Restaurant owners have one of the toughest, most stressful jobs in the world. Think about it: your job is to please the HANGRIEST, most impatient crowd, of people that act like you owe them the world because they are paying a 15% tip. Upon entering they’re starving, they’re not drunk (yet), and all they really want to do is want to sit down and shovel (delicious) food into their mouths as soon as possible. But a warning before starting a restaurant: this doesn’t mean that they are not observing their surroundings with a watchful eye and criticing every minutiae detail from the lipstick stain on their rocks glass to the crumbs left on the seats.

From Point A: Entering the Restaurant to Point B: Shoveling said Nourishments into their mouth, they want to be coddled, treated like kings, have their water glasses refilled sufficiently (but not too much) and asked if everything is still okay (again, not too much because then the waiter is deemed annoying).There are so many things that your success as a restaurant owner depends on. From the hostess toothily greeting the diner, sitting them at the perfect seat, “not too close to the bathroom, and it better be a booth“. To the waitress hurriedly filling up those water glasses and offering you the beverage of choice, but not only that, they better have the whole wine/beer/spirit/ soda list memorized and a delectable commentary for any item inquired about “Yes, sir the coke is super fizzy tonight, with a slight and subtle aftertaste of caramel, delectable!“. After that they may need to remember to bring your second spoon for soup, and extra napkins.

Any of this missed on any of the 7 tables that the waiter is usually servicing at the same time and disaster strikes. Shit hits the fan and by fan I mean the next Yelp review and the customer’s twitter fanbase of potentially 26 people.

Yep, restaurant owning can be a scary business. According to BusinessWeek, one out of every 4 restaurants fail. But don’t let that stop you. The benefits of owning a successful restaurant can be extremely rewarding. Who doesn’t just purr at the satisfaction of knowing that they left drones of people happy, full of delicious food, and raving about it to their friends who will undoubtably be returning for seconds.

I have heard stories from incredible restaurant owners that have gone against the odds, and did things a little differently than usual, and found great success. Our next FOOD post will feature a successful Japanese retaurant owner that had to steal tins of Beefaroni growing up as a child. Now let’s say that his taste has undoubtably matured.

http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-04-16/the-restaurant-failure-mythbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice

Here are where the photographs are sourced:

a lovely photograph of Naughty Nuri’s in Bali from Lady Iron Chef.