With the buzz of viral food recommendations here and there, it surely attracts many food connoisseurs to delve into the F&B business. Are you perhaps thinking of starting an F&B business too?
If your answer is ‘Yes’, the first step in beginning your journey is to choose the type of F&B business that you want to be in. There are various F&B business types, and you should choose the one that fits your working style along with your passion.
There are mainly 5 F&B business types: Café, Restaurant, Food Truck, Bar, and Home-based. Not sure which one suits you best? Answer our fun quiz below to find out! Don’t be shy to share your result on your social medias and tag us.
How was it? It may not be accurate but you can give a thought on your result before creating your business blueprint.
While experience and relational skills can be acquired over time, an owner’s enthusiasm for their service is vital to its success. You have to choose the type of business that most interests you. In the short list below, we’ll guide you to explore the differences between those 5 major F&B businesses.
1. Café
You must be familiar with various cafes with cute and cozy concepts blooming in the market. It’s suitable for you if you’re the calm and chill type of person.
Café business usually involves specialized coffee and beverages experience, and fewer meal or cuisine options. The settings also doesn’t require extravagant spaces as it usually sets in a small and intimate space with relaxed atmosphere. Even during a cafe’s peak hour, people enjoy the cling clangs of pots and cups in the barista section as their background noise. Therefore, customers usually visit a café for short meetups or to focus on their work with drinks on the side.
2. Restaurant
A restaurant is an essential business in every neighborhood, office areas, and tourist spots. It’s a place that everybody look for every time they reach a place. If you’re the lionhearted type, opening a restaurant business may speak your soul!
Unlike cafes, restaurants usually have wider array of meal course options in their menu and customers expect their food to be more savory. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner – you can serve different types of meals throughout the day to your customer based on time of the day. However, you have to deal with busier and fast-paced environment compared to a café. You also may need to invest for a huge hiring and equipment costs as you require more staff and equipment for a smooth operation.
3. Food Truck
If you’re the adventurous type, we think food truck would suit you! You can dare to be different with this type of F&B business.
It’s a good start to begin your business as it requires lower investment and overhead cost to operate, more saving if you buy a secondhand truck! You also don’t need to hire many staff, maybe just 1 or 2 to assist you per shift. On top of that, a food truck’s mobility allows you to experiment with your customer locations to widen your brand marketing. Also, the truck itself acts as a free advertisement during your commute from places to places!
4. Bar
People come to bar to sit and unwind in a calm setting. While being personally served by the bartender, it’s a good spot to sit and socialize without much pressure to talk or just listen to people next to you.
Maybe your area lacks entertainment place to visit after a good or bad day, so setting up a bar is great idea. You could provide live music, pool tables, or any celebration space that can drive traffic into your premise. In terms of menu, the best bar cuisine usually complements the drinks & cocktails served. Therefore, it’s always a brilliant idea to take your drink menu into consideration when designing your food menu. People also will usually choose familiar menus like fries, nachos, mozarella sticks that they can share over their chats.
5. Home-based
Starting a home-based F&B business is a great way to turn your free time hobby into a money-making hobby. It’s also the safest business type to pursue before you grow your market larger.
You mostly depends on online market sites or social media to advertise your food business, and you don’t have customers come directly to your premise, hence you can set flexible working hour that works with your schedule. This business type usually runs order-based system, therefore you can estimate the raw ingredients as well as its cost depends on customer’s demand. It’s a very pocket friendly business type to choose because you don’t need to pay for shop rental or staff if you run it on your own.
Conclusion
No matter what your choice is, running an F&B business needs a lot of considerations and planning. At Slurp! POS, we’re an expert at providing solution for F&B entrepreneurs that want to enhance their service in a simple way. Try a FREE demo with us by clicking this link: Free Demo!
