At some point in their lives everyone’s dreams of owning a restaurant. It provides the most foundational creativity of ones own taste.

The problem is that 80% of restaurants in NYC will close in 5 years. That is a huge failure rate and will destroy the finances of many families and individuals.

I’ve been blessed to have experienced the restaurant industry first hand for almost 12 years. My family has owned and operated multiple restaurants in NYC for almost 40 years! Seems to be as though we beat the odds. This wasn’t done by sheer luck. Success came with tremendous dedication, motivation, and outright hard work.

Opening a restaurant isn’t a simple task. Many pour their life savings into this dream only to see it crumble before their eyes. This happens because of the idea that in a restaurant the taste of the food is the only factor to its success.
I’m not saying that it doesn’t play a major role, but their are so many other factors that contribute to its success and failure that its almost surprising some go into this industry so blinded.

Here are some tips to aid your restaurant dreams.

Tips for opening a restaurant:

1. Before anything you must look at yourself and see if you honestly can handle the restaurant lifestyle.

The first few months require 24/7 dedication to just break even and if you can’t handle the stress don’t enter the market.

2. To be a boss you have to have been a dishwasher

With this said before you can lead your employees you must know all their tasks. You have to know how to cook, how to mop the floors, how to properly greet your customers, how to wash dishes. You must know the business inside out. Would you go to war without having learned how to shoot a gun? I would advise working in another restaurant for a few months to learn a system that already works so it can be implemented when it’s your time to run your restaurant.

3. Your customers are always right

Your customers are your backbone. Without them you wouldn’t be in business, so why not treat them like gold. Yes at times they might be wrong but treat them like they are right. Behind every complaint is some truth. Use this to your advantage and fix the problem.

4. Equipment keeps you going

Always keep your kitchen, and equipment clean. Wash them daily, the more your oven breaks down the less food you could serve. Clean them daily to avoid future breakdowns.

5. Get the best employees

Your employees are your direct connection to your customers. By hiring the wrong cashier you could possibly tick off the hundreds of customers that interacted with him/ her.

You could have the best food, but if the customers experience isn’t pleasant they aren’t coming back.

Teach your employees to smile, be courteous, and care for the business as is their own. If the store doesn’t make money they can’t get paid.