located in an area becoming known locally as ‘restaurant road’, this outlet, a ‘bistro style’ italian restaurant, under the stewardship of the current owners for the past two years serves a wide range of delicious food and wine. It is particularly well known for its fresh pasta made on the premises daily and its stonebaked pizzas – with the tossing of pizza dough in the open plan kitchen, a feature of an entertaining night out. All made from locally sourced ingredients, the menu also includes a selection of mouth watering risottos, steaks sourced from an award winning local butcher and sea fish sourced fresh from local markets on the south coast. Loosely based around the very successful concepts available from some of the major beanded restaurant chains in the uk – this business has taken their most successful dishes and added to them. As virtually the only restaurant offering an italian menu in the area, it enjoys a fairly exclusive mid market position with really only a number of ethnic restaurants as its immediate competition. Occupying a very attractive, corner site – a site with a long history of successful restaurants throughout the years, this business has the potential to be perhaps the best performing venue to date here, serving as it does a very high standard of freshly prepared, well-cooked and reasonably priced food in a very relaxed, modern and enjoyable atmosphere. Well furbished – the current owners invested heavily in both the front of house as well as the kitchen and its equipment prior to opening - with its large windows, stripped wooden floors, wooden tables, mirrors, smart lamps and kitchen which is on-view from the main body of the restaurant, the décor is cool, modern and understated, whilst still being warm, welcoming and informal – as appropriate for a low key business lunch during the day as it is for a romantic meal for two, dinner with friends or colleagues in the evening or a party to mark a wedding anniversary or special birthday. Since opening, this restaurant has built an excellent reputation for offering good service, an excellent, well priced italian dominated wine list and wholesome, generous helpings of food, utilising fresh ingredients that are cooked to order. The restaurant's well equipped kitchen enables the provision of consistently first class, quality food in supremely comfortable surroundings. Every meal is carefully prepared and served to the highest standards using only the best ingredients, finest herbs, fish, meat and vegetables. With around 60 covers including a private dining area seating approximately 15, generating a turnover set to exceed £220,000 in the current financial year and gross profits of almost £160,000, this is a good opportunity to acquire an excellent restaurant with little or no direct local competition – in a location well known in the area for dining out with large volumes of passing clientele. With everything in place, it represents an excellent opportunity for anyone looking to run their own restaurant for the first time or alternatively an existing operator looking to add to their portfolio of outlets. Kitchen equipment: the kitchen which was re-designed by the current owners of the business is very well fitted with all the equipment normally associated with a restaurant of this size and style including a 6 ring hob with extraction, a double pizza oven, a pasta maker and boiler, a grill, several fridges, freezers and a commercial dishwasher. The restaurant is equally well equipped to include three double chillers for wine and beer, ample wine racking, a glasswasher, ice maker and coffee machine. Customer service: the business has an excellent reputation for offering generous portions of wholesome and tasty food made from high quality locally sourced ingredients – all available at the right price and combined with a friendly and relaxed service. Staff are always polite and friendly which is one of the main reasons this business has built an excellent following in such a short period of time. Key strengths: this business occupies a prime location in an area well known for dining out – as such the business benefits from high levels of awareness from the large volume of trade that is attracted to the area throughout the week. With little or no real competition for its type or standard of food in the immediate area the business is ideally placed to take maximum advantage of this trade. The site itself has for many years been known locally for good value food and drink and as such any restaurant or bar in this position will inevitably benefit from the very high levels of goodwill built up over the years by the businesses that have operated here in the past. The premises are very impressive – revamped extensively when the current owners acquired the site approximately two years ago including a newly designed and equipped kitchen opened up to the diners of the restaurant, with a newly laid floor, new wiring, plumbing, toilets and storage facilities all part of the refurbishment. This business offers a very accessible italian menu with wide ranging appeal, with freshly made pasta and pizza very much to the fore. There are approximately 11 different pizzas available with almost the same number of pasta dishes, augmented by fresh fish caught locally and the finest quality steaks. All dishes are freshly cooked to order and to a very high standard at a very reasonable price – with the vast majority of ingredients sourced locally and a menu specifically ‘stripped down’ and simplified to meet the demand of the local catchment area. All the desserts are hand made with a fabulous italian trifle and homemade chocolate brownies, particular favourites. Average spend per head is in the region of £15 - £18 per head excluding drinks. As a result, this business has rapidly become a firm favourite amongst its regular clientele. Key opportunities: there is great scope and opportunity to develop and improve the performance of this operation. A new owner with new ideas, drive and enthusiasm, particularly in the areas of marketing and advertising, will have every advantage of building on an excellent platform. Following significant investment in the premises, all of the foundations are in place for a very successful enterprise. The business is ideally situated in modern, attractive premises in an excellent position and the current owner has established a strong base from which to grow – growth that can be further fuelled by the local council’s re-development plans which in turn will attract even more potential customers to the area. Marketing and advertising: situated in a very prominent position and a location with a growing reputation for dining out this business already enjoys high levels of passing trade, awareness and goodwill some of which was generated via its launch marketing activity. . What marketing the business has undertaken recently has revolved around local press advertising including the local, lifestyle glossy magazines and leaflet drops. It is also a participant in a local area customer loyalty scheme. The business also has a very well designed, informative and easy to navigate website which performs very well in all of the major search engines for all appropriate search terms, however, the business benefits most from the most effective marketing of all, strong word of mouth recommendation.
