Starting up a English Tapa's Restaurant

naff123

Update: Have Created a Company Logo which would of cost £35 had I had someone do it so thought no chance done it myself only taken 5 minutes such a no brainer I think it came out rather well imho


Also I am looking into Fruit and Veg wholesalers is there any where you do not have to pay to become a member of like bookers charge or cash and carry but without the fees??

C_Mababejive

Much as i wish you success...the idea of English Tapas doesnt really gel with me. I think the two words...English and Tapas dont sit well together in the British psyche. When people think Tapas they automatically think Mediterranean cuisine.

Perhaps things are a little different in Southern England though we do of course have a wide variety of eateries in Manchester too.

One of my favourite and i think,most competent TV chefs is nigel Slater.

I think if you could somehow merge his simply but delicious recipes with your tapas idea and think about how you can present and market that then i could see that it would appeal. Slateresque recipes with Med wines...that sounds appealing..!

System

Sorry but I don't see it working with English food. Tapas need to be food that can be eaten hot or cold and there is not a great deal of English food that fits that criteria. What there is is normally your standard buffet/party food stuff.

naff123

It's really helpful to receive such constructive criticism guys I really appreciate it and I am really happy with the response thus so far because these help me think about what objections I have to overcome and with the English and Tapas combine what you are saying C_Mababejive is right but in respect to that use an english equivilent word i.e. Dinky Dish!

But I mean there are so many regional dishes to take a punt at btw I am also looking at desert dishes from all different regions like Gypsy tart in kent or Eton Mess.

But of course like I said it is so refreshing to see such a positive response on here as this alone is giving me the drive an mommentum do address these issues and make sure that there is as little teething issues as possible

Really Really Greatful guys Thank You I will keep you updated

Triceratops

naff 123, I think it could work. On holiday in Germany we went to a place that did Bavarian tapas – which is a similar type of food to traditional British (ie meat + stodge!) – and it was really good. I’d strongly advise against the conveyor belt malarkey, though. Food kept under heatlamps is frankly manky, and you’ll have a much higher wastage rate as it can only be on display for so long. And some stuff like chips is about a million times better cooked to order.

Think about pricing strategies as well – you might find that X dishes for £Y works better than individual prices. You also need to be very clear how many dishes are needed to feed (for example) 2,4,6 people.

I definitely agree with the people saying to step away from the word tapas though.

Idiophreak

You had me until "conveyor belt". There's no reason english tapas wouldn't work..you just stick it in a smaller dish and give people more of them..The only concern is "sharing", basically...as I consider sharing dishes to be the best part of tapas...and it's tough to share a pork pie, or a fried egg...but as long as you keep a focus on "how could 3 people all have a bit of this", I think it could work. The conveyor belt is just silly, though...English food doesn't lend itself to it and people won't trust haggis that's been under a heat lamp for three hours....

ETA: Ok, I know haggis isn't English

naff123

Ok fair point on the Tapas name what about

Micro-Anglo Restraunt?

Or Mini-Brit

Haggis is something georgeous tho along with Liver

ceh209

There is a place that does this in Bristol, but they do some other things than tapas aswell (and not all the tapas is british)

http://braceandbrowns.tumblr.com/menus

I've not been so don't ask me how they do it, I presume it's cooked to order.

naff123

Thats a like a small bit of what I want to do what I want to do is a price tiered menu where you have like a dozen at least dishes under Tier 1 all the way up to Tier 5 so potentially 60 dishes at least all with affordable prices

Tier 1 : £1.50
Tier 2 : £2.50
Tier 3 : £3.00
Tier 4 : £4.00
Tier 4 : £5.00

These are not set in stone but they are what level I want to be it to make things not too over priced!

paulwf

naff123 wrote: »

Also I am looking into Fruit and Veg wholesalers is there any where you do not have to pay to become a member of like bookers charge or cash and carry but without the fees??

Bookers don't charge a fee so worth having an account. There will probably be local veg wholesalers that deliver daily, if you hang around the part of town where the restaurants are in the morning you'll see their vans buzzing around. There's also general catering wholesalers that have fruit & veg in their range, that could be worth considering as the more items you can get from a single source the better.

A huge word of warning though - prices change daily (called "market price") and so does quality. Sizing of fruit can be random, fine if you are chopping it up but a pain if you are presenting it. I get about 80% of fruit from supermarkets. It's cheaper and you can select the size and ripeness. I just can't believe how poor some wholesalers can be when all they do is fruit and veg, and I've no idea how they stay in business.