If you are a player in the restaurant industry and stay on top of restaurant trends, then you may have heard of something called pop-up restaurants. What are pop-up restaurants, and how might you be able to jump on this trend and make it work for you?
Here are some things you should know about pop-up restaurants:
Temporary restaurants
Simply put, pop-up restaurants are temporary restaurants. There is no specified length of time a pop-up restaurant may stay “in business,” as there are many different reasons behind using such a restaurant set up – as varietal as the restaurant owners themselves. While some pop-up restaurants may be seasonal – sticking around for three or four months – others may be open to the public for only a week or less.
Why a pop-up?
If you think about it, you can probably come up with a number of circumstances in which a pop-up restaurant would be most appropriate. Some venture capitalists who are new to the restaurant business set up pop-up restaurants as a way to learn the ropes and adjust their business plans before they go all the way with investing in a traditional restaurant. Some pop-up restaurants exist solely to serve a specific charity event or fundraiser, in which case they are only open long enough to support the cause as needed. Still, other pop-up restaurants are seasonal, and may travel from place to place in accordance with the weather and/or harvesting of crops.
Where are pop-up restaurants?
One of the great things about pop-up restaurants is that they can be hosted practically anywhere you can imagine. This gives restaurant owners the unique opportunity to create a dining experience unlike any other (which is a dream for most restaurateurs). For example, you may find a pop-up restaurant on someone’s rooftop, in a park, at a music festival, or even inside a larger restaurant.
Regulations.
While it is inevitable that some pop-up restaurants are “off the books,” so to speak, the best way to operate a successful pop-up restaurants is to do it legitimately. This means that the restaurant space (both the eating and cooking areas) should be sanitary in conformance with government health department regulations, safe in regards to fire escape routes and environmental hazards, and legal in terms of property rights.
If you are a restaurateur looking for a fun new way to flex your creative muscle, then a pop-up restaurant may just be the perfect outlet for letting your imagination run wild. Pop-up restaurants are not only a great platform for marketing your cuisine offerings, but they can also be great tools for fundraising. Keep all these things in mind when considering your next restaurant venture.
Darius Monachino is looking to open a pop up restuarnat. He’s currently looking into the Amburapp restaurant pos and other systems to streamline the process and hopes to open in the Winter of 2013.
