Hi CynCity,
I'm putting my business consulting head on to ask the following;
1. Realistically, what's the actual amount of money you have to invest in setting up your concept?
2. Will you need to borrow any funds?
3. Your marketing will need to be absolutely, completely and totally crucial due to the fact in the UK 99.95% of people haven't heard of or know about 'American Biscuits' or 'Restaurants' that would cater to this market.
4. The 'main' concentration of Americans in the UK is London and the surrounding home counties. Of course, there are other's of the UK's major cities and towns as well as rural locations where American people do of course live. You'll need to decide if you want to focus your restaurant to cater for the American's here or if you wish to appeal to the general population as a whole.
5. You'll need to check for all the regulatory requirements for running a food preparation business and of course all the same for having members of the public on your premises. All licensing, certifications for food storage and preparations will need to be in place along with any special requirements.
6. Related to the above will be all the overheads and running costs of the business.
7. Location will be similarly vital. The costs in Central London will be extremely high for finding a premises and then the ongoing related costs - rates, insurance given the location. In other cities, the same costs will of course be much lower.
8. You'll perhaps need to find specialist chefs/cooks familiar and knowledgeable with the food and that may mean having to pay a higher salary/rate, so do factor that into your cost calculations.
Do you have any industry experience of owning/running a food/restaurant type business? I think it'd be very advantageous if you do. If not, then my suggestion would be to look into creating a restaurant that covers a lot more specific American food and offer those under one roof i.e spread your risk. Do the 'usual' choices of what the general UK public think of as 'American Food' but at a much higher quality level and then offer the more unusual or not known about specialties as a specific section of your menu. This way you'll appeal to both sectors - UK people and Americans here who want high quality and authentic USA food.
I'm not such a 'foodie' but I do appreciate and like good food. Some of our family are much more 'foodie' and will go to specific places etc often quite a distance away. I do remember having some home made Meat Loaf in the US one time and it was really good! I've not tried to see if there's anywhere around here or in London that does the same!.
Good luck in all your evaluations!
Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!