The boring checklist for opening a food business

You have signed a lease and you want to start designing the menu. Put the menu down. If you look at any realistic open a restaurant checklist, the first items have nothing to do with food. The reality of opening a food business is that you need to pass inspections and open a bank account long before you pick out paint colors.

The paperwork comes first

Every list of new restaurant first steps should start with the local health department. Go to your city or county office and find out exactly what they require for a food service license. You will likely need a fire marshal inspection, a certificate of occupancy, and a business license. A small food business setup stalls immediately if you miss a required permit.

Next, establish your business entity and open a business bank account. Do not pay for anything out of your personal account. You need the business account to set up utility accounts, pay wholesale vendors, and connect a payment processor. Getting this account requires your official business registration documents. Gather those first.

Tax and insurance

You need an employer identification number to hire staff. You also need workers compensation insurance and general liability insurance. Landlords require proof of insurance before they hand over the keys. Call an insurance broker who works with restaurants. They will tell you exactly what coverage you need for your specific equipment and square footage.

Set up your state and local tax accounts early. You are responsible for collecting sales tax and paying it to the government.

The operational basics

Decide your hours of operation. Be realistic about staffing and your own energy. Once you set these hours, stick to them. Customers will not return if they show up during posted hours and find the doors locked.

Get a dedicated business phone number. You do not want customers calling your personal cell phone at midnight to ask about parking. You can buy a cheap virtual number that forwards to your phone.

Buy your domain name. Do this before you finalize your business name. If the website address is already taken by another business in your state, you might want to adjust your name to avoid confusion. Keep the web address short and easy to spell.

Choosing your systems

To start a cafe or restaurant, you need a way to take money. You also need a way to build a website, schedule your staff, track your inventory, and take online orders.

Many owners end up paying for four or five different software subscriptions to handle these tasks. They buy a point of sale system, pay a separate monthly fee for a website builder, buy a scheduling app for the team, and pay for a reservation platform. Those monthly fees add up quickly.

Where lokal fits in

We built lokal to put all those tools into one app. It includes a POS that works on a tablet, phone, or desktop browser, as well as an Android POS app. It gives you a website on a lokal.business subdomain, or you can connect a domain you already own. The site includes online ordering, QR code table ordering, reservations, loyalty, inventory, and team scheduling. You also get reports covering sales by channel, hour, and day, calculated in your own timezone.

It features a shared inbox for customer messages and an AI phone receptionist that answers calls, answers questions about your business, and takes orders or bookings.

lokal is a single plan. It costs $1 for the first month, then $99.99 per month, plus tax. There is no contract, no setup fee, and you can cancel any time. AI receptionist minutes are metered on top at about ten cents per minute.

Card payments go through your own Square account at Square's normal rates. lokal takes zero commission on your orders. We do not run deliveries or integrate with delivery apps. If you use services like DoorDash or Uber Eats, you can put those delivery links onto your lokal website for customers to find.