 | |
| Company type | Franchise |
|---|---|
| Industry | Casual dining restaurant |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Headquarters | Guelph, Ontario Waterloo, Ontario |
| Website | www.symposiumcafe.com |
The Symposium Café is a chic upscale casual dining restaurant with a unique concept. The first café opened in 1996 and has been successful in “Redefining the Café experience™” with 9 branches operating across Ontario and 5 more being scheduled to open in 2011 throughout the province of Ontario.[1].
General Information edit
| Alcohol: | Yes |
| Capacity: | 120 |
| Dress: | Casual |
| Accessibility: | Wheelchair |
| Largest Party: | 60 |
| Patio Dining: | Yes |
| Reservations: | Accepted |
| Parking: | Free |
| Accepts: | Cash, Debit, Amex, Visa, Mastercard [2] |
- locations may vary
Hours of Operation: edit
| Monday: | 8 AM TO 12/1 AM |
| Tuesday: | 8 AM TO 12/1 AM |
| Wednesday: | 8 AM TO 12/1 AM |
| Thursday: | 8 AM TO 12/1 AM |
| Friday: | 8 AM TO 12/2 AM |
| Saturday: | 8 AM TO 12/2 AM |
| Sunday: | 8 AM TO 12/1 AM |
- locations may vary
Menu edit
The Symposium Café has a diverse menu. The appetizer menu includes restaurant classics such as chicken wings and quesadillas, or more exotic food like calamari and mussels. They offer dinner with a wide selection of gourmet pizzas, wraps and sandwiches. Entrées include BBQ Ribs, Crab Encrusted Salmon and Vegetarian Pad Thai.[3]. The Symposium Café's dessert menu includes Fruit Festival Crepes, Ice Cream Parfait, Symposium Fudge Brownie Cheesecake. The Symposium Café is fully licensed and serves a variety of alcoholic beverages including Wine, Martinis and Daiquiris.[4]
Daily Specials edit
Mondays: Burger and Draft Night
- Burgers and beer for $3.75 each.
Tuesdays: Pasta Night
- Feature pasta for $9.95 and wine from $4.
Wednesdays: Martinis and Mussels
- Martinis for $4 and Mussels for $9.95.
Thursdays: Date Night
- Dinner for two for $40: soup or salad, main entrée, sharing a dessert and european beverage.
Fridays: Wine Tasting
- Bottle of wine specials and seafood feature night.
Saturdays: Symposium Saturdays
- The gathering of friends. Pitcher of Sangria or Mojito for $10.99 and feature appetizer platters for $14.99.
Sundays: Two for one cake slices
- Two for one cake slices with purchase of beverage. [5]
Cafe Experience And Atmosphere edit
The Symposium Café believes in redefining the café experience by offering a variety of visual café enchantments, gourmet meals, exotic desserts and a variety of coffee and beverages. It offers a complete “Symmetry for the senses™”.[6]
It has a growing customer base and maintains its unique experience, by focusing on the interior restaurant décor alongside the extensive menu offering. The Symposium Café focuses on consumer trends, its innovative signature products, and quality and consistency of its products.
The interior of the restaurants is inspired by the Renaissance period, creating a laid back atmosphere for the clients. Each restaurant is decorated with different pieces from the same time period, such as "The Birth of Venus (Botticelli)" and "Primavera (Botticelli)".
Raphael’s famous painting, "The School of Athens" is the main visual attraction, which illustrates a group of philosophers and their colleagues gathering together for the exchange of ideas. This concept is the main guiding ideal of the Symposium Café Restaurant, and is the modern day version of ancient gathering places, encouraging the public to gather and enjoy each other’s company.[7]
The Symposium Café restaurants have outdoor patios where customers can order drinks or a meal during the warmer seasons. These patios are decorated with plants, candles, and patio furniture.
Even though the size for the café varies from location to location, it ranges between 3600 to 4200 sq. ft. This has the general layout of the café which can seat 100-150 people indoors and 50-60 on its patio. Many locations even have private rooms that can seat around 30-80 people. The café is able to accommodate last minute walk ins as well as large group settings. The café also specializes in catering to occasions and private events such as Valentines Day, Mother's Day, Father's day etc.
Symposium Café has a very unique style and interesting interior and for this reason it has been one of the few restaurant chains awarded Canada trade dress protection from Trademarks Canada.[8]
Seating edit
Even though the size for the café varies from location to location, it ranges between 3600 to 4200 sq. ft. This has the general layout of the café which can seat 100-150 people indoors and 50-60 on its patio. Many locations even have private rooms that can seat around 30-80 people. The café is able to accommodate last minute walk ins as well as large group settings. The café also specializes in catering to occasions and private events such as Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Father day etc.
