Full-service restaurant business guide
Illustrative case · 60-seat independent restaurant in an existing leased restaurant space; no alcohol sales · United States · illustrative case, no city selected
Explore this business · Overview
A leased, 60-seat restaurant serving food without alcohol. The menu, kitchen layout and paid service team must fit the same service capacity.
This full-service restaurant case requires $487,000 of illustrative opening funding, including $160,000 in cash. Modeled first-year sales are $826,956; the monthly ramp and paid roster determine how much of that becomes cash. Use the five linked guides to examine the assumptions before adapting them to a real project.
Observed SBA industry evidence
Lending activity in the broader category
| Recorded SBA category | NAICS codes | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-Service Restaurants | 722110, 722511 | 2,800 | 3,058 | 2,971 |
The records include full-service restaurants beyond this independent leased, alcohol-free format. These are loan records, not unique businesses, local customer demand or a count of newly opened businesses. Undisbursed commitments and canceled records are excluded.
Explore this industry’s amounts, terms, lenders and outcomes. Topic counts use the recent SBA-description grouping; the wider explorer uses its own explicitly listed editorial code sets.
Source: SBA 7(a) and 504 FOIA files, snapshot 30 June 2026. Recomputed from original records on 1 October 2026. FY2025 is the most recent complete fiscal year in these files. Definitions and exclusions.
What this business actually does
A full-service restaurant sells an organized dining experience: a seat, an order, a kitchen production slot and table service. Its constraint is not simply how many people live nearby. The dining room, kitchen and service roster must deliver the same volume during the hours customers actually want to eat. Empty weekday seats cannot automatically absorb a queue on Saturday evening.
This case assumes an independent neighborhood restaurant opening in a previously used restaurant space. An existing hood or grease system is useful only if it is lawful, serviceable and adequate for the proposed menu. The model excludes alcohol, delivery-platform sales and catering. Adding those channels would change permits, equipment, labor, packaging and the contribution calculation.
The most important pre-lease work is a menu-to-equipment check, a kitchen and utility inspection, and an operating schedule that can support the sales target. A rent figure that looks affordable can become expensive when the operator inherits an undersized electrical supply, inaccessible toilets or a kitchen layout that requires excessive staffing.
Illustrative operating case. 60-seat independent restaurant in an existing leased restaurant space; no alcohol sales. Approximately 2,400 square feet, existing permitted kitchen infrastructure subject to inspection; no property purchase. All figures are before income taxes. Costs and demand are planning assumptions unless explicitly identified as observed evidence.
Who this operating format fits
This format fits an operator who can manage both kitchen production and front-of-house execution. It is a poor fit for a budget that covers construction but leaves the opening roster unfunded. Before choosing a space, build a shift schedule for a quiet lunch and a busy dinner; then test whether the same menu works with both staffing levels. Obtain evidence for guest demand by meal period rather than dividing an annual revenue goal evenly across days.
The inputs that drive the case
| Input | Case assumption |
|---|---|
| Dining seats | 60 |
| Potential turns per seat / day | 2.0 |
| Trading days / month | 26 |
| Mature realized seat-turn utilization | 75.0% |
| Average receipt per guest, before sales tax and tips | $38 |
| Food ingredient cost / sales | 32.0% |
| Other consumables per guest | $1.40 |
| Payment processing / sales | 3.0% |
How to use the evidence
| Evidence | What it establishes | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| SBA administrative records | Lending activity in the mapped broad industry. | Startup cost, demand for your site or your chance of approval. |
| BLS and operational sources | A dated occupation benchmark and specific equipment/regulatory context. | Local staffing offers, an installed quote or site approval. |
| Executed operating model | How the stated assumptions connect to capacity, profit, debt and cash. | Verified trading performance or a lender-approved forecast. |
The SBA panel above uses the broader recorded industry. The financing guide connects the illustrative request to eligible uses and evidence a lender may need. Loan records describe financed businesses; they are not a census of all businesses or a prediction of demand.
Evidence to gather for your own project
| Decision | Evidence to gather |
|---|---|
| Premises and approvals | Lease draft, permitted use, floor plan, utility/hood inspections and landlord consents. |
| Menu and shift plan | Recipe costs, price basket, meal-period covers and weekly labor roster. |
| Installed equipment scope | Itemized kitchen, refrigeration, fit-out and commissioning quotes. |
| Opening cash plan | Hiring calendar, training, supplier terms, opening reserve and lower-demand run. |
| Owner and funding evidence | Relevant operating background, personal contribution evidence and lender-requested records. |
The free business-plan library currently contains the two original pilot examples. A full narrative plan for this format is a later release; these guides do not claim to be a completed application.
Test the menu against the service window
Measure covers by daypart, menu mix, kitchen throughput and table duration. A 60-seat room does not establish repeatable turns or enough evening demand.
Use actual observations to challenge the case before signing the lease or committing the fleet. The opening funding requirement is $487,000 under these assumptions. The material-cost review shows which major purchases remain unresolved.
Explore this business
This edition contains five planning guides. A full business-plan example for this format is not yet published.
Sources and scope
- Operating-case methodology · Checked 2026-10-01 · Authored illustrative assumptions and a 60-month model. Budget allowances, prices charged, demand, payroll, rent and financing are not observed local averages.
- SBA — 7(a) & 504 FOIA · Checked 2026-10-01 · June 30, 2026 snapshot. FY2023–FY2025 approval cohorts with PIF, CHGOFF or EXEMPT status. Broad industry activity, not startup costs, search demand or approval probability.