Streetwise Restaurant Management

A Comprehensive Guide to Successfully Owning and Running a Restaurant

John James, Dan Baldwin

• Publisher: Adams Media
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN: 9781580627818
• eBook ISBN: 9781440519222
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Owning and operating a restaurant is one of the most challenging endeavors an entrepreneur can take on--the hours are long and grueling, staff turnover averages 130 percent, and many fail within their first year. Streetwise Restaurant Management walks you step by step through each aspect of opening and managing a restaurant. This guide covers the practical issues you'll face on a daily basis and offers tips from an experienced restauranteur about the risks and rewards of restaurant management. Is owning or managing a restaurant right for you? It can be if you have Streetwise Restaurant Management as your ready reference for creating front-of-house ambience and back-of-house efficiencies.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Chapter 1
Asking the
Hard Questions

Do You Have the Necessary Knowledge, Skills, and Experience?

Can You Live the Lifestyle of a Restaurateur?

What’s Your Vision?

Do You Have a Concept or a Menu That Stands Out?

Do You Have a Mentor?

PART ONE DECIDING WHETHER—AND HOW—YOU WANT TO RUN A RESTAURANT

CHAPTER 1 Asking the Hard Questions

CHAPTER 2 Making Basic Decisions and Conducting Research

CHAPTER 3 Conducting a Feasibility Study for Your Restaurant Idea

CHAPTER 4 Organizing Your Restaurant: Going Alone or Partnering Up

CHAPTER 5 Organizing as a Corporation or Buying a Franchise

Do You Have the Necessary Knowledge, Skills, and Experience?

Restaurant management is a terrific career. Ownership is a great vehicle for personal success and even considerable wealth. Certainly it’s a great way to make a good living, but this isn’t a business for the inexperienced. Profit margins are thin. Rapid change in trends is common. People must be managed without being driven. Government regulations can be intimidating. All of that, and more, is just part of the job, but it is important that you be able to handle that job day in and day out. Do you have the necessary talents to pull it off?

Take some time out for serious self-evaluation. What areas of the restaurant business find your experience, education, and skills lacking? Make a list of the type of information you need and find out where you can get it. Check your local colleges and universities for courses on management, marketing, advertising and public relations, the law, accounting, business procedures, the Internet, and any other area where you may be weak or not up-to-date. Read through this book, then check your list again. You may find you need to add a couple things and, hopefully, you can cut a few out as well!

Can You Live the Lifestyle of a Restaurateur?

Before you say “piece of cake,” seriously consider the commitment a restaurateur makes to his or her business. It’s rarely an eight-to-five job, certainly not during the early years. Emotionally, it’s a roller coaster for the owner and the owner’s family. Although the business can be very good, the strain can be hard for many to endure. Quality time with the family may sometimes be defined as washing dishes all night when some of the kitchen staff skips work to catch the Head Banging Chipmunks in concert. More than considering the effects on your lifestyle, you should discuss the matter in depth with all concerned.

Family Demands Must Be Balanced

The demands of restaurant management on a family can be extreme. Invest as much family and community time as you can while planning out your restaurant. At the same time, prepare your family for the time you will be investing in the business after the grand opening. You can also look for ways to involve your family in the business.

Any venture requires sacrifice, and that’s especially true during the preparation and start-up phase. Everyone expects to work long, hard hours to get a new business rolling. The problems can start creeping in when you’re still working those long, hard hours years after the grand opening. This can drain the emotional vitality out of a family or it can turn loved ones into “that guy who looks a lot like Daddy used to look.” Don’t delude yourself. The restaurant business demands a lot of time. Your family, civic clubs, recreational time, and personal life may suffer at the expense of the business.

In balance, for people who love the business, there’s nothing better. And you can achieve balance among your business, family, health, spiritual, community, and recreational lives. As the owner of a restaurant, you just may have to work a little harder to get there. Besides, even a busy owner-manager can find ways to work different aspects of his or her other lives into or around the business.

The restaurant business demands a lot of time. Your family, civic clubs, recreational time, and personal life may suffer at the expense of the business.

You May Get Lonely

It’s lonely at the shop. Although the owner may be surrounded by family, friends, good associates, loyal customers, and a wonderful staff, ultimately someone has to make the major decisions. Leadership requires responsibility, and that can be tough. Consider your ability to make and live with tough decisions. What’s it like to fire a longtime loyal employee because the economy has tanked? There are hundreds, thousands of tough decisions an owner or manager has to make, and they never stop coming. This is a career for people who thrive on challenge and responsibility.