Franchise Opportunities and Training edit
The Symposium Café is growing both corporately and through franchising all across the USA & Canada. It has a competitive edge over others in the industry as the café has laid down foundations for its one of a kind concept, the infrastructure, partnerships, operational systems and support. It is known for its extensive training program across the Canadian Restaurant industry.[9]
The Symposium Café has been able to maintain its standards franchise after franchise. It makes sure that each café receives full training in order for it to develop each of its associates. An extensive 3 month training program is offered to teach all the strategies, adminstration and processes. The performance for each franchise is monitored and evaluated. This franchise opportunity is launched alongside a restaurant opening team.[10].
This opening team has experienced and knowledgeable professional restaurant managers and staff who guide and train through opportunities that arise. The café also provides a transition tutor after the training to franchise owners who assist on a regular basis for 2.5 weeks. This helps getting familiar with the opening stages of the café, the everyday operations, procedures etc. Also assists in building a strong team and finding a strong and loyal customer base.
Investment edit
Buying a franchise for the café, can cost between $475,000 to $575,000. From this price, $40,000 is the franchise fee. This range in the price depends on the location, size, infrastructure, leasehold inducements and the availability of subtrades and materials.
Costs Associated with Investing in a Franchise[11]
| Cost in addition to the purchase of the restaurant | Low Range ($) | High Range ($) |
| Rent Deposit | 7500 | 15000 |
| Utility Deposit | 1500 | 4450 |
| Phone Deposit | 250 | 400 |
| Inventory | 1800 | 25000 |
| Office Supplies | 500 | 700 |
| Legal Fees to close the Purchase | 2500 | 7500 |
| Government Licenses (Liquor, Business etc.) | 1500 | 2200 |
| Opening Advertising | 10000 | 15000 |
| Staff Hiring | 1000 | 1500 |
| Staff Training (Labour) | 1500 | 2500 |
| Staff Training (Food) | 1500 | 2500 |
| Working Capital Start Up | 25000 | 40000 |
| Corporation Set Up Fees | 750 | 1250 |
| Small Business Loan Fee | 2500 | 3500 |
| Opening Marketing Materials | 5000 | 6000 |
| Travel and Accommodation Cost | 0 | 5000 |
| TOTAL | 0 | 5000 |
Return on Investment edit
Financial information about the café is not publically available. The return on investment varies from location to location and depends on the management control as well as the market conditions, the sales mix, time of the year, etc.
Store Locations and Contact Information edit
- 6677 Meadowvale Town Centre Circle, Mississauga, ON L5N 2R5
(905) 812-7557
- 3055 Dundas Street West, Mississauga, ON L5L 3R8
(905) 820-3100
- 2180 Itabashi Way, Burlington, ON L7M 5A5
(905) 336-3332
- 304 Stone Road West #5, Guelph, ON N1G 3C4
(519) 824-4138
- 4 King Street North, Waterloo, ON N2J 2W7
(519) 746-3550
- 31 Colossus Drive #110, Woodbridge, ON L4L 9K4
(905) 265-1099
- 2247 Rymal Road East, Stoney Creek, ON L8J 2V8
(905) 578-9900
- 611 Holly Avenue, Milton, ON L9T 0K4
(905) 878-1777
- 620 Richmond Street, London, ON N6A 5J9
(519) 672-9917 [12]
Reviews edit
Symposium has received numerous reviews of its service. Users of Restaurantica have rated symposium with an overall 3.6 out of 5. The majorities were very pleased with their food and atmosphere but the biggest downfall to their rating on this website was poor customer service. These reviews were given to the location in Milton.[13]
References edit
- ^ "Symposium Café Restaurant & Lounge". Retrieved 2011-07-16.
{{cite web}}: Text "Food Franchise" ignored (help) - ^ "Symposium Food Pages". Retrieved 2011-07-16.
- ^ "Symposium Café Regular Menu" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-07-16.
- ^ "Symposium Café Alcohol Menu" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-07-16.
- ^ "Symposium Café Promotions Menu" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-07-16.
- ^ "About Us". Retrieved 2011-07-16.
- ^ "Decor". Retrieved 2011-07-16.
- ^ "Canadian Franchise Association". Retrieved 2011-07-16.
- ^ "Symposium Café Restaurant & Lounge - Food Franchise". Retrieved 2011-07-16.
- ^ "Franchise Opportunities". Retrieved 2011-07-16.
- ^ "Franchise Investment Costs". Retrieved 2011-07-16.
- ^ "Mapquest". Retrieved 2011-07-16.
- ^ "Restaurantica Reviews". Retrieved 2011-07-16.
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