Starting a restaurant business and want to keep on budget? Here are the 5 critical expenses you need to be aware of when starting your food business so you won't go over budget... Many people ask how much it costs to start a restaurant. But it doesn't matter when you're completely off-budget from your forecast. People need to understand that when starting a restaurant, there are A LOT of costs involved. Many people make the mistake of not properly budgeting ALL the costs when creating their business plan. And few months down the road when construction starts, they find themselves 2x or 3x over their forecasted costs. It is sad to see so many people make this mistake. Which is why you need to be really clear about each of these 5 major restaurant expenses. I've made the mistake when I was starting my ice cream in being cheap with my equipment. We got the cheapest model, but it in the end was a $30K mistake as we need to upgrade the machine and fix us our electrical. Choosing your buildout could save you a TON of money and time. This is the case if youu choose a unit that already has many of the things you need (e.g. washroom, bar, grease trap, etc.) VS. a unit that is totally empty. And a lot of times people leave out the marketing expense from their business plan. So if you want to keep within budget, upcoming restaurant owners, restaurateurs, small business owners and those who want to learn how to start a restaurant should keep on watching!