Restaurant playbook.

Full-service London restaurants where covers, kitchen speed and Google reviews compound. The lever is engineering the menu against actual margin and recovering no-shows before they cost a service.

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Overview

A London full-service restaurant doing 60–140 covers/day on a 40–80 cover footprint typically lives between 8–14% net margin. The two killers are no-shows (industry average 17% on weekends) and untracked GP% drift on the top 10 dishes. This playbook covers opening a 40–70 cover neighbourhood restaurant in Zone 2–3 London — kitchen build, licences, supplier setup and a credible 12-month ramp.

−68%

No-show recovery

30 / month

Review velocity

+5.4 pts

GP% lift after engineering

№ 01 / What you'll need

Equipment list with real 2026 UK prices.

Sized for a 2–4 chair shop. Buy mid-range on chairs and clippers; cheap kit fails inside 12 months and walks away with your barbers.

Kitchen — cooking line

6-burner range + oven

Falcon Dominator or equivalent

£3,800–£7,200

Salamander grill

£900–£2,400

Plancha / chargrill

£1,800–£4,500

Combi oven (6-grid)

Rational or Convotherm

£6,500–£14,000

Fryer (twin tank)

£900–£2,200

Extraction canopy + ductwork

Gas interlock certified

£4,500–£14,000

Mandatory under Gas Safety Regs.

Kitchen — prep, cold + wash

Walk-in cold room (3–6 m³)

£3,200–£8,500

Upright fridges + freezers

£2,400–£6,800

Blast chiller

£2,800–£6,500

Required for cook-chill HACCP compliance.

Stainless prep tables + sinks

£2,200–£5,800

Pass-through dishwasher

£3,400–£8,200

Vacuum sealer + sous-vide

£1,400–£3,800

Front of house

Tables + chairs (40–70 covers)

£4,500–£18,000

Banquette / fixed seating build

£3,800–£14,000

Bar fit-out + back-bar fridges

£8,500–£28,000

Glassware, crockery, cutlery (3× rotation)

£3,200–£12,000

POS (Toast / Lightspeed / Square)

£90–£280 / mo + £180–£600 per terminal

Reservation system (OpenTable / SevenRooms)

£189–£499 / mo + £1 per cover

№ 02 / Where to set up

Location is half the business.

Footfall

≥ 4,000 evening pedestrians on a Friday

Walk-ins backfill no-shows; you cannot rely on bookings alone in year one.

Unit size

120–220 m² for 40–70 covers

Allow 1.6–2.2 m² per cover + 30–40% kitchen + back-of-house.

Use class

Class E (formerly A3) or already restaurant

Most London units convert without planning under permitted change, but extraction often triggers a separate application.

Extraction route

Existing flue OR roof access

New extraction through a residential block above is the #1 reason London leases fall through.

Gas + 3-phase power

30+ amps three-phase, 50+ kW gas if grilling

Combi ovens + extraction draw heavily; gas upgrades cost £6–£18k from the meter.

Delivery access

Front loading bay or side alley

Daily deliveries from Brakes, Bidfood, Total Produce and craft suppliers.

Area tier

Rent / month

Notes

Zone 1 (Soho, Fitzrovia, Covent Garden)

£18,000–£55,000 + £85k–£280k premium

ASPH £45–£90. Expect 24-month break-even at this rent band.

Zone 2 (Hackney, Peckham, Brixton, Battersea)

£6,500–£18,000 + £30k–£120k premium

Sweet spot. ASPH £30–£55, 12–18 month break-even.

Zone 3 (Walthamstow, Tooting, Crouch End)

£3,500–£9,500

Neighbourhood model. ASPH £22–£38, very strong regular base.

Outer / market town

£2,200–£5,500

Sunday lunch + special-occasion driven. Lower turn, higher ASPH.

№ 03 / Licences & registrations

Get the paperwork done before you sign a lease.

UK figures for 2026. Lead times assume you submit complete applications — councils will pause the clock if you miss documents.

Requirement

Who issues

Cost

Lead time

ReqFood Business Registration

Local council Environmental Health

Free

28 days before trading

ReqPremises licence (alcohol + late-night refreshment past 23:00)

Council under Licensing Act 2003

£100–£635 + advert

8–12 weeks

ReqPersonal Licence for Designated Premises Supervisor

Council + APLH course

£37 + £150 course

4 weeks

ReqGas Safe + extraction certification

Gas Safe engineer + DW172 specialist

£800–£2,400

2–4 weeks

OptPavement licence (if outdoor seating)

Council under Business & Planning Act 2020

£100–£500

10 working days

ReqMusic licence (PPL PRS)

PPL PRS Ltd

£280–£1,400 / yr

2 weeks

ReqPublic + employer's liability + product liability

NFU / Hiscox / Caterer-specialist broker

£900–£3,200 / yr

1 week

ReqWaste contract (food + general + glass + grease)

Biffa / First Mile / local

£280–£950 / month

1 week

ReqAllergens compliance + HACCP plan

Internal, audited by EHO

£0–£800 setup

Pre-opening

ReqICO registration

ICO

£40–£60 / yr

Same day

№ 04 / Build-out timeline

From decision to open in 12 weeks.

