Be
in no doubt. Owning and running a
restaurant is not purgatory or life threatening.
What
it is, is fun, profitable and enables a lifestyle the envy of most.
People
who perhaps should rethink their ability to be successful tend to blame
mutually exclusive factors for their demise such as restaurant over-supply ,
long hours or even Uber-eats. It’s
simply not true.
People
tend to blame ‘others’ after they have failed to deal with all the ‘fun’
challengers. Beware the pontificating
dross!
The
first key concept is that owning a restaurant is actually real hands on work
not to be confused with just sitting at home directing the minions to achieve. They won’t!
Secondly,
restaurants fall over because they can’t deal with inevitable quiet times or
their offering does not meet the ‘wow’ factor or they remain undifferentiated
with no discernible focus to attract spenders.
Thirdly,
there never were days gone past when all you had to do was open the door and
people would throw money in. It’s a myth
perpetrated by those seeking solace or the ‘oh woe is me’ syndrome.
It’s
not what happens, it’s how you deal with it! Obviously there are no guarantees and success
can be sometimes a fleeting goal but these failures are nothing compared to the
many restaurateurs having a ball. We had
a failure a few years ago but we dealt with it and moved on to more fun than
you can shake a stick at.
Currently
we have a tiny bistro seating just 16 people which we open 5 days and perhaps
30 hours a week for around 44 weeks a year and we have just been awarded out of
London, ‘Australian restaurant of the year’. Our product is differentiated with just my
wife and I working, open short hours, travel the world and, we own the bar! Did I mention having fun?
The
thought challenged with a distracted ego fail on many fronts to deal with all
the issues involved expecting to just open the doors and all will be tickety
boo. Life and restaurants are not like
that.
I
play golf badly, failing all the time to whip that grass into shape. But it’s still God’s sport and it’s fun. There is no greater challenge in playing
against an opponent you can never beat! And, it’s just bloody grass! Restaurants are the same – good days, bad
days, fun days and abject misery days.
Good,
isn’t it!
