How to Open a Restaurant in Missouri
Looking to go into the restaurant business in Missouri?
Katherine BoyarskyAuthor
Opening a Restaurant Checklist
So many things go into opening a restaurant. Use this free PDF checklist to set your new restaurant up for success.
Get free downloadAre you preparing to open a restaurant in Missouri? We have created a step-by-step guide to follow when opening a restaurant in Missouri. Opening a restaurant is a substantial undertaking that can become overwhelming without a solid business plan and secure funding. Once you have a plan and a budget available, you can begin laying the foundation of your business.
Compliance with local laws is a critical aspect of any food business. Whether you're opening a restaurant, bar, cafe, or other establishment, licenses and permits must be current and correct.
Licensing extends to your restaurant's liquor sales, certificate of occupancy, and food facility health permit, all of which have their own and sometimes overlapping requirements.
Understanding Missouri's regulatory structure and how it applies to your restaurant is vital. You should seek out all information available to know what laws (state, county, or city-specific) will affect opening a restaurant in the area.
Our checklist covers all the steps that Missouri restaurant owners should take. We provide you with clear guidance for your dream restaurant, whether it's a coffee shop in Kansas, a speakeasy in Springfield, or a smokehouse in St. Louis.
Opening a Restaurant Checklist
So many things go into opening a restaurant. Use this free PDF checklist to set your new restaurant up for success.
How to start a restaurant in Missouri
1. Concept - what will your restaurant be?
Now is the time to consider all of your ideas. Using the following prompts, you can decide what kind of restaurant you want to run. Let the prompts help you funnel the big, abstract ideas down into a realistic, manageable business that will attract customers and hold value.
What food will feature on your menu? Are there specific cuisines you want to focus on?
Are there similar dining options in the area? How will your food establishment stand out from the competition?
Will you provide full-service dining with ample seating or focus on a takeout place with limited seating options?
Who is your ideal customer? If there are multiple types, why will they choose your restaurant?
Are you planning to start a single location? Do you envision expanding into multiple branches or a chain?
What type of service will your food business provide — casual or formal? How many employees will you need to deliver your standard of service?
Picture your restaurant's physical design and layout — what are the colors, furniture, decor themes, lighting, and signage?
These details are all important to the final outcome of your new food business. It can be helpful to think about the values behind your vision, as these will guide everything your business does day-to-day. Your chosen values will act as the wheels for your restaurant mission. A clear understanding of your values and mission will guide subsequent decisions around hiring, training, and brand building.
Once you've considered all the options and selected the ideas you believe in most, it's time to consider a business name and logo. Designing an aesthetic to match your food, mission, and values can be a fun part of the process—let your creativity tie all these elements together.
2. Business Plan - how will your ideas become reality?
Your Missouri restaurant needs more than great ideas to become a thriving venture, and developing a business plan will help you map a path to success.
You can choose from a variety of business entities, including sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, S corporation, or C corporation. We have developed a guide on restaurant business entities to help you understand each option's differences, benefits, and drawbacks.
Businesses take a variety of approaches to ownership structure and profit—there is no 'one size fits all.' You might be the sole owner with a large staff rotation. You might bring in an external investor to help fund your operations. Some businesses give their employees a stake in the business, known as a 'co-op'.
There's a lot of variation within these models. However, most establishments have a clear balance between who owns, partners, and how profit-sharing is carried out. You should enlist the services of a qualified lawyer and accountancy firm to generate clear, compliant contracts and agreements.
Your business plan should now include your business model, the designated entity, and all associated paperwork needed to put these structures in place. Other elements which it should cover are:
Financial Analysis: This includes your investment plan and financial projections, such as the break-even point, expected cash flow, and expected costs.
