Those of you who have owned / managed a restaurant…
 

If you were to give one advice to someone new to that, what would it be?

Thanks!

Don't do it. It's a complete nightmare, especially if you're taking over from previous mismanagement.

If you're starting from scratch its much easier to ensure the staff you have are decent, from BOA through to FOH, if you're taking over they're all going to have bad habits that can be detrimental to the business.

Location is extremely important.
Be ready to cover shifts yourself, the lower you pay employees, the more often that happens.
Cleaning constantly sucks.
Don't be cheap/skimp on food, or make a customer upset for any reason. Sure, you'll only lose like $40, but it could actually be hundreds or thousands in the long run by losing repeat business.
Keep sales data, then later on you can look at the past week/month/year to project how busy it might be.

Oh... just one? idk, be nice to everyone

I'd say: Unless you have people in place to do all the work for you, expect to work harder than you've ever worked in your entire life to either make insane profits or none at all.

Farang, some good advice here. Prior to transitioning online, I worked 16+ years in restaurants and hotels. While I truly enjoyed the experiences I had (i.e. restaurants, catering, event planning, etc.) it was always in the capacity of an manager/employee. I was able to walk away, where an owner cannot.

In my time, I met very successful owners of restaurants. Each one personally worked inside their establishments every day, and they were constantly engaged with their guests.

If you have not already, starting watching Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares. There are a lot of lessons to be learned there, and it won't cost you a dime.

If you have general questions, you are welcome to reach me at alex @ nalem dot com, and we can set a time for a brief call.

Otherwise, good luck!

Don't do it.

You will work harder than you have done before.
While some workers will try to steal as much as they can.

After it goes down you are happy you can make money online without all the shit.
Wake up when you want, travel where you want, no need for workers on payroll.
Better buy real estate to rent it out, than rent it yourself.

Another from the Don't Do It camp.

Plenty of other reasons besides all the ones that have already been listed.

We made money. It just sucked the life out of us.

I was a bar owner, does that qualify ? :D

My father owned several of them and the mere mention of opening one would elicit the same as the above responses: don't fucking do it.

Yep, thats the reason we sold our business, way to much time involvement, although the money was good, we were never able to do anything with it because we were always working :1orglaugh

Location
Location
Location

My family owned a bar growing up, it's much easier than a restaurant lol.

Here in New York City if you own a restaurant of any kind it means working 12-16 hours a day, seven days a week. Yes you can make decent money (6-7 figures) but it will become your entire life. Opening, preparing lunch, then cleanup, then preparing dinner, then close-out....it's no wonder restaurant culture is filled with booze and cocaine.

There is a shortage of workers, too. Wait staff, bar staff, kitchen staff...everyone is hurting and looking for help. Prices have gotten insane too, jumping anywhere from 40% to 60% higher and more!

No thanks. Cooking for myself is the way to go these days. Healthier too.

I opened a restaurant 20 years ago but the location was bad and had to close it 6 months later. I then opened a bar with prostitutes in it. Business was much better but there were frequent problems with girls or customers, so I sold it 2 years later to work online and since then I have enjoyed my quiet life. The incomes are lower but enough to buy good wine and reward girls who take off their panties for me ... :stoned

I owned a private club back in the 80s it was a headfvck from the get go...
But times were different then I sold after 12 months at over double my investment money.
You cannot do that these days.
My advice keep well away

Really a motivational peer pressure thread :thumbsup

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh i have heard this a lot

So, probably he won't follow the advice and open a bar restaurant :)

Orthopedic shoes :2 cents:

You will be on your feet 12 to 16 hours per day, after a while they really begin to hurt :helpme



Oh yeah, plus ALL of the negatives listed above, I'm a dumbshit who has done it twice, never again :winkwink:

Never managed a restaurant. But I do know good workers are difficult to come by.

If in US. Hire carefully. Hire somebody that wants to work.

You forgot, "pay the people you owe money to". That's an important one, and not just in the F&B space.

Wow! Thanks for all the advice and information, guys.

I’m reconsidering :D

If I had a dollar for every gringo in Costa Rica who wanted to "open a bar so their friends could come hang out"...

My buddy has a history of success with pizza shops and breakfast diners. He asked me last night if I wanted to open a pizza shop with him in the little town I live in. There's one pizza place and most people drive to the bordering towns because it's not all that good.

I saw the numbers from one of his other shops and I'm thinking that maybe my kids need to forget about college and sell pizza.

So I will change my position above, if the opportunity involves pizza. :1orglaugh

You will work harder than you can possibly imagine.

I get that. Little Caesars, Papa Johns, Dominos. I hear people talk bad about all of them.
But they are always so busy it is insane.