to befriend your local Indian/Chinese/Thai restauranteur and ask to spend an evening or two working as their KP.

You will learn an awful lot.