Restaurant Opening

You and three friends are having dinner one evening when the conversation turns to work.  You tell your friends that you have always wanted to have your own business. One friend expresses the same desire and another friend mentions that she is tired of her current job.  Before the evening is over, your small group has decided to open a restaurant.

At the end of this project, you and your group will be ready to open your new restaurant.  You will have found and decorated a place to serve food, designed a menu, hired employees and placed advertising to let your neighborhood know about your new eatery.  You will present your hard work to your classmates in a 10 minute presentation that includes your basic business plan, a description with a drawing of your place, a menu, and an advertising flyer.

Before you can get started on the specifics of opening a restaurant, as a group you will need to agree on the following topics:

1. What type of food will you serve?

2.What type of atmosphere do you want?

3. What type of serving style will you use?

4.  What you will name your restaurant? 

These websites will be helpful for getting you started:

 http://www.wikihow.com/Open-a-Restaurant

http://restaurants.about.com/od/openingarestaurant/u/Start_Up.htm

http://restaurants.about.com/od/openingarestaurant/a/naming.htm

To be successful in your new business venture, you will need to decide who will be best at completing the different assignments. 

Accountant:  This person will need to write a simple business plan, to obtain start-up money and to hire the employees.

http://restaurants.about.com/od/staffingarestaurant/tp/Common-Restaurant-Jobs.htm

http://restaurants.about.com/od/finances/a/Restaurant_plan.htm

Locations Manager: This person is in charge of finding a location, drawing a floor plan, deciding the restaurant design and creating an order for furniture and inventory (plates, silverware, glasses, napkins, etc.).  

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/73384-5

http://restaurants.about.com/od/openingarestaurant/a/location.htm

http://restaurants.about.com/od/openingarestaurant/a/Restaurant_Desi.htm

General Manager:  This person will be the group leader and in charge of designing the menu, developing a list of supplies and equipment and deciding the pricing. 

http://restaurants.about.com/od/menu/a/Menu_Design.htm

http://restaurants.about.com/od/menu/a/10-Things-You-Should-Know-About-Restaurant-Menus.htm

http://www.quantifiedmarketing.com/restaurant-graphic-design.php

Advertising Executive:  This person will be in charge of creating and placing advertising to attract customers.

http://restaurants.about.com/od/marketing/a/10-Restaurant-Promotions.htm

http://restaurants.about.com/od/marketing/ht/Advert_New.htm

Job well done!  You've worked together to accomplish a goal.  In your future careers as economists, you'll have assignments that require you to make major decisions, use creativity and work collaboratively with your colleagues.  Bon appetit!

Photos: 

http://www.fitbie.com/sites/default/files/opener-healthy-restaurant-foo…

http://cdn.homedit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/restaurant-design.jpg

Permissions
We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is granted for others to use and modify this WebQuest for educational, non-commercial purposes as long as the original authorship is credited. The modified WebQuest may be shared only under the same conditions. See the Creative Commons Attribution • Non-Commercial • Share-Alike license for details.

This webquest is designed to give second year EFL university students with an intermediate to advanced intermediate level of English studying global economics to  practice their English in a real-world application.  It allows them the opportunity to work collaboratively and speak, read, write and listen in English.