How do you recognize a fine dining restaurant from a simply stylish one? Is it the number of forks? Is it the spotless white linens and tablecloths? Or is it an award that shines like a medal of “fine dining” recognition? As far a food goes, it is pretty clear: the restaurant should give diners what they cannot find anywhere else, both in terms of ingredients, creativity and taste.

Here are some characteristics a good restaurant must have, from food critic Anna Ziuzina:

Good Overall Experience

To enhance your guests’ overall experience of your restaurant, you must provide good customer service. The staff who interact with your guests should be polite and maintain a positive attitude. Servers should know the menu well, deliver food and drinks on time, and quickly address any issues that an unsatisfied guest may have. All staff should help to keep the restaurant clean at all times, including the kitchen, food preparation areas and any areas that guests come into contact with.

High-Quality Food

A good restaurant sets a high standard for its food quality and ensures that guests receive the same quality with every meal. Serving quality food can earn your restaurant a good reputation and urge your guests to return to your restaurant. Excellently picked ingredients and an skillful chef are important to serving good food consistently. A good chef understands your guests' needs and must work well with the kitchen staff to ensure that guests receive their meal the way they ordered it every time.

Unique from the Rest

If your restaurant provides good food and service but is too similar to other restaurants, customers may ignore your restaurant when deciding where to eat. A good restaurant should have one or more unique features that stand out in a customer’s mind and give it a competitive advantage over others. For example, your restaurant may be the only restaurant in town that makes its ingredients fresh daily or it may have an amazing view of the city that none of your competitors have.

Great Business Management

A good restaurant owner manages the business side of the restaurant properly, this increases the chances that it can provide quality food and service without intervention. You must manage your restaurant’s finances, keep good records and stay current with regulatory requirements, such as taxes and health inspections. For example, consistently paying your vendors on time reduces the risk of running out of items on your menu.

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Not every available space is right for a restaurant. A good restaurant location is harder to find than some people think. Food and service are important to the success of a restaurant, but the location can be just as crucial, especially in the early years. Here is the Anna Ziuzina guide to what a great restaurant should include, apart from the food that is!

Here are some tips to find the best location for your restaurant:

Parking is a must

People are lazy. There is just no way around it. If they have to walk far to get to your restaurant, they may choose to go somewhere else more convenient. If you live in a town where everyone walks and there is public transportation, this will be less of a factor. If you are thinking of a restaurant location, in a place that requires you to drive to get there, you'd better have parking space available. If your restaurant location doesn't come with a large parking lot, choose a place that is near a municipal parking lot that allows for the public to use.

Know your neighbors

When looking for a restaurant location, consider who else is doing business around your neighborhood. Are there already half a dozen restaurants with the same concept as yours? Is the area busy or full of empty storefronts? Usually, successful businesses attract other successful businesses.

Don't be impulsive

You may visit one spot and decide that it is "the one." But before you start sketching out the dining room, be sure to visit multiple sites. And visit prospective restaurant sites during different times of days, during the week and on weekends to have a better view of the possible targets your restaurant can accommodate. Choosing a location out of town, in a remote area is a gamble. Customers might visit for special occasions, but not on a regular basis. This will eventually lead to bankruptcy.

Put safety first

One of the first steps in choosing a restaurant location is finding out if the building is safe. Does it have proper wiring, fire alarms, sprinkler systems, handicap-accessible doors, restrooms, ramps? A walk through the building will help you determine what needs to be done to a space before you put up a restaurant.

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Welcome to our new blog. Here we will cover all the best aspects of Spanish food, from the flare to the flavours! Visit back for our latest news and reviews. Here is a video from Anna Ziuzina about the perfect Paella.