Start & Run a Restaurant Business. Brian Cooper

       International Self-Counsel Press

       All rights reserved.

      Introduction

      This “how to” book is a labor of love, created by three professional restaurateurs and pub owners, and based on a combined total of more than 100 years of personal experience in designing, owning, and running dozens of restaurants and pubs as well as instructing tens of thousands of college students and adults.

      The conceptualization, establishment, and operation of a restaurant is a very personal experience built around a dream whose time has come. A restaurant, bar, or pub is a small retail business with a specialized product or service offered to a very localized target market. No doubt before you decided to investigate the potential for turning your dream into a reality, you looked at a concept that brought joy into your heart and visions of happiness — and, we hope, profit — into your life.

      It is estimated that every year approximately one-third of all new restaurants or pubs go bankrupt or close, many from undercapitalization, some from failing to properly identify a concept that fits the owner’s lifestyle. Most fail because the owner has become disenchanted with his or her concept, which had been altered as a result of persuasion by a moneylender or partner. You must remain true to your vision or you will be frustrated and gradually lose interest in achieving your goals.

      Several years ago, a good friend of co-author Brian Cooper operated a successful small bakery he inherited from his parents. His was a rich life. He owned a cottage by a lovely lake where he spent most summer weekends, and he traveled the world together with his friends. One day, he was approached by the developers of a new mall with more than 100 retail stores. Having a bakery in this mall became his dream. The mall manager and his friends convinced him to add a considerable take-out menu to his bakery. His architect and his chef convinced him to add a sit-down restaurant and tavern that specialized in steaks, seafood, and — can you believe it — Chinese food. To accommodate this menu, his kitchen occupied 40 percent of the precious, high-rent floor space. Suddenly, weekends at the cottage were out, and his friends went on cruises without him while he managed a larger and larger staff. He became a slave to his new operation and lost interest in his original bakery. His chef left to open his own Chinese restaurant. Eventually Brian’s friend had a heart attack and died. The business went bankrupt and was replaced with a very successful bagel and donut shop and a chain pizza house.

      Everyone will be available and anxious to tell you how to design and operate your dream restaurant or pub. But will they be there to make your monthly payments at the bank? Trust only in yourself.

      The expression of your restaurant, bar, or pub concept is your dream. Never deviate from your dream unless the alternative is fully acceptable to you.

      By investing in this guide you are taking the first step toward realizing your goals. Our responsibility is to point out the challenges you may face and to suggest tips on how to avoid many of the mistakes we made in realizing our dreams. There is no one correct recipe for success in the food service and hospitality industry. Many of our friends claim that luck is crucial to success; however, we believe that any luck is a direct result of good solid business practices.

      If after reading this guide you decide to continue on to design, build, and operate your restaurant, bar, or pub, we share in your delight. However, if we convince you to reconsider the viability of your dream before investing large sums of money and precious time in it, we will also have accomplished what we set out to do.

      We will be focusing on the development of a mid-size, 60- to 150-seat, owner-operated, table-service restaurant. This type of restaurant may be described as family style, bistro, grill, or casual dining. We will guide you through the major steps in planning such a venture, but much of this information can be applied to other types of restaurants.

      We will highlight certain important issues that can become turning points (or, as we call them, critical decision points) that we feel must be addressed before you continue your planning process. Take particular care over these.

      Many of you who read this book will have little or no experience in building or operating a restaurant or pub. Others will have many years of experience in the front or back of the house and are looking only for a few tips on how to bring your dream to a profitable reality. Each chapter of this book is complete in itself as long as you keep in mind that whenever you radically change the focus of your operation, you must consider whether you are satisfied to operate under the new conditions that will result from altering your original concept.

      Before you continue, attempt to visit as many similar operations as possible. Now is the only time you will have sufficient opportunity to view the mistakes made by your competitors. If possible, take on a full- or part-time position with a competitor and diary the strengths and weaknesses of his or her establishment and style of management. Join and participate in the trade associations that best serve your type of business and talk to the professionals. Attend a continuing education program at a nearby college or university to hone the skills that complement your knowledge; it will be time well spent before you begin to face those critical decision points and invest large amounts of capital and time.

      In writing our book, we have established a sequence for starting and running a restaurant that made the most sense to us. We suggest you read it first from cover to cover as we present it, then go back to reread and underline any sections you feel you need to research or consider further.

      To further assist you we have developed some concepts that may assist you in keeping things in perspective:

      • Critical decision points: Those moments when you come to important crossroads and must decide if this exercise is indeed worth it. Continue on only if you can accept the risk you are taking.

      • Key points: Ideas that we have tried and found useful..

      Part 1

      EVALUATING YOUR DREAM