How is it to own and run your restaurant?

How is it to own and run your restaurant?

I had my own restaurant and the following are straight out of the horse’s mouth. Peruse them at leisure and give it a lot of thought.

Whenever I mention that I owned a restaurant to someone I’ve never met before, they almost always get a dreamy look in their eyes. “Oh, I’ve always wanted to own my own restaurant!” They’ll say, with a knowing smile. “It must be so fun!” Well, I guess fun is all relative. Restauranting is more than a job. And even those who think they are called to it, are often times completely unprepared for the amount of work and stress that comes with being a restaurant owner. Of course, there are a great many benefits to being your own boss, including the free food.
There are a few key characteristics that define a good restaurant owner. If the following characteristics sound like you, then you are on the right path
1. You like people. You enjoy chatting with customers, and have no problem listening to complaints with a sympathetic ear.
2. You are good at multitasking. It seems like the term multitasking is everywhere these days. It is definitely in the restaurant business. As an owner you need to be able to answer the phone, take care of customers, fix broken equipment (or know who to call to fix it) track inventory and pay the vendors. And that is just in one morning!
3. You thrive on stress. If you can’t handle stress, then don’t even think about opening your own restaurant! Every job has some sort of stress, but owning a restaurant brings it to a whole new level. You find yourself worrying about everything thing that goes on in the restaurant, from the staff arguments to finding good cooks. When its busy you worry about the staff’s service, when it’s slow you worry about money. When it’s raining, you worry about getting customers in. Worry and stress go hand in hand. A good restaurant owner knows how to handle the stress of the job and not let it consume him or her.
Benefits of Being a Restaurant Owner
• Having your own restaurant is like raising a child. No one will take as much interest and pride in it as you will. When I get compliments on my restaurant, whether it is about the food or the service, I beam. I love, love, love hearing how people enjoyed coming to my restaurant. I think there are few jobs (and this is just my humble opinion) that can offer as much personal joy, as a successful business. Even today, when people talk about ‘Round The Corner, I beam and I really miss my place.
• Being you own boss is another wonderful benefit, so long as you are responsible. I’ve been my own boss for so long, I actually cringe at the thought of having someone tell me what to do. Of course, being your own boss means that all decisions, good and bad, fall on your shoulders. Luckily for me now, my bosses leave it to me. They just speak to me only when they need something for me. No one tells me what to do or how to do. It works for me and I am sure it is working for them.
• As a local business owner, you get to meet a lot of people. If your restaurant is in your hometown, you get to visit with friends and neighbours.

Drawbacks of Being a Restaurant Owner
I would not want to mislead you into thinking that being a restaurant owner is all fun and games and free food. There are many drawbacks to consider, including:
• Long Days and Nights- As the owner of a new restaurant you will be putting in very long days and evenings to make sure everything goes smoothly. And even when you are home, plan to be on the phone with the restaurant several times a day and night. If you are contemplating liquor service, then the days only get longer.
• Kiss Your Weekends and public holidays Goodbye- Weekends and holidays including vacations are the busy time for the restaurant. If you have children in school, think long and hard about the time you will miss, if you work all weekend.
• Unstable Income- If business slows down, and your checkbook is in the red, guess who is first to go without a salary? Yup, the owner. The person who does the most work, is the person who is often paid the least. This is a big part. It might sound trivial now, but it is really a big question.
• Lack of Benefits- Health insurance is a major concern for all small business owners. Not only will you have to buy private insurance you will need to figure out how you want to save for retirement and your kids education etc. Again, preplanning for these expenses before you go into business can help a great deal.
So there it is…the pros and cons of owning your own restaurant. Like any career it has some great benefits, as well as some major drawbacks. It’s up to you to decide if it’s the right path to take.

Poeple Driven Vs Process Driven

In our constant endeavor to keep aligning our efforts towards our professional / departmental / organizational goals we come across the terms PEOPLE DRIVEN and PROCESS DRIVEN. Wanted to initiate a discussion and seek and collate thoughts in this direction. Whilst both the approaches have inherent advantages and disadvantages, being in the services, most of us tend to skew towards a People Driven approach.
There are numerous advantages to be process driven; there is sense of predictability, the process and result are standardized. On the flip side, while holding onto the existing customer seems to be imminent challenge, the Process driven approach might make it difficult for the customers. We have heard the words which put us off immediately-"I'm Sorry, We can't do that". What we understand is that they "won't do that". This was a recent personal experience of mine when I visited an upcoming Chinese restaurant with two of my very accomplished associates. One of them is a connoisseur, and he requested a shiitake mushroom in his gravy. Though they were available in the menu on a different dish, the steward was refusing to accept our modified order, as it is not an item by itself in the menu. For him, "It is not a part of the menu, so I can't give you that". While my associate was trying to convince the steward that it is not a very big deal to add the mushroom and even offered to pay extra for the same, the steward did not budge. We finished our lunch, over which we discussed the reasons why he could have refused to serve the shiitake in our gravy. On my next visit to the same restaurant (Couldn't resist their starters) with a different set of friends, the same steward was serving us; he was slightly apologetic and revealed that their rules are inflexible and cashier wouldn't appreciate any modifications as it involves extra work for him in creating a special bill. It dawned upon me that if the steward was given the liberty to modify the order basing on client needs, and be not so bound by process, he would have not only billed us for more, but also won our loyalty. Too many processes are inflexible that they fail to understand their customers. Most of us will not give additional business to those who "Couldn't do that". When it comes to building customer loyalty, nothing is more effective than being flexible in our 'rules'. While the same is not applicable to all industries and practices, the human touch always helps. Of course, there will be some that will take advantage of our willingness to work beyond and around the rules, however, what we gain from the vast majority who do not game the system, significantly overcomes the stragglers.
Please share thoughts...