Things Every Restaurant Owner Needs to Know

Thinking of opening a restaurant? Congratulations - you are in a position to launder money and or you have so much money that you can afford to suffer heavy losses. Or maybe you just want to meet cute young waitrons. Either way, here are a couple tips to ease the pain of a running this type of high failure rate business.

Be an appliance repair expert

The people that repair refrigeration units and appliances charge a king’s ransom, often for things that are simple fixes. Acquire some plumbing skills too. If you are not handy with a toolbox or don’t have someone on the payroll that is you’re in trouble.

Be present

You need to be on the premises all the time. If you are there working it means one less person on the payroll, for starters. And unless your employees are all trusted family members being there will prevent much of the shrinkage that occurs at any business that underpays their employees. If workers feel they are not being compensated fairly they will steal, and an essential part of the restaurant business model is to not compensate workers fairly.

Beware of the Internet

In a world where any jerk can dine at your place once and then complain about it online you need a media strategy. Even when you do things right it’s hard to recover when things go horribly wrong.

You work for the landlord

Unless you own the building you are in you are a de facto employee of your landlord. Rent seeking is a predatory exploitative business — ask anyone trying to rent an apartment or retail space in Seattle — and you are the prey.

Don’t get high on your own supply

I have seen this many times - the owner and their cronies drinking from the bar. Every drink you have is not just costing you the wholesale value of that drink, it’s costing you the full retail price that someone is not paying.

The Frontier Room in 2003. At that point it was a yuppie BBQ joint.

I fondly remember the Summer I worked as a door guy / fry cook at Belltown dive bar the Frontier Room. Every night after closing the very intimidating gun-toting bartender - let’s call her Tina - would bring her girlfriends in to drink until five in the morning. The owner was an absentee landlord (is there any other kind?) who had inherited the place and didn’t give a shit. The definition of a dive bar.

Good luck future restaurateurs!

—Alex

After many years the motor on this dishwasher died. Time to get a new one with a five year lease and twice monthly deliveries of the three different detergents and sanitizers needed to run the thing. And don’t forget about the water and electric bills!