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In this Article:

Plan for Growth

As a business owner, it’s easy to get bogged down by your day-to-day operations. In an effort to keep things running smoothly, sometimes aspirational goals get left on the back burner. However, it’s important to keep an eye out for where your business is headed — and what you want it to become. As hard as it sounds, the best way to get started is to carve out some time to sit down and think about your business goals.

There are many ways to approach this exercise — one way is to start with the classic 6 questions: what, why, when, where, who, and how, in whichever order works best for you.

For example:

What do I want to accomplish and why — grow my sales, try something new, meet guest expectations and market trends, and reach new customers by branching out?
When should I start — during a slow season, in preparation for a busy season, ASAP?
Where can I do this — do I need more space, do I need a new location, are there spaces or events nearby?
Who do I need — do I need to hire more employees, do I need to bring in partners?
How can I accomplish this — do I need contractors or consultants/advisors, how can I get financing to support my growth?

Even if you have your growth plans laid out, securing the necessary funding adds yet another bump to the road.

That’s where a Toast Capital Loan can help. Toast Capital provides eligible Toast customers with access to fast*, flexible funding for any business need, such as fueling your restaurant’s growth through the ideas in this article. To learn more about Toast Capital, check out our guide, Get Started with Toast Capital.

*Get funds in your account as soon as the next business day after application, subject to processing time and completion of your loan agreement. To reduce processing time, make sure that all of your restaurant’s ownership information on file with Toast is up to date before applying and respond quickly to any requests for information.

Reach Your Growth Goals

Expand or Renovate Your Space

Renovating your restaurant or expanding your space is a great way to wow your regulars and attract new customers, but it’s a daunting task with a laundry list of costs. Renovations aren’t something to brush off for too long though — our On The Line article notes a 5-year horizon for when a restaurant typically goes for a facelift.

An opportunity for expansion can arise from things like shifts in dining trends or observations of your guest’s experience and restaurant flow.

For example:

Expanding to accommodate an outdoor dining space or patio
Standing up a separate bar
Taking over a connected neighboring space or an unused floor in your building
Opening up your kitchen to give your guests a show
Creating an exclusive private dining area

If a renovation or expansion is already built into your budget, it’s important to account for unexpectedly high costs and unavoidable project delays. In cases where construction forces a temporary closure, these projects come alongside the double-whammy of lost sales. Therefore, it’s important to build in some financial wiggle room in the budget you’ve set aside.

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Open a New Location

Opening a new location is an aspirational “reach” goal for many restaurateurs, and there is no shortage of planning and budgeting required for such a major decision. Pinpointing the right time to open a new location is a key challenge, but it often boils down to strong business performance to sustain a new location, as well as trends in your market:

Consistently long lines and filled dining spaces
Multiple customers coming from pockets outside your area
A new restaurant concept you want to pursue, but doesn’t fit your current location
Space becomes available in popular areas or in new developments

Our guide on How to Expand Your Restaurant Business is a great place to start your planning — offering a restaurant expansion checklist to help guide your process.

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New Revenue Streams

Food and beverage businesses take many forms — maybe it’s time to explore a new way to reach your customers. We’ll look from the lens of a restaurant in the examples below, but other businesses often move upstream to restaurants as well (e.g. a popular food truck launching a brick-and-mortar dining space sparked by excess customer demand).

Open a food truck or pop-up (e.g. at a public market) to expand your footprint
Start a catering business and market through word of mouth
Begin serving alcohol to add a high-margin way to boost your average ticket
Offer a grab-and-go or frozen selection of your most popular items

Learn more about how to update or add to your restaurant business model here.

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Marketing Strategy

Even if you’re using email marketing, loyalty programs, and gift cards, keeping a restaurant’s marketing fresh can be difficult. However, marketing upkeep is a great way to draw new customers and keep your loyal guests coming back.

Marketing tactics aren’t one-size-fits-all, so we’ve gathered dozens of ideas in the articles below to help you select what works best for your business.

Below you’ll find some marketing tactics to consider, with some requiring more money than time to execute:

Advertising: online (e.g. a paid sponsorship on Yelp) and physical (e.g. signage, flyers)
Publications: get spotlights in local newspapers and magazines
Local events: participate in local festivals and fairs, sporting events (great for college towns), and “restaurant weeks”
Online presence: create/revamp your website, update info on sites like Google and Yelp, and keep up-to-date with responses to reviews
Promotions: launch promos online or in-person with discounts, buy-one-get-one deals, or discounts for guests who bring friends
Partnerships: reach out to local food bloggers or partner with compatible local businesses to run a cross-promotion or collaborative menu

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Apply for a Toast Capital Loan

Ready to apply for a Toast Capital Loan? Follow our guide, Get Started with Toast Capital, for the next steps, or visit your Toast Capital Dashboard to check for pre-qualified offers.

If you have any additional questions about Toast Capital Loans, please reach out to a Toast Capital Specialist.

Email a specialist at capital@toasttab.com
Call a specialist at 617-209-3198 (available Monday - Friday from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. ET)

Additional Resources

Toast Capital: Funding Growth

Plan for Growth