Executive Summary: Restaurant business name, brief overview of the concept
Overview: Structure of ownership and profit, business model, service model
Industry Analysis: Competitive analysis, your target market/s, location analysis
Financial Analysis: Projections for break-even, cash flow, costs, plans for investment and future funding
Operations Plan: Hiring quotas, SOPs for customer service and restaurant procedures, POS and payroll system, supplier partnerships (all the recurring consumables you’ll need to buy)
Marketing Plan: Your goals, strategy, and practical tactics for attracting and retaining customers
Restaurant Business Plan Template
No matter where you’re at in your restaurant ownership journey, a business plan will be your north star. Organize your vision and ensure that nothing is overlooked with this free template.
3. Restaurant Financing - how will you fund your vision?
The starting cost for a new restaurant can range from a minimum of $95,000 up to $2,000,000, a sum not many of us have readily available.
Missouri restaurateurs have various financing options to choose from. These include crowdfunding, brick-and-mortar bank loans, SBA loans, alternative loans, credit lines, personal (from family or friends) loans, or merchant cash advances. Each comes with different regulatory conditions, application processes, loan limits, repayment schemes, and collateral requirements.
We have written a helpful resource to help you understand more about finance in food businesses.
Restaurant Opening Calculator
This calculator lays out some of the fundamental financial costs of opening a restaurant, so you can start planning and bring your dream restaurant to life.
4. Location - where will your Missouri restaurant be?
Selecting the right location for your restaurant is essential to its success. Research the area's demographics, market trends, and competition, as well as the space's size, visibility, and history.
Whether you buy, lease, or build, each option has pros and cons and affects your initial financial needs. If you decide to build or renovate a space, you will need to ensure that all work complies with Missouri regulations in that area.
Some more parameters to consider when choosing a place and space for your business:
Surrounding real estate market trends
Your ideal customer/s and their proximity to the location
The surrounding demographics (age, occupation, income, stage of life)
The previous owners and their business successes/challenges
Area zoning permits and the size of the space
Revisit your plan to ensure the space aligns with your business concept and brand. For a coffee shop serving light bites and takeaway beverages, a smaller storefront is better suited than a warehouse-sized building. Likewise, a family-focused pizza place will be easier for customers to access on the ground floor than several stories up.
5. Licenses and Permits - how do you apply in Missouri?
Like all other states, Missouri has individual rules for restaurant licensing and permits. State, city, and county regulations will apply to your chosen location and establishment, and as a new food business owner, it's crucial to be aware of the relevant requirements.
Some of the current Missouri licenses and permits include:
Employer Identification Number (EIN): A standard process of linking your business to the IRS. The application and all instructions and restrictions can be found on the IRS website.
Application for Food Establishment: This must be completed 30 days or more before you open for business, ensuring your restaurant complies with state safety regulations. You can find the application link on the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) website.
Liquor License: This license will vary depending on how you choose to serve, store, and sell alcohol in your food establishment. You can learn more about the types of licenses Missouri offers by visiting the state government's Alcohol & Tobacco Control website.
Food Handler's Card: Many online training providers offer this permit to recognize training in food handling and regulation. Safe food handling is essential to protecting public health, and some counties will have a chosen provider for food handlers to seek certification with. You can learn more about it by visiting the State Food Safety website.
Sales Tax License: This mandatory license is issued by Missouri's Department of Revenue. All food businesses must register before selling goods and services, filing and paying taxes, and hiring employees. You can register your business online using the Business Tax Registration website.
LPHA Inspection/Permit: An element of Missouri's food regulation that is specific to each local health department. All food establishments must apply and undergo an inspection before opening via the Local Public Health Agency (LPHA) in their area. Depending on your location, your jurisdiction may have different requirements or permits for your business to operate. You can find and contact your local LPHA using the DHSS's Directory website.
Learn more about restaurant licensing, food permits, and associated costs at Missouri State's Retail Food Safety.
6. Food and Beverage - what's on your menu?
Develop your menu in collaboration with your senior partners, a chef-owner, a general manager, or on your own. Once it's ready for presentation, be open to workshopping the menu after your food and beverage team has been hired and trained.
Your menu should feature meals and drinks that set your business apart in a competitive restaurant market and price items strategically to ensure profitability. Explore menu design and current trends to optimize the appeal of your offerings.
