What does the Open My Restaurant guide cover?

The guide covers site and lease assessment with kitchen-specific requirements, commercial kitchen design and equipment specification, health and food safety approval pathways, front-of-house design and service flow, services and infrastructure, fitout and contractor management, staffing and systems setup, and launch and revenue strategy.

Is this guide suitable for chefs opening their first restaurant?

Yes — it is specifically designed for people who understand food and service but need the business, design and approval framework that surrounds a restaurant opening. Most of the costly mistakes in restaurant openings happen in planning, not in the kitchen.

How much does the Open My Restaurant guide cost?

The Open My Restaurant guide is $97 USD, available as an instant digital download. A Launch Bonus Pack can be added at checkout for $147 total.

Elegant restaurant interior with set tables

Open My Business — Restaurant Planning Guide

OPEN MYRESTAURANT.

Kitchen design, health approvals, front-of-house flow and full launch readiness — everything a first-time restaurant operator needs.

Get this guide — $97 See what's inside ↓

Guide price

$97

USD — instant download

What you get

Site & lease assessment
Kitchen design & specification
Health & DA approvals
FOH design & flow
Staffing & launch plan

What this guide covers

The most complex venue type — approached in the right order.

Restaurants combine the full complexity of commercial kitchen design, health department approvals, liquor licensing (where applicable), front-of-house design and service systems into a single project. The sequencing of decisions matters enormously — the wrong order creates rework that's expensive and time-consuming.

This guide maps every decision in the right order — from site assessment through kitchen specification, approvals, fitout and launch — so nothing falls through the gaps.

What's covered

Site & Lease AssessmentKitchen-specific services requirements, extraction, grease trap, gas capacity and zoning suitability.
Kitchen Design & SpecificationCommercial kitchen layout principles, equipment specification, workflow design and compliance requirements.
Health & Food Safety ApprovalsCouncil and health department pathways, inspection preparation and what the process actually involves.
Front-of-House DesignSeating configuration, service flow, acoustics, lighting and the design principles that affect table turns.
Services & InfrastructureThree-phase power, gas, extraction, grease trap, drainage and refrigeration requirements.
Fitout & Contractor ManagementManaging a complex multi-trade fitout with high services requirements and strict compliance standards.
Staffing & SystemsKitchen brigade structure, front-of-house team, POS, reservations and pre-opening training.
Launch & Revenue StrategySoft opening planning, review strategy, local marketing and the first 90-day trading framework.

Where restaurant openings go wrong

The kitchen.
The approval.
The launch.

Kitchen & Services

Grease traps underspecified. Extraction inadequate. Gas capacity insufficient. Three-phase power not planned. These are the most expensive discoveries to make after you've signed.

Approvals & Timeline

Health department inspections failed on opening week. DA conditions not understood. Liquor licence delayed. None of this is unusual — all of it is preventable.

The Opening

Launching before the kitchen is properly run-in, before the team is trained, or before the systems are working. The first reviews set the reputation. Get it right from day one.

Who this guide is for

Chefs opening their own place, and operators who know the stakes.

Chefs Opening Their First Restaurant

You know food. This guide gives you the business, design and approval framework that most chefs only discover after their first expensive mistake.

Hospitality Operators Stepping Up

You've managed restaurants. This guide bridges the gap between running one and opening one — the decisions are different.

Investors & Silent Partners

You're funding the concept. This guide helps you understand what a properly planned restaurant opening looks like, and what warning signs to watch for.

Get the guide

Open My Restaurant

The Open My Restaurant guide covers every stage from site assessment through kitchen design, approvals, fitout and launch — built from 35 years of opening restaurant environments.

At $97, it's the lowest-cost way to avoid the highest-cost mistakes in the most complex venue category.

Restaurant planning guide

$97

USD — instant download

Guide includes

Site and kitchen suitability assessment
Commercial kitchen design and specification guide
Health and DA approvals pathway
Front-of-house design principles
Services and infrastructure checklist
Staffing structure and launch plan

Get Open My Restaurant — $97 →

Instant download. No subscription.

Upgrade your order

ADD THE LAUNCH BONUS PACK

Add three expert tools to your order — a full concept-to-sales programme, a brand building playbook, and a designer briefing guide. Built from the same 35 years of experience. One-time add-on.

$97 + $50

$147

Guide + all three bonuses

Add bonuses — $147 →

Years of experience

Who built this

Experience you can actually use.

The Open My Business guides were built from 35 years of designing and opening physical venues — hundreds of real projects, with real budgets, real approvals and real consequences when things went wrong.

This isn't theory. It's what actually happens when you open a physical venue, and what you need to do about it.

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