Anyone Ever Open A Restaurant?

So I've heard everything negative about opening your own restaurant (have several friend's whose families own restaurants) and was wondering if anyone on the forum would like to chip in their 2 cents.

I'd like to open it in 2-3 years, after things (hopefully) get better economically. For a frame of reference, I'd open it somewhere in LA and it's more of a hole in the wall type place rather than high dining.

Any advice, anecodotes, or anything else is welcome!

Upstarter

Never done it, but worked in my share of restaurants, and have some friends who do as well. If you're into it, godspeed and good luck, but it seems to me to be a dog's way to make a living. Tons of work, crap hours, you can never leave.

You ever work in a restaurant?

cuffthis(?) gave accounting the bird and opened up a restaurant. all reports have been glowing, and you get a discount for wearing a pocket square....

Originally Posted by Warren G.

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You ever work in a restaurant?

No, but I am well aware of how difficult it is (16 hour days, etc.). I plan on working in 2 before I open one.

Also, I'm not trying to say restaurants are easy, but there is a huge difference between fine dining, a "normal" place, and something equivalent to a burger joint or your local taco joint. Think along the lines of the latter in terms of what I'm shooting for.

Upstarter

My advice: Don't do it.

Originally Posted by cchen

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My advice: Don't do it.

Could you elaborate on WHY I shouldn't do it. Saying "don't do it" isn't exactly helpful.

A good restaurant, seriously, a good restaurant gets about 2-5% of all sales as profit at year end. Restaurant P&L's are sad enough to make you want to cry. Most of that needs to go back into the business to cover expenses because most restaurants lose money for the first few months of the year (to be honest, the average break even point for a restaurant comes right before Thanksgiving). This obviously varies as fine dining is more expensive than running a **** shack, and a place like Alinea is going to have pretty constant customers over somewhere else. If you've never worked in a restaurant, you should not open one. But what's the concept? Even working in 2 restaurants over the next couple years probably isn't enough. This is an entirely life-changing that demands sacrifice of basically everything you hold dear right now---- having a family, having a girlfriend, having regular friends (ie people who don't work w/ you at the restaurant), having vacation or holidays off, or having any kind of free time whatsoever. New owners of a sole-ownership restaurant usually work around 100 hours a week for the first couple of years, and that is no joke. If you honestly want to go forward with that, then you need to do more than work for a couple of places for a little while before doing so, but if you decide to continue with the plan, then good luck.

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

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If you've never worked in a restaurant, you should not open one. But what's the concept? Even working in 2 restaurants over the next couple years probably isn't enough.

I don't buy this at all. There are many successful restaurateurs who have never worked in a restaurant before opening up shop. It's more a question of how much money you have than how much experience you have working in a restaurant. You can work in a restaurant forever, but if you don't have the ideas, cojones, and most imporantly, money, to start your own shop, you won't be successful. And you can never work in a restaurant, but if you have a good concept, big cojones, and a lot of money you can do just fine.

Originally Posted by odoreater

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I don't buy this at all. There are many successful restaurateurs who have never worked in a restaurant before opening up shop. It's more a question of how much money you have than how much experience you have working in a restaurant. You can work in a restaurant forever, but if you don't have the ideas, cojones, and most imporantly, money, to start your own shop, you won't be successful. And you can never work in a restaurant, but if you have a good concept, big cojones, and a lot of money you can do just fine.

Sure, you can buy in all the talent you want, just like in any other industry. But what would the point be of that? To do nothing but sign the checks and cash the very small profit check at the end of the year, made even smaller by having to buy in people who know what they're doing instead of doing it yourself? No thx.

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

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Sure, you can buy in all the talent you want, just like in any other industry. But what would the point be of that? To do nothing but sign the checks and cash the very small profit check at the end of the year, made even smaller by having to buy in people who know what they're doing instead of doing it yourself? No thx.

The point is to make a lot of money without having to do all the work yourself - exactly like in every other industry. Why is the restaurant industry any different?

Originally Posted by odoreater

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The point is to make a lot of money without having to do all the work yourself - exactly like in every other industry. Why is the restaurant industry any different?

Maybe for some people, but not necessarily for all. There are many reasons to open up a restaurant, or any other kind of business, than just to make as much money as you can. Sure, that's the first and main reason, but it often isn't the only one.


I think we're talking about two entirely different concepts though.

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

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Maybe for some people, but not necessarily for all. There are many reasons to open up a restaurant, or any other kind of business, than just to make as much money as you can. Sure, that's the first and main reason, but it often isn't the only one.

people do a lot of things for dumb reasons

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

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Sure, you can buy in all the talent you want, just like in any other industry. But what would the point be of that? To do nothing but sign the checks and cash the very small profit check at the end of the year, made even smaller by having to buy in people who know what they're doing instead of doing it yourself? No thx.

i'd take the small profit, if your business is doing well you can sell it for 5-10 times earnings

start up 50 of these businesses, those small profits turn into a big profit at the end of it all!

Originally Posted by Teger

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people do a lot of things for dumb reasons

You think working for any reason other than making money is a dumb reason?
I feel bad for your employers.