If you are passionate about traveling and food, you might have gone all over the world trying new cuisines and exotic dishes and been disappointed when you returned home only to find that you could not recreate these newfound dishes at home. If that is the case and you have a knack for cooking, you might be considering opening a restaurant that is inspired by your travels. Then, here is a guide to opening a travel-inspired restaurant this year.
Get the Necessities
In some ways, the essentials you need for your travel-inspired restaurant will not be any different from other restaurants. The first step you should take is to research the necessities that every restaurant needs in order to open. For instance, you will need to invest in ovens and kitchen equipment, dining chairs and tables, and even a uniform for your team members. Although you might opt for clothing that is a little more themed for your front-of-house staff, for your chefs, you should consider choosing pants, aprons, and jackets worn by professional chefs, as these can make your restaurant and its staff look smarter and create a more formal environment. This may also influence your customers’ perception of your restaurant. By buying the essentials first, you will be able to work out how much of your business budget you have left over to spend on personalized items for your restaurant.
Decide on the Menu
However, no matter how wonderful your restaurant looks, your food is the heart of your restaurant and should not be lost in all of its frills. Therefore, you should make sure that you think carefully about the food that you are going to offer on your menu.
Your menu should be cohesive, and this means that you should not simply dump in every single dish that you found on your travels. For instance, you might want to stick to a particular cuisine or type of dish that you know will be popular in the United States.
You can mix and match your cuisines and give your customers a wide choice of different foods, but this should be part of your branding so that this decision seems purposeful. You should also make sure that these dishes complement each other.
Look at Your Branding
To get your customers excited about your restaurant, you should look at your branding and ensure that this is vibrant and lively. For instance, you should choose a colorful logo that represents what your business is all about, and you should have a memorable slogan. If you are opening a new restaurant and don’t yet have a logo, or are rebranding an existing restaurant, consider working with a professional logo designer to get a unique and memorable logo.
Once you have decided on these, you should work on developing a sign for your restaurant, as well as merchandise that can ensure that your business is visible and that it grabs your potential customer’s attention.
Think About the Decor
Your customers do not want to sit in a clinical building to eat their dinner, though. Instead, you should think about the decor and try and evoke the country whose food you are cooking.
For instance, you might decide to bring back souvenirs, ornaments, and furniture from this country and display these within your restaurant. You should also investigate color schemes that are reminiscent of those often found in the country in question or that match the country’s landscapes or flag. By theming your restaurant, you will be able to offer your customers a unique experience that no other restaurant in the area can offer, and customers will instantly make the link between your restaurant and the cuisine that you are offering.
Get Well-Versed Staff
You should also look around for employees that understand your vision and that have a lot of knowledge about the cuisine in question, especially when it comes to finding chefs for your business. Their passion for the food will show through and enable you to create a friendly and knowledgeable environment in your restaurant that your customers will love.
You should consider posting job adverts around your local area as well as on websites such as Indeed, which can help you to search far and wide for the perfect employee. To make sure that you can cultivate the best team of employees for your restaurant, you should also make sure that you put a comprehensive and exciting training program in place that can inspire your staff and ensure that they are always on the same page as you.
Then, instead of thinking that you can’t open a travel-inspired restaurant and that it will not be successful enough, you simply need to take the right steps to do this, from employing people whom you trust and who are incredibly skilled to sorting out your branding and making this as vivid and engaging as possible. It is also important to think about the restaurant’s location so that your business can get the footfall and attention it deserves.
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Alex is a computer geek, programmer, who loves traveling. Not the usual mix, but Alex is always with his laptop – no matter how high the mountain he’s hiking on. On every peak he reaches, he writes a story that captures it all.
Sarah Knapp is a Brooklyn based entrepreneur whose love for the outdoors and community building led her to the October 2013 creation of OutdoorFest. She has a BA in History, is a Wilderness First Responder and a NY state hiking, camp and boating guide. Her proudest achievement to date is reading the Aeneid in Latin. 
Allison was one of our first top writers and Chief Editor but is no longer working with offMetro. Allison is a native New Yorker, who has lived in Rome, Tuscany, Melbourne, Toronto and Los Angeles. She frequently contributed travel pieces to Family Travel Forum, using her own children as guinea pigs as they travel the globe. She never missed a chance to sample local delicacies, as her love for travel goes hand-in-hand with her love for food and wine. 
Josh Laskin is a freelance travel writer and photographer based in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. When he is not at work or on the road, you can find him in the mountains snowboarding, climbing, hiking, fly fishing, mountain biking, and eating bagel bites.
Annie is a travel writer, environmentalist, and surfer based in Venice, CA. She heads up our West Coast team, keeps our grammatical errors in check, and makes sure our California writers always have a plan for their next adventure. Follow Annie’s travels @annelisemcb.
Carly Pifer is a freelance writer who has been known to follow whims inspired by romantic movie scenes or colorful street style shots to India, Japan, Tunisia and Argentina. After stints living in Seoul, Boston, Paris and Los Angeles, writing and searching for something intangible, she landed somewhat steadily in Brooklyn and has begun to find inspiration in her more immediate surroundings. 
Kate E. O’Hara is a New York based freelance writer and photographer who loves all things food—especially the people who make it and market it. Her writing aims to capture the essence of the food experience; the stories that go well beyond a plate of ingredients. In addition to her love of food, Kate is also known to have a hankering for red wine and craft beer. You can also find Kate on Instagram