Restaurant soft opening specifics

For new restaurants and those that may have closed temporarily, hosting a restaurant soft opening is a helpful way to showcase your menu items and services and promote your establishment. Since restaurant soft openings are privately held, food and beverages are often served free of charge as a ‘thank you’ to each guest for attending and providing feedback.

During a restaurant soft opening, a host may conduct their own evaluations on aspects, such as seating, kitchen equipment and the overall flow and pace of the restaurant. They may also monitor their serving staff to ensure they display good communication and problem-solving skills when working with customers.

Restaurant soft openings also provide staff members a chance to become familiar with the menu and the overall layout of the restaurant prior to its grand opening. For restaurants that are reopening after a hiatus, former employees can utilize soft openings to re-familiarize themselves with the establishment and learn about any new menu items or other services the owners plan to offer.

Benefits of hosting a restaurant soft opening

Soft restaurant openings offer a wide range of benefits for business owners and staff alike. While these events aren’t a hard requirement for restauranteurs, they help them come up with a blueprint for how they hope to run their establishments in the future.

A restaurant soft opening can also generate interest among the general public. If a restaurant owner decides to make an announcement regarding their soft opening via social media or other avenues, it can pique the interest of future customers, even if they’re not invited to the initial launch.

If the soft opening proves to be successful, guests can post reviews and photos of their experience online, which can lead their friends and followers to book tables and make reservations for the grand opening.

Tips for a successful restaurant soft opening

Holding a successful restaurant soft opening is an essential step in securing the future of your business. Here are some tips to help ensure your soft launch goes smoothly:

• Send out invites with mandatory RSVP:Since soft openings are limited to a select number of guests, making sure everyone RSVPs can help you determine the amount of supplies and food you need. It also allows you to invite additional guests if anyone on your original guest list is unable to attend.
• Conduct mandatory preparation meetings prior to the main event: When planning a soft opening for your business, it’s important that all team members, including managers, servers, bartenders, hosts and hostesses and kitchen workers, are on the same page. Topics to discuss at these meetings may include menu items, restaurant layouts and time expectations, such as the length of time spent between taking orders and serving meals, seating times and so on.
• Hold a tasting party for staff members:Your restaurant staff, particularly servers and managers, should be able to provide specific details about each dish on the menu when guests have questions. Allowing your staff to sample the menu prior to the event gives them a chance to actually taste the food and accurately describe ingredients and flavors to hungry guests. It also allows them to provide you with honest feedback on each item prior to the big day.
• Schedule a practice run:Scheduling a practice run a few days before the event can help you gauge the pace of the restaurant and allow you to make any last-minute tweaks. In place of invited guests, ask other staff members to sit in at tables while servers practice taking orders. This is also a good time to monitor the pace of the chefs and supporting staff when preparing appetizers and meals.
• Schedule staff to arrive early: On the day of your restaurant soft opening, it’s important to schedule your staff a few hours early to ensure everyone is in place and ready to serve as soon as the guests arrive. This will also allow you to give everyone a pep-talk and go over the timeline and plan for the day or evening.
• Hand out surveys:When your guests are finished with their meals, direct your servers to hand out printed surveys to each table. This can be in lieu of dining checks if your soft launch is free of charge, or they can provide the surveys along with checks if it’s a paid event. Make sure to include a pencil or pen, and ask each guest to honestly answer each survey question regarding their overall satisfaction with the food and service.
• Give out gift bags as a final touch:Handing out gift bags at the end of your restaurant soft opening is a great way to show your guests how much you appreciate their patronage and feedback. Your gift bag items can include water bottles or coffee mugs with your restaurant logo and a prepackaged dessert or snack items from your restaurant. You’ll also want to include a business card and possibly even a takeout menu to promote your restaurant.

Restaurant soft opening FAQs

Can restaurant soft openings take place over a week vs. a single day or night?

While many business owners choose to hold soft openings over a single day or night, some establishments hold week-long events where different aspects of the restaurant are highlighted. For example, a restauranteur may split the days of the week evenly to feature breakfast, lunch and dinner items on separate days, or they may use the first portion of the week to serve main courses and the last portion of the week to serve cocktails and appetizers.

Is a soft opening the same thing as a pop-up restaurant?

Pop-up restaurants and restaurant soft openings are not the same. Pop-up restaurants are temporary establishments ranging from a single day to a few months, while soft openings are designed to introduce new or reopened restaurants to a small group of people before opening to the public. A soft-opened restaurant remains in the same location after it opens permanently, and pop-ups aren’t committed to the same space for extended periods of time.

What is the standard time frame between a soft opening and grand opening of a restaurant?

If a soft opening is successful, restaurant owners may feel the pinch to schedule the grand opening as soon as possible, but there’s no set standard time frame. However, it’s always a good idea for restauranteurs to schedule soft openings with a general grand opening date in mind, so they can secure staff and promote the big day through advertising.