Opening soon, what is you experience with opening?
Will we be slammed from the get go or will it gradually increase?
The first week really depends on whether you are doing a soft or strong opening.
I’ve seen both. One where unlocking the front door is all they do. Others where they put out 5000 door hangers, give out 200 free pizzas at open, radio ads, advo mailers and newspaper ads.
What have you done marketing wise for your opening ? Give us a breakdown of population, competition, etc.
On opening a new store about all you can expect is the unexpected!!! Of course a soft opening will usually be softer than a strong opening, but you just never know. My very first restaurant experience in my life was the opening of my sports bar, I had never even worked in the food and beverage biz before. I opened soft because I was very afraid of getting too busy too fast. My first day we did 7.5K! At that point of time in the game we could not have done more even if we tried! I am so happy that we did not advertise. In my new place I will not advertise either, but I will do more pre-opening parties on the house to train my staff that is for sure. I think most of the time stores will benefit from a soft opening followed by a strong opening a couple days later, if not a week, and then your grand opening after you know you have your stuff together. I hope you wind up very busy and that you are ready for it!