There are a lot of misconceptions about owning a restaurant. It doesn’t matter if it is a large location with the finest food in town or a small little shop that is quite unassuming. There are some aspects of owning a restaurant that many owners are shocked to learn are not true at all in their first week of owning. Not all of the surprises will be bad of course, there are many great things about owning a restaurant that you can be proud of.
Although there are some things that you should be aware of right out of the gate so that they do not come as roadblocks that you have not planned or mentally prepared for. After all, owning a restaurant take a tremendous amount of drive and passion, so you need to make sure that you keep the dream alive and enjoy the experience.
1. It’s all about the food
You should be aware that, yes, food is one of the major aspects of any restaurants, but you will not be able to indulge yourself fully in each and every dish and ingredient choice. In fact, as the owner of the restaurant, you will be preoccupied with many of the day to day running of the restaurant. You will need to think about food equipment, payroll, staffing, cleaning, cash flow and many other aspects of the business. Things to do with the food your restaurant serves to customers will be under control by the head chef. That is why you hired them after all.
2. You can work the hours you choose
There is a small bit of flexibility here, as once you have a team in place that you can trust you will be able to take a few hours here and maybe a day or two there. For the most part, however, you will find that you need to be at the restaurant at all time. This includes holidays and weekends. Your restaurant will take up a great deal of your time and energy. It will all be worth it though as the rewards are also great.
3. You can leverage your network to get the customers in
So you know a lot of people through many years in business and have a large network to invite to your restaurant. This is a great start and can really help to draw a big crowd on the opening night. However, you can’t rely on this to sustain your business in the long run. You will need to put a significant amount of effort into promoting your restaurant and getting people in the door.
4. You can see your friends whenever that have dinner
It is true that your friends and family will often come to the restaurant, but you don’t want them there all of the time. This can be quite distracting and they will always be expecting a free dessert or something extra because they know you. It is important to set a precedent early on that you will not be doing this. It may make you feel good, but if they keep coming back you’re going to start losing money on them. Also, your skills are needed elsewhere in the restaurant, so if you are chatting with friends all night, the rest of your staff may be stretched a little thin.
5. What you say goes!
While it is true that you are the owner of the restaurant, you will need your employees to work together like a well-oiled machine as the jobs that your team have are all very demanding. You will need their cooperation and also you need to listen to their concerns and suggestions.
