Restaurants and Reality

My 13-year-old has decided he wants to be a chef when he grows up. I will be thrilled for him if he finds a fulfilling career, but this choice confuses me. First of all, he doesn’t particularly enjoy cooking. And secondly, he’s a horribly picky eater. We have tried to explain that no restaurant is likely to succeed if it offers only cheeseburgers and cinnamon rolls, but at this point, he is adamant.

Hopefully, if you’re realizing a similar dream, you’re better prepared for it than my son. You probably anticipated long hours of hard work and a slow start as you established your eatery. But sometimes the slow growth can reach the frustration point. A lack of merchant funding can slow down implementation of ideas and improvements that would help you create a solid niche for your restaurant.

One of the hurdles to overcome is the dichotomy between a flair with food and a talent with accounting ledgers. The typical restaurant owner has an abundance of the first, planning preparation, presentation and ambiance with an artistic eye. Yet many creative people are left cold at the thought of balancing the books.

One obvious way to overcome this hurdle is to take on a partner with the financial skills you lack. Because of the hard work involved it’s important to get someone fully committed, not just an occasionally hired accountant. Even though it’s obvious, this can be a difficult step for a dreamer, who doesn’t really trust anyone else to envision the final product.

If you’ve got good financial advice to go along with your great ideas, you’ll have a better shot than most at success. You need to begin with plenty of capital, preferably enough to go on for the first six months. Be prepared to invest a fair amount of your own money: since the restaurant business is notoriously difficult, you will probably only qualify for a merchant loan that covers part of the capital funding.

All this advice is not meant to be discouraging, just to encourage thoroughness and pragmatism. Plenty of people have succeeded at achieving the dream of running a restaurant, and there’s nothing to stop you, through hard work and clear-eyed realism, from joining them.