Open My Business — Restaurant Planning Guide
The grease trap that wasn't in the budget. The health inspection failed on opening week. The kitchen that couldn't support the menu. I've watched all of it. This guide exists so you don't have to.
Guide price
USD — instant download
What you get
"Great stuff in the guide, well worth it and the bonuses are incredible."
— JIM B.
What this guide covers
Restaurants are the most complex physical venue to open well. I've watched brilliant chefs spend their entire opening budget fixing infrastructure problems that were visible before they signed the lease. I've watched health inspections fail in the first week because the kitchen wasn't designed to the authority's requirements. Almost all of it was preventable.
This guide maps every decision in the right order — from site assessment through kitchen specification, approvals, fitout and launch — so nothing falls through the gaps.
What's covered
Where restaurant openings go wrong
Grease traps underspecified. Extraction inadequate. Gas capacity insufficient. Three-phase power not planned. These are the most expensive discoveries to make after you've signed.
Health department inspections failed on opening week. DA conditions not understood. Liquor licence delayed. None of this is unusual — all of it is preventable.
Launching before the kitchen is properly run-in, before the team is trained, or before the systems are working. The first reviews set the reputation. Get it right from day one.
Who this guide is for
You know food. This guide gives you the business, design and approval framework that most chefs only discover after their first expensive mistake.
You've managed restaurants. This guide bridges the gap between running one and opening one — the decisions are different.
You're funding the concept. This guide helps you understand what a properly planned restaurant opening looks like, and what warning signs to watch for.
Get the guide
The Open My Restaurant guide covers every stage from site assessment through kitchen design, approvals, fitout and launch — built from 35 years of opening restaurant environments.
At $97, it's the lowest-cost way to avoid the highest-cost mistakes in the most complex venue category. The grease trap alone costs more to retrofit than this guide costs ten times over.
Restaurant planning guide
USD — instant download
Guide includes
Instant download. No subscription.
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ADD THE LAUNCH BONUS PACK
Add three expert tools to your order — a full concept-to-sales programme, a brand building playbook, and a designer briefing guide. Built from the same 35 years of experience. One-time add-on.
Years of experience
Who built this
The Open My Business guides were built from 35 years of designing and opening physical venues — hundreds of real projects, with real budgets, real approvals and real consequences when things went wrong.
This isn't theory. It's what actually happens when you open a physical venue, and what you need to do about it.
View all guides →The information on this site is for general planning purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial or professional advice. Always obtain appropriate advice from qualified professionals before committing to a site, signing any lease or agreement, or making significant financial decisions.