Succeeding in the Food Industry

Plenty of you are great chefs, and you have been making great food for a long time. Chances are, if this food is enjoyed by the ones close to you, it will be enjoyed by most people. Why don’t you start a restaurant?

Don’t ninety-percent of restaurants go out of business?

Certainly they do. Of course they do! They’re started by great chefs, too! And, that is the problem. Why? A restaurant cannot be started by a great chef alone; it must be started by a great businessman.

Isn’t it a wonder that so many big restaurant chains have such mediocre food, yet the small restaurants with outstanding food often go out of business? Clearly, then, the quality of the food isn’t important; or, at least, it’s not the only important thing.

Most restaurant owners make this mistake when starting their restaurant; don’t make the same one. Remember, you can’t just improve the taste of your food.

If you’re a good enough cook to make tasty food, then you’re a good enough cook for your restaurant. Don’t worry about the food anymore. The rest of your restaurant needs your attention.

Restaurants are composed of many different parts. To begin, you should get a basic understanding of accounting. Many of you will want to hire a bookkeeper instead; remember, however, that you have limited funds.

Inventory is the next thing you’ll want to tackle. A restaurant cannot function if the owner does not keep track of its stuff. Many owners operate their restaurant kitchen like their home kitchen. This will work, but only to a certain degree. Your restaurant will only grow to the size of your home kitchen. You obviously don’t want that. So, write down instructions on how to do everything. Make systems.

Next is inventory. Keeping track of everything in your restaurant is important! If you run it like your home kitchen, your restaurant will function, yes. However, it won’t be able to grow much bigger than your kitchen. Make everything systematic. Write everything down.

You’ll need to do a lot of work to find a good supplier, too. The cheaper, the better, but only if they have quality supplies. Don’t be lazy like lots of owners. It pays to do some searching.

Next, we’ll tackle advertising. This is essential; you cannot go without it. Use newspapers, but stay away from television commercials until you have several restaurants. For now, it will cost too much money that could be better spent elsewhere. Use the local radio if you can afford it.

You simply must put systems in place. All the areas we talked about need their own system. Restaurants cannot grow without organized, solid systems. Sure, it will survive without them, but it won’t grow. It must have a strong foundation.

Weak systems are analogous to cracks in a foundation for a building. The larger the building gets, the more pressure is put on those cracks. Eventually, the cracks will be so large the building will collapse. With a strong foundation, however, the building can be very large. Be sure your systems are strong!

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