This restaurant construction checklist is designed to help you give as much attention to floor plans, permits, and building as you give to appetizers, entrées, and desserts. Even though your menu is the basis for your dream of restaurant ownership, you’ll need to design and potentially even build your restaurant for that dream to become a reality.
Download our free restaurant construction checklist to help make the design and construction process as seamless as possible. Have questions about the checklist? Keep reading to learn more.
What is a Restaurant Construction Checklist?
A restaurant construction checklist is a detailed list of things you need to keep top of mind while building or renovating a restaurant, such as:
- Building code requirements
- Accessibility requirements
- Inspection requirements
- Design elements like furniture, lighting, and signage
Whether you’re building your first restaurant or your fifth, a checklist helps ensure you don’t miss any important steps.
Who Needs a Restaurant Construction Checklist?
You’ll find our restaurant construction project plan useful if you are:
- A first-time restaurateur building a restaurant from scratch
- A veteran restaurateur renovating your existing space or a space that is new to you
- An architect or engineer working with a restaurateur on a space
- An interior designer tackling a food service project
- A general contractor helping a restaurant client
In other words, if you are involved in any aspect of building or designing a restaurant’s exterior or interior, this checklist will come in handy.
Why Should You Use a Restaurant Construction Checklist?
So, how exactly will this restaurant construction checklist come in handy? A list like this can help you:
- Build a restaurant that meets local codes and is therefore safe to be in.
- Stay organized throughout the construction project
- Create accountability among your team
- Stick to your budget and timeline
- Avoid unpleasant, time-consuming, and expensive surprises during the construction process
With the right steps in place, you have a better chance of building your restaurant faster.
How Long Does It Take to Build a Restaurant?
So, how long does it take to build a restaurant? According to construction experts, a restaurant typically takes between six months and a year and a half to build. However, this timeline can vary greatly depending on a number of factors, including:
- Concept: Because most commercial kitchens have the same elements, the front of the house is where you’ll see the greatest differentiation between concepts. A full service restaurant can take twice as long to build as a fast casual restaurant, and a fast casual restaurant can take twice as long to build as a takeout-only concept.
- Permits: Different places have different permitting requirements and processing speeds. For example, it may take only a few days to process all of the building permits you need to get started in a small town that doesn’t get many requests. It may take months to process these permits in a large city that’s inundated with applications.
- Labor: The more people you have working on your project, the faster the build will go. However, a larger crew is more expensive and can be more difficult to secure if there’s a labor shortage.
- Funding: Restaurant construction costs and how much money you have dictate how quickly construction can get done. You may be able to move quickly if you’re self-funded and have a lot saved up. Or you may have to wait months or years to crowdfund, find investors, or obtain loans.
With so many factors out of your control, our checklist can help you stay on top of the restaurant planning, design, and construction elements that are within your control.
Download Our Free Restaurant Construction Checklist Today
Building a restaurant is an exciting – but complicated – endeavor that involves many moving parts. Our restaurant construction checklist can help you understand what’s involved in the process so that you can complete your project on time and on budget, and get diners in the door ASAP. Download this free resource today.