RESTAURANTLAUNCH FREE RESOURCES
Practical tools for
your first restaurant.
Use these free worksheets, worked examples, and checklists alongside your opening plan. For our main guides on restaurant spaces, budgets, menus, and choosing the course, visit the RestaurantLaunch blog.
16 free guides · Worked examples and practical exercises · No sign-up required
Before the keys. Before the equipment. Before opening day.
Start with the opening roadmap. Turn a long list of ideas into a clear sequence of decisions, owners, and next steps.
INSIDE THE COURSE
See the thinking behind the teaching
Explore source-linked lessons on five kinds of restaurant property opportunities, cash and time before opening, and the menu as a salesperson. Then examine the reported Saigon Bistro example and the instructor’s source-linked background and course previews.
The articles distinguish course excerpts, historical reporting, and exercises created for this resource library. No sign-up is required to read them.
Start with a clear plan
FIELD NOTE 01 / GETTING STARTED
Your restaurant-opening roadmap
Move from a long restaurant-opening to-do list to a clear sequence of decisions, owners, and evidence. Includes an opening brief and readiness checklist.
FIELD NOTE 05 / GETTING STARTED
From restaurant employee to owner: the decisions that change
A practical readiness exercise for chefs, managers, and restaurant employees considering ownership. Map the responsibilities, evidence, and support you need.
FIELD NOTE 07 / GETTING STARTED
How to test a restaurant concept before committing to a location
Turn a restaurant idea into testable questions about customer occasions, alternatives, service, and repeat demand. Includes an interview and observation worksheet.
FIELD NOTE 16 / GETTING STARTED
How to choose a course before opening your first U.S. restaurant
Compare restaurant-opening courses by audience, curriculum, teaching samples, usable resources, limitations, and total cost. Includes a practical course-fit worksheet.
Find the right space
FIELD NOTE 02 / LOCATION & SPACE
A better first restaurant walkthrough
Evaluate a potential restaurant space with six observation stops. Separate what you see from what needs verification, and leave with an actionable evidence log.
FIELD NOTE 06 / LOCATION & SPACE
Existing restaurant or empty space? Compare the whole project
Compare an existing restaurant space with an empty property using the same evidence: concept fit, usable assets, required work, timing, and cash commitments.
Understand the numbers
FIELD NOTE 03 / MONEY & PLANNING
Opening costs are only half the restaurant budget
Separate the money needed to open from the cash needed while sales develop. Includes a copyable budget structure and a worked cash-planning example.
FIELD NOTE 09 / MONEY & PLANNING
Food cost, markup, and margin: restaurant math without the confusion
Understand food cost percentage, markup, and contribution using a transparent menu-item example. See why ingredient margin is not restaurant profit.
FIELD NOTE 10 / MONEY & PLANNING
Restaurant break-even sales: what the calculation can and cannot tell you
Work through restaurant break-even sales using fixed costs and contribution margin, then translate the result into orders and examine the cash-flow limits.
Build the menu and supply plan
FIELD NOTE 04 / KITCHEN & EQUIPMENT
Let the menu write the restaurant equipment list
Build an equipment list around production tasks and service demand. Compare installed costs, service support, and the questions to resolve before purchasing.
FIELD NOTE 08 / MENU & KITCHEN
Build an opening menu your team can execute
Choose an opening menu around a clear guest promise, shared production tasks, ingredient use, and practical service rehearsals. Includes an item-review worksheet.
FIELD NOTE 11 / PURCHASING & INVENTORY
Compare restaurant supplier quotes by usable unit, not case price
Compare pack sizes, specifications, usable yield, fees, and order constraints with a worked supplier-quote example and a practical purchasing record.
FIELD NOTE 12 / PURCHASING & INVENTORY
Your first restaurant inventory order: build it from demand and delivery timing
Build an opening purchase list using menu demand, recipe quantities, usable on-hand stock, incoming orders, shelf life, and storage limits.
Prepare your team and opening
FIELD NOTE 13 / PEOPLE & SERVICE
Build your first restaurant staffing schedule around the work
Map receiving, preparation, service, and closing coverage before assigning shifts. Includes a coverage exercise and a realistic labor-hours calculation.
FIELD NOTE 14 / OPENING & OPERATIONS
A soft opening that teaches you what to fix
Plan a useful restaurant soft opening with a clear learning objective, specific guest questions, and an issue log that verifies whether fixes worked.
FIELD NOTE 15 / OPENING & OPERATIONS
Your restaurant’s first 30 days: a weekly review that leads to action
Build a practical first-month restaurant review around guest experience, sales mix, cash, purchasing, staffing, and a small number of verified next actions.
Make one useful decision today
Choose a guide, complete its exercise, and name the biggest unanswered question. Record who can answer it and the evidence you need.
Prefer a structured course?
Explore the RestaurantLaunch course to see the curriculum, current price, and purchase terms. Start with our course-fit guide for teaching excerpts and instructor background you can read immediately. The fuller Thinkific course previews require a free account. RestaurantLaunch sells paid education; every resource here is free to read.
RestaurantLaunch · September 6, 2026 · Prepared by Ryan’s AI assistant.
Original educational frameworks. Worked calculations are hypothetical; named restaurant examples are attributed to their sources. Guides do not replace local approvals or qualified professional advice.
-Ryan’s Ai Assistant