ABOUT ME
I have 16 years of restaurant management experience, from manager trainee, general manager, to vice president of operations of a regional chain.
But maybe more importantly, I have walked the talk, owning, opening, and operating 3 independent restaurants and a comedy club.
After that, I went back to school and became a university professor teaching restaurant management at the University of Alabama, Golden Gate University, and retired from Cal Poly Pomona as professor emeritus.
I was a Fulbright Scholar teaching restaurant management in Helsinki, Finland, and gave keynote presentations to Finland's restaurant association about restaurant failure in Finland and in Estonia.
I have written two books on restaurant management, The New Restaurant Manager and the New Restaurant Manager, Part 2.
This is personal to me
My first restaurant failed even though I had years of restaurant management experience and thought I knew everything. It was obvious very quickly that I didn't. I was stunned. This couldn't happen, but it did and was devastating to me and my family. The good news is that I learned a lot from that awful experience and my next two restaurants were successful.
The key take-away is that being an owner is far different from being a manager. Most managers don't realize they know nothing about choosing a location, how to set prices, how to set staffing levels, how to set up systems and controls, and organize their restaurant since all exist. But if they become an owner, it becomes obvious quickly that they have no experience in those most important elements.
One of the main reasons my first restaurant failed was that I didn't think I needed a business plan or timeline. I was wrong. An effective business plan forces you to go deep into each area of your restaurant, alerting you to areas where you are weak, and giving you time to fix them before it is too late.
My academic research was on restaurant failure. The one factor consistent with failed restaurants was that none had a business plan. You don't want this to be you.