Your personal income can take a real hit. Starting any new business requires enough money to operate until the business makes a sufficient profit to stand on its own. One of the greatest mistakes people beginning a restaurant make is to go in undercapitalized. Make sure you have enough in the bank to keep going through the lean months…or years. You may have to use your savings to keep things operating or keep the family expenses up with a spouse’s second income.

You’ll Have to Meet and Greet Your Customers

A manager or owner must be a personable individual who enjoys meeting and greeting people. If you aren’t a “people person,” you must either develop it or select your staff to compensate for your lack of ability in this area. Personality is as important as portions in building customer loyalty.

Everyone likes to feel welcome and that their patronage is important. Many people will choose one establishment over another simply because that’s where they find a friendly smile and a “glad to see you.”

We know of many instances where an individual or a family will allow others in a restaurant line to go ahead of them just so they can be served by a specific waitress or waiter. That’s called loyalty, and it should be returned. Strong relationships build long-term business and a lot of personal satisfaction. And never underestimate the power of “thank you” and “we appreciate your business.”

What’s Your Vision?

Is your vision to have a small place where a core group of loyal customers gather for fellowship as well as for the food? Do you want to earn enough to take care of your family? Is your goal to build something to pass along to your children and maybe even your grandchildren? Perhaps your goals are loftier than that. Do you want to own and manage the finest upscale restaurant in your community? Your area? Your state? Are your goals headed more toward building a business empire through franchising? Perhaps you’re even considering the possibility of creating such a powerful concept that you can begin your own franchise operation. Is it possible that your idea could be the next McDonald’s or KFC?

All things are possible in the restaurant business. Colonel Sanders lost his one restaurant when the highway moved and he had to make a living out of his car selling pressure cookers. Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s, started with a single hamburger stand he bought from someone else. The family-run restaurant not too far from your home or place of business has been operating successfully and serving happy customers for years, perhaps decades or even generations. Whatever you want to do in this business, you can do. The key is picking the right direction and following your heart (but using your head).

Do You Have a Concept or a Menu That Stands Out?

You want individuals, families, and groups of people to come to your restaurant. To ensure that, you have to have a good reason for those folks to hop in the car, drive across town, and wait in line for “their” table. People may try out a new restaurant for any number of good reasons:

• It’s a new restaurant.

• You’re the nearest place at mealtime.

• Someone called a meeting or family get-together there.

• He or she likes to experiment with new types of food.

• Someone just liked the looks of the place.

• They walked in by mistake and are too embarrassed to walk out.

Whatever the reason is okay, but the important thing is to get these folks back as regular customers. Basically, you do that two ways: your concept and/or your menu.

Restaurant Highlights 1999–2000

Americans love dining out. According to the National Restaurant Association (NRA), food service locations in the United States exceeded 595,000 units in 1994. The fastest-growing segment of the industry is the theme restaurant. The year 2000 was the industry’s ninth consecutive year of sales growth. According to the NRA, 48 percent of adults state that restaurants are an important part of their lives; 39 percent say restaurants permit them to be more productive; 53 percent place convenience as a priority; 88 percent say dining out is fun; and about 10 percent have surfed the Net to review a restaurant’s menu.

Restaurant sales are projected to hit the $577-billion mark in more than 1 million restaurants by the year 2010. This will represent about 53 percent of the consumer’s expense for food. Dining out is an American tradition that appears to be growing.

Consider Your Restaurant’s Concept

Randy often says, “Success isn’t rocket science. All you need to do is be unique, work hard, and serve people what they want.” The “unique” part is your concept of the type of restaurant you want to own or manage. An ethnic concept might be your cup of (oriental) tea. Or you might want an old-fashioned “greasy spoon,” where the neighbors congregate for the gossip as much as for the food. Some people would prefer high-end restaurants with fine china and linen tablecloths. Perhaps you’d like an ultra-modern glass-and-brass dining establishment. Or a down-home steak house with sawdust on the floor and clipped businessmen’s ties nailed to the roof. Your concept is a vision of your restaurant. Is it one that will draw customers again and again?

It’s never too ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Author’s Note
• Introduction
• Part One: Deciding Whether—and How—You Want to Run a Restaurant
• Part Two: Financing, Timing, and Designing Your New Restaurant
• Part Three: The Nuts and Bolts: Menus, Supplies, and Permits
• Part Four: Staffing Your Restaurant
• Part Five: Marketing and Promoting Your Restaurant
• Part Six: Running Your Restaurant Day-to-Day
• Appendix A: Resources
• Appendix B: Useful Forms
• Appendix C: FAQs
• Bibliography