Oh...OK. I guess not many people are tolerant to screaming kids .
I haven't been to Mc Donald's in years but the last time I've been there, I've seen a lot of screaming kids, jumping around, bitting, swearing, chasing....while parents did nothing. So, no, I don't want that in a nice restaurant, of course.
I've also been to nice restaurants, where kids were told by their parents: keep it down, sit down, don't talk with your mouth full, stop hitting your sister, I'll smack you on your mouth if you don't shut up (), you are grounded and the ,,cherry on top''- shut up, you f---ing twat.....to a blonde little girl that looked like a princess in her blue dress....
But I've also seen parents with kids that didn't make any noise or if they did (because they are kids, you know), the parents told them to stop it. You will always have some amount of noise when you have kids around, it depends what the parents or carers do about it. I've seen parents leaving the restaurant because they just couldn't make the kids to sit down and eat their dinner in peace.
So you have places and...places.

Et voila! There you go Assassin! Enjoy your meal. Please excuse the steak-shaped gap on your plate.

If you want grilled vegetables and rice-milk lattes, I suggest you head down to Tibits, who specialize in that sort of thing.

This is a BBQ restaurant, so they should focus on making superb BBQ. If they lose a few vegan customers along the way, it's probably not going to hurt their bottom line that much.

I'm not vegan.

Rule #1) Don't try and please everyone.

In other words:
1) Pick a concept, whatever you want that to be (BBQ, Japanese, Indian, etc etc).
2) Research whether the overall concept works IE does the LOCAL market require that concept
3) Draw a menu - cut the menu in half. Focus on delivering half a dozen dishes VERY well before you start trying to do a dozen dishes. This is Switzerland, people don't need to be smacked in the face with 30 different choices of main with 8 sides. KEEP IT SIMPLE
4) Price according to your target market - don't get greedy and don't sell yourself short. If the Swiss see a steak for 30chf they'll suspect it is poor quality!!!
5) You'll WANT ex-pats to visit. You'll NEED locals to visit
6) Be honest to your concept, if you advertise as "Authentic Homestyle Southern BBQ" - make sure it is and your sauce isn't out of a jar you can get in COOP.

__________________
"Don't believe everything you read on the internet" Abraham Lincoln

All great advice there, I'd like to add to number 4 coming from a staff point of view. Waiting on jobs may be low paid, but some people genuinely enjoy doing the job (ME! I do! ) the way staff are treated and the way the business is run and organised can really make a difference to the morale of good staff trust me. I have worked in various places including a prestigious restaurant frequented by celebrities, a "hub" type pub and a major fast-food chain. The latter is the only one I hated, and it was the last job I worked in that industry; one of the main reasons was the attitude of the managers and the disorganized way they ran things. Restaurant businesses can be very demanding and extremely busy, managers/owners and staff alike can feel under a lot of stress sometimes when it gets a bit hectic. The good managers I've worked for can always handle this pressure, delegate effectively and ALWAYS find time to say simple thankyous to the staff! Trust me it goes a long way However yes, dont get too close and keep business and social separate. (this was another fail i saw at the fast food place!) The best managers are indeed the ones who are not too chummy with the staff, but who respect them. Also obviously the way you handle customers is important too and it's important to make sure your staff are trained well and tuned to the way you want to run things

Some places I have worked at had Monday to Thursday deals (for example X courses for X price, cheaper than you could get on the weekend)

Yes!! I've heard a number of people say "The cleanliness of the toilets is a good indicator of the cleanliness of the kitchen"! While might not be true in all cases, a lot of people think it and it makes an impression

Just my 2 Rappen worth here.

Think carefully about your location. If there was a restaurant there previously, study why they had to shut down.

I know of several locations where the restaurant seems to change owners (and concepts) with depressing regularity and nobody seems able to make those locations work, no matter what they do there.

Maybe this is due to the location being unattractive, or there being insufficient car parking, or there being too many steps, or the windows being too small that people can see inside, or the landlord and neighbours complaining about noise, or any other reason.

I mean, I hardly ever see Vegan restaurants adding a steak or two to appease the potential meat eating customers they are going to lose...

Groups of people who want to pay individually - this should not be allowed! It will slow down your service staff and increase their stress levels.

It's how the Swiss do it.

Coming back to mention entertainment this depends on what type of place you have and how much focus there is on your bar (I believe drinks often bring in more profit than food?)


One of my favourite jobs was in a pub, it was very popular and I thought the management was excellent. They had loads of entertainment to pull in business. Poker night, Quiz night, Saturday night guests (local bands or tributes) and themes for everything (Christmas menu, Mothers' day menu, Halloween, etc- any time of significance they would celebrate in some way and decorate. All these things were advertised in advance on the windows or on a board outside. free Wi-Fi. And of course, the big screens with sky TV where they would always show the football games (y)

The more... "upmarket" (argh I don't like that word haha!) places in my experience did NOT operate quite like that though they have less on in the way of entertainment; it tends to be much more simple: good music (not loud!) and good lighting and ambience

Sounds like an expat joint. In my experience Swiss places don't go in for changing seasonal themes very much. Even the Xmas decorations are very restrained.

Except for the menu!!!

I would also ban people who wear sandals together with white socks

No offence (actually, lots of offence), but...

Am I the only one horrified at the idea of eating at this design-by-committee restaurant?

An all-you-can-eat-BBQ-English-Breakfast-Pork-Pie-Buffet, with vegan and gluten-free options, in a child-friendly (read: hordes of children screaming their heads off), seasonal themed setting with a bingo games and theatre comedy for live entertainment.

Bejeebus

It reminds me of the episode in The Simpsons where Homer designs a car to appeal to Everyman.

I know, I know... we're all just having fun listing our favourites and pet peeves. Here's hoping the OP has enough sense to already know the food and crowd they are aiming for.

Personally, I think you could draw a crowd if you banned all children from your restaurant. It would certainly be a niche market.

As an expat I'm always looking for places that serve food are till late (beyond 11) and are open on Sundays!
In general, restuarant in Switzerland are very good at providing a couple of decent vegetarian menu options. Just keep in mind that Salad does not count!!!!
I recommend that you ensure your menu has some veggie main course options.

great brunch with great cocktails till 1.30 pm on Saturdays/Sundays, and maybe the BBQ from 2 pm onwards on those days if the kitchen doesn't stretch to that? I mean it, I have seen a lot of brunch places in Zurich but not with the cocktails options, they normally offer a glass of prosecco...

(and get rid of cereal in the brunch, no continental breakfast option, just about every brunch place in Zurich does that already).

if you can do US-style brunch, with maybe the 1st cocktail (bloody mary or margarita or bellini options, for example) included in the price, and the second cocktail at a cheapish price, I'll be your best customer every sunday and I'm sure many other brunch lovers will be there too...

I suppose you could say that, it was in the UK!

Do you have website ? facebook fan page?

We've had a restaurant where diners sit in complete darkness and the waiters are blind.

How about a restaurant for the deaf - you have to make your orders in sign language.