HELPING FOOD BUSINESSES SUCCEED
Ask the Food Experts:
"How to Open a Restaurant"
"How to Open a Restaurant"
London-based food consultancy Egg Soldiers breaks down its award-winning approach on how to plan, develop and launch a new restaurant for the UK market in 2026
Opening a New Restaurant
The Top Line
The Top Line
The UK hospitality market can be a tough gig to navigate.
As a start, economic uncertainty remains an ever-constant cloud, and the rise of new consumer behaviours - driven by the disruptive Gen Z - is putting even greater emphasis on the need for clearly defined food strategies to underpin any new restaurant launch.
Beyond this, to open a new restaurant, it boils down to comprehensive planning, with competitor and trend analysis, concept development, interior design and operational strategy just the tip of the iceberg.
For both vision-driven entrepreneurs and existing founders looking to tap into new markets; every detail matters, and missing a step can be the difference between a restaurant that lasts and one that quietly disappears.
Winning restaurants are never accidental - they’re the result of a clear roadmap, tailored to the brand’s vision and audience, with every step as important as the last (no matter how small).
So, that roadmap in mind, Egg Soldiers' expert team of restaurant strategists and developers has picked out three must-haves when considering opening a new restaurant.
As a start, economic uncertainty remains an ever-constant cloud, and the rise of new consumer behaviours - driven by the disruptive Gen Z - is putting even greater emphasis on the need for clearly defined food strategies to underpin any new restaurant launch.
Beyond this, to open a new restaurant, it boils down to comprehensive planning, with competitor and trend analysis, concept development, interior design and operational strategy just the tip of the iceberg.
For both vision-driven entrepreneurs and existing founders looking to tap into new markets; every detail matters, and missing a step can be the difference between a restaurant that lasts and one that quietly disappears.
Winning restaurants are never accidental - they’re the result of a clear roadmap, tailored to the brand’s vision and audience, with every step as important as the last (no matter how small).
So, that roadmap in mind, Egg Soldiers' expert team of restaurant strategists and developers has picked out three must-haves when considering opening a new restaurant.
1
Define Your Values, Then Design Around Them
The journey to launching a new restaurant starts with a clear sense of purpose.
Before the menu or branding, you need to know what your restaurant stands for and what it won’t compromise on - it's brand and food identity.
Whether it’s ingredient integrity, inclusive dining, or warm, unpretentious service; these values shape every decision that follows.
A clear food identity stops your offer from bloating, keeps messaging consistent, and makes future moves easier.
It’s not about perfection; it’s about intention. When your team understands what matters most, training becomes sharper, marketing becomes clearer, and the guest experience becomes more meaningful.
Before the menu or branding, you need to know what your restaurant stands for and what it won’t compromise on - it's brand and food identity.
Whether it’s ingredient integrity, inclusive dining, or warm, unpretentious service; these values shape every decision that follows.
A clear food identity stops your offer from bloating, keeps messaging consistent, and makes future moves easier.
It’s not about perfection; it’s about intention. When your team understands what matters most, training becomes sharper, marketing becomes clearer, and the guest experience becomes more meaningful.
2
Design the Journey - Not Just the Space
A critical step to creating a new restaurant is the designing of how diners move through the space - not just how the space looks.
The most resilient restaurant concepts are built around a clear, well-considered customer journey.
For example, take the hybrid service model, which continues to gain traction within pub and casual dining sectors.
This model combines host-led seating with QR code ordering, and full-service dining with counter service, allowing diners to choose the level of staff contact they have during their restaurant experience - a key consideration particularly for Gen Z.
This model works because it flexes easily. Whether guests are dining in, ordering takeaway, or grabbing food for delivery, it creates a consistent and reliable experience.
It also supports operational efficiency — fewer service bottlenecks, simpler staffing, and faster table turns.
The most resilient restaurant concepts are built around a clear, well-considered customer journey.
For example, take the hybrid service model, which continues to gain traction within pub and casual dining sectors.
This model combines host-led seating with QR code ordering, and full-service dining with counter service, allowing diners to choose the level of staff contact they have during their restaurant experience - a key consideration particularly for Gen Z.
This model works because it flexes easily. Whether guests are dining in, ordering takeaway, or grabbing food for delivery, it creates a consistent and reliable experience.
It also supports operational efficiency — fewer service bottlenecks, simpler staffing, and faster table turns.
3
Build a Menu That Works as Hard as You Do
A well-structured menu doesn’t just define your food offer; it shapes your kitchen operations, staffing needs, training approach, and guest experience from the outset.
The most effective menus are designed to perform under pressure. That means they’re fast to serve, easy to prep, and clear for customers to navigate.
Modular formats — such as “choose a main, pick a flavour, add your sides” — is one menu strategy that keeps things both scalable and customisable.
Not only streamlining operations and giving focus to staff training, modular also means reduced waste for the kitchen through shared ingredients and repeated builds.
This structure also supports flexibility. Once your base offer is running smoothly, you have room to layer in specials, seasonal items or local variations without compromising consistency.
The most effective menus are designed to perform under pressure. That means they’re fast to serve, easy to prep, and clear for customers to navigate.
Modular formats — such as “choose a main, pick a flavour, add your sides” — is one menu strategy that keeps things both scalable and customisable.
Not only streamlining operations and giving focus to staff training, modular also means reduced waste for the kitchen through shared ingredients and repeated builds.
This structure also supports flexibility. Once your base offer is running smoothly, you have room to layer in specials, seasonal items or local variations without compromising consistency.
Opening a New Restaurant
Supporting the Journey
Supporting the Journey
With decades of creating and developing new restaurant concepts for industry-leading brands under our belts, Egg Soldiers knows a thing or two about how to launch a successful restaurant!
Every journey is different, and we're working every single day to bring hospitality visions to life across sectors - from pubs to hotels, casual dining to QSR.
So how does the Egg Soldiers approach work? What are our fundamentals when building our bespoke concept creation process?
Well, to give you a broad understanding of how we could approach bringing a business vision to life, we've distilled our process into a FREE concept showcase featuring a hypothetical client and their potential brief!
Every journey is different, and we're working every single day to bring hospitality visions to life across sectors - from pubs to hotels, casual dining to QSR.
So how does the Egg Soldiers approach work? What are our fundamentals when building our bespoke concept creation process?
Well, to give you a broad understanding of how we could approach bringing a business vision to life, we've distilled our process into a FREE concept showcase featuring a hypothetical client and their potential brief!
FREE DOWNLOAD
EGG SOLDIERS SHOWCASE: NEW RESTAURANT CREATION
Discover our new restaurant creation process!
What our clients say:
Turn your F&B vision into a successful reality.
Hospitality Concept Creation
F&B concepts we've helped bring to life!