Learn more about menu design and menu engineering to help your menu work for you.
7. Hiring and Training - how to find the right staff?
Missouri has a strict set of state labor laws, as will your county and city, which must be followed when hiring staff for your restaurant.
Your employees are the foundation of your business. Whether it’s front-of-house staff making guests feel welcome, culinary staff preparing the meals that keep customers returning, or support staff ensuring smooth operations, there are numerous roles to fill in a restaurant staff.
To find new hires, consider tapping into your network, listing available roles on industry job boards, leveraging social media platforms, or recruiting recent culinary school graduates in your region.
To attract and retain top talent, people have to see value in their daily contributions to your business. To help distinguish your work environment from others, you can offer competitive pay and employee benefits like health insurance.
We have compiled a range of resources to help restaurant employers attract, hire, and retain quality staff:
We also provide visual resources to help you understand the hiring process better. Follow the link to access our video course on hiring and retaining restaurant employees.
8. Tools and Tech - what are the best options?
Now you're getting close to swinging the doors open you will need to review the physical and digital technology in your restaurant. There are many different brands, products, designs, and systems available on the market to help streamline your operations, so it's worth doing your research into restaurant technology.
Finding the right combination will take time. However, a new restaurant is well-served by investing in these tools:
Restaurant accounting software
A restaurant payroll solution
Contactless payment options
Cloud-based restaurant point-of-sale system with handhelds
Online ordering system for restaurants
A restaurant loyalty or rewards solution
Restaurant technology ensures your operations run smoothly while helping you track the health and performance of your business. With these insights, you can make changes that help you grow your revenue and become a successful restaurant.
The right technology will streamline your daily operations and give you helpful insights into business performance over time. This data will then support your decision-making to achieve growth and revenue gains, both essential parts of a successful restaurant.
9. Marketing - what's your plan?
Like any other location, a Missouri-based restaurant has a better chance of success with a carefully developed marketing plan. While word of mouth can be effective once you're established, attracting those initial customers and turning them into loyal patrons requires leveraging marketing channels such as social media and email campaigns.
We have a suite of resources ready for you to make your own — explore our marketing plan template, our social media guide for restaurants, or our guide to restaurant email marketing.
9. Launch - hard or soft?
Once everything is ready for action, it's time to take the next steps with a soft launch - think of it as a test run. Make an effort to include your friends and family (your staff can invite theirs as well) to create a realistic service that will help you figure out what works and what needs tweaking.
After the trial run, you can start preparing (and promoting) your hard launch. Share the event across your social media channels, distribute flyers in your local area, and ask your network to spread the word to ensure a great turnout for the official opening.
FAQs
How much is a food license in Missouri?
Your permit cost will vary depending on the level and mode of training, as well as the county you are training in. A food handler's permit can cost $10 and be completed online or in person. A food manager permit is more expensive and with more extensive training required, costing up to $60.
How much does it cost to open a restaurant in Missouri?
Depending on your concept, opening a restaurant in Missouri will vary considerably. The typical range is between $95,000 and $2 million, which is no small sum for most new business owners. With this in mind, it becomes vital for small businesses to manage their cash flow - applying for any financial opportunities available is recommended.
What permits do I need to sell food in Missouri?
As well as the basics of registering your entity (e.g., sole proprietorship) and registering for sale business tax, other permit requirements include:
Food Handler's License
Application for Food Establishment
Liquor License (if you wish to sell alcohol)
LPHA Inspection/Permit
Restaurant POS Comparison Tool
A free, customizable Restaurant POS Comparison Tool to research and compare point of sale systems in one Excel spreadsheet.
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DISCLAIMER: This information is provided for general informational purposes only, and publication does not constitute an endorsement. Toast does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of any information, text, graphics, links, or other items contained within this content. Toast does not guarantee you will achieve any specific results if you follow any advice herein. It may be advisable for you to consult with a professional such as a lawyer, accountant, or business advisor for advice specific to your situation.
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