Phase 1 · Concept + capital

Week −24 to −16

Pick cuisine, price band, postcode. Run NAVIZIX Demand Radar on 3 streets.
Build 18-month cashflow twin (£180k–£650k fit-out).
Open business bank + secure backing (equity / SBA-equivalent / family).
Engage chef partner or head chef on heads of terms.

Phase 2 · Premises + licences

Week −16 to −10

Sign lease (negotiate 4–6 month rent-free).
Submit premises licence + extraction planning.
Order long-lead kitchen items (combi oven, extraction).

Phase 3 · Build-out

Week −10 to −2

Strip + first fix MEP.
Install kitchen + extraction.
FOH fit-out + bar.
POS + reservation system go live in staging.

Phase 4 · Hire + soft launch

Week −2 to 0

Hire KP, CDPs, sous, FOH supervisor, runners.
Trial menu with friends-and-family (free, full review-request flow live).
EHO pre-opening visit.
Stock dry, fresh, drinks for 7-day buffer.

Phase 5 · Open + compound

Week 0+

Week 1: NAVIZIX deposit-on-booking live for Fri/Sat.
Week 4: First menu engineering pass against true GP%.
Month 3: First peer benchmark (covers, ASPH, GP% vs cohort).
Month 6: Launch loyalty / private dining once regular base measurable.

№ 05 / Budget

Realistic startup and monthly cost ranges.

One-off · Startup

Setting up the shop

Lease premium + deposit + first rent

£15,000 → £180,000

Kitchen build + extraction + gas

£45,000 → £140,000

FOH fit-out + bar + furniture

£35,000 → £180,000

Crockery / glassware / smallwares

£6,000 → £22,000

POS + reservations + integrations

£800 → £3,500

Licensing + professional fees

£4,500 → £18,000

Branding, photography, opening marketing

£4,000 → £18,000

Working capital (3 months)

£35,000 → £140,000

Typical total

£35k → £85k

Recurring · Monthly

Keeping the lights on

Rent + service charge

£3,500 → £18,000

Business rates

£0 → £4,500

Utilities (gas + electric + water)

£1,800 → £5,800

Staff (BOH + FOH)

£18,000 → £68,000

Food cost (28–32% of revenue)

£14,000 → £68,000

Drinks cost (22–26% of bev revenue)

£3,500 → £18,000

Reservations + POS + integrations

£260 → £900

Waste + cleaning + linen

£480 → £1,800

Card fees + delivery commissions

£900 → £6,500

Marketing + Google + Meta

£400 → £3,500

Typical total

£5.8k → £23k

№ 06 / Numbers that compound

How a restaurant actually looks on a chart.

Interactive projections rebuilt from real UK operating data — toggle the views to see ramp, mix and weekly load.

12-month revenue ramp

Low vs high scenario (£ monthly)

High Low

Source · NAVIZIX cohort · 40–70 cover London neighbourhood restaurants · 2025–2026

№ 07 / First 90 days

Dates that actually matter after opening.

01Day 0

Doors open. Reservation system, Stripe deposits and review automation all live.

02Day 14

First DNA scan — typically flags response time on enquiries + no-show recovery as top fixes.

03Day 30

First menu engineering pass — bottom 4 dishes by GP% × velocity get reworked or removed.

04Day 60

First peer benchmark — ASPH and covers/seat against cohort.

05Day 90

Loyalty / private dining tier launched; investor / lender pack auto-generated.

№ 08 / What's inside

DNA, route, automations, integrations, benchmarks, advisors — tuned for a restaurant.

01Move

DNA dimensions

Covers per service, table-turn time, average spend per head, no-show rate, food + drink GP%, review velocity and bookings-vs-walk-ins mix.

02Move

Suggested route

Tighten reservations with deposit on Fridays/Saturdays, engineer the menu against true margin, then build a review flywheel that lifts Google rank in your postcode.

03Move

Automations

Deposit-on-booking for peak slots, 24h confirmation, post-meal review request, win-back to lapsed regulars and a daily kitchen + FOH digest.

04Move

Integrations

OpenTable / SevenRooms / ResDiary, Toast / Lightspeed / Square, Deliveroo / Uber Eats, Xero, Google Business Profile and Mailchimp.

05Move

Benchmarks

Covers, ASPH and GP% vs restaurants in the same London cuisine band and price tier, refreshed weekly.

06Move

Advisors

Encore advisors from London restaurant groups paired with NAVIZIX AI for menu engineering, rota optimisation and supplier negotiation.

№ 09 / Stack

Modules used in this playbook.

01DNA Engine02Route Map03Launch Twin04Automation05Verified06Encore

Related playbooks

Owners of a restaurant often run — or cross-sell with — these adjacent operations.

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