Thought you all might find this interesting

[Kevan]

I found this on another site and thought I would post it here. I am sure many of you have add ons for this list, but it sure does highlight the knowledge needed to go a "raunting".

I am going to assume you have not worked in a foodservice establishment judging by your question. I have no knowledge of your experiences or situation so excuse my rambling if it does not apply. If you have not worked in F&B, the best advice I can give to you is to get a job in a restaurant. Spend the next 12 months getting paid for your mistakes and education rather than spending money and possibly lossing it all. I suggest 6 months of front of the house experience and 6 months of back of the house experience to see if the industry is for you. While you are learning the restaurant operation basics, do your homework on state and federal regulatons, certifications and inspections, labor and employment laws (know what and how to pay 941's, 940 and your state unemployment tax, learn how to pay and anticipate sales tax, learn what type of business entity you would create (LLC - S-Corp etc.), get to know the foodservice reps you encounter while working, every shift pay close attention to server station setup, kitchen flow, dishwashers and the chemicals they use, menu design, dining room decor, uniforms, the way hosts/hostesses answer the phone, the seating arrangement in the dining room, the selection of glasses and silverware, get HACCP & Servsafe certified for free while working at these retaurants, ask manager's to review the P&L with you, what types of cost's are they running, pay for the NRA's industry report, read Deloitte & Touche industry standards, do reviews on rents, know what rent per sq. foot will be, research the segment you will enter into to benchmark what your check averages will need to be to pay all your bills, know ALL expenses - even the funny ones like music licensing, get to know your POS while placing orders, while your in the kitchen and front of the house befriend everyone because chances are they will be teaching the things you want to avoid happening in your establishment when your an owner. I cannot state enough the importance of digging into the accounting and finance part. DO NOT depend on a qualified accountant or payroll company to always do what is right. Foodservice is it's own living organism and with it comes it's own set of business parameter's in realms of quality accounting. Read everything you can how to PROPERLY record your sales, COGS and how to correctly run ratio's to benchmark your operations. Know what Prime Costs are and how to use them, study kitchen and front of house productivity ratio's etc. etc. etc. Basically get paid while you do all this stuff and do not rush the decision. If you are serious do your homework first then take the test, you do not want to go in head first and lose all your money in addition to your nights and weekends, family strife from the stress and your overall healt.



In closing, retaurants can be extremely fun and rewarding and the comraderies built inside them are genuine. Please do not create something that is awesome to simply watch it die because the business side was not there to support the product side.

[marvsbbq]

All of this is well and good but there are a LOT of things in this that I as the business owner would NEVER share with ANY employee.

Such as but not limited to: "ask manager's to review the P&L with you, what types of cost's are they running"

Certain things are IMO just not shared with employees. Managers...maybe. But certainly not an employee that has worked for me less than a "few" years.

Maybe I am just old fashioned, and if I were to have a large complex operation such as Sugar Media just opened (and look where it got him... ) it MIGHT be different but.......

[Kevan]

Agreed. Posted more from a look at all the things you need to know standpoint.

[Harry Nutczak]

I see that as solid advice and I preach the same strategy for someone wanting to get into the culinary industry.

I really like the description the industry being it is a living organism with its own set of rules for everything. So true!
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Just remember that the toes you may step on during your climb to the top will also be attached to the a$$es you'll be forced to kiss on your way back down!