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How to Open a RestaurantThe Modern Restaurateur’s Guide to Starting & Growing a Restaurant Business

Alison Arth


Table of ContentsIntroduction

How to Write a Business Plan Why Writing A Business Plan Is Not Optional What Your Business Plan Should Cover Building a Pitch Deck

How to Fund Your Restaurant Setting Up Your Business Overview of Common Business Structures Figuring Out How Much Money You Need Structuring Investor Payback & Ownership What to Expect from the Fundraising Process More Financing Options

How to Identify Locations, Choose a Site & Negotiate Your Lease Location vs. Site Choosing a Site How to Negotiate Your Lease

In the Weeds: Aaron London

How to Deal with Legal Regulations Licenses, Permits, Inspections & Certificates TEST CASE: Chez Ruth

How to Create a Brand

How to Design Your Restaurant Construction Kitchen Design Interior Design

In the Weeds: Amanda Cohen

How to Order and Purchase What Do You Need? Key Considerations Post-Opening Ordering & Purchasing

How to Build Your Team Recruit the Right People Interviewing Assembling Your Team

How to Train Your Team Start Early Classroom Training Prepare Written Materials Preview Events

In the Weeds: Sean Heather

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Table of Contents cont’dHow to Create Your Menu Start with Trust Art vs. Commerce Building in Profitability Working with Purveyors Menu Design

How to Use Technology Technology Solutions to Consider Guest & Reservation Management Tips for Choosing & Using Tech Solutions Managing Your Web Presence How to Build Your Website How to Manage Your Presence on Online Review Sites

How to Create Buzz Get Your Story Straight Find the Key Players Communicate with Intention Love Thy Neighbor Host a Media-Specific Preview Event Avoid Oversharing Start Your Social Media Feeds Early Build Relationships Respond to Reviews Get the Most Out of Your PR Company

GlossarySample P&LContributor Bios

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Throughout my career, I’ve been fortunate to work alongside some of the most talented and visionary hospitality professionals in the world. Regardless of years of experience, size of the team or location, there’s one constant: opening a restaurant is among the most challenging and rewarding projects a person can take on.

I founded my hospitality consulting company Salt & Roe to help current and aspiring restaurateurs across the country gracefully open restaurants. By helping tackle everything from drafting a business plan to menu design and staff training, my career is all about taking on projects and setting them up for success through opening night and beyond.

Since graduating from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, I’ve participated in 16 openings -- ranging from Michelin-star concepts for Chef Daniel Boulud’s Dinex Group in New York City and James Beard-nominated Spoon and Stable in Minneapolis to neighborhood and fast-casual restaurants in my native San Francisco. Along the way, I’ve learned that while the process is far from formulaic, there are numerous best practices that can ensure your restaurant has the best shot at success.

I’ve teamed up with dozens of restaurateurs in the United States and abroad to collect cautionary tales, dos and don’ts, and “If I only knew...” stories, and deliver them in one comprehensive resource on how to open a restaurant. I am humbled by the time and honesty every contributor gave to this project, and it’s an honor to be able to share their hard-earned insights. I hope this book will guide and inspire anyone who’s ever dreamed of becoming a restaurateur to follow their passion.

Alison Arth

Introduction

http://www.saltandroe.com/


How to Write a Business PlanWhy Writing A Business Plan Is Not Optional

Your business plan will be the road map from which your new restaurant develops. No matter how much thought you’ve put into your concept or how many trusted colleagues have assured you of its greatness, you absolutely must write a business plan. It will prove the viability of your concept to potential investors and provide them with a clear and engaging answer to the question: “Why does the world need this restaurant?”

First, ask yourself questions to ensure that your restaurant actually is financially sustainable and truly does offer unique value in the market you’re hoping to enter. Creating a business plan will guide you through the process and help you find inconsistencies and potential road blocks, allowing you to make adjustments before you’ve presented your idea to prospective investors and partners. Here’s how to show that you’ve thought through every aspect of the business.

“The point of a business plan is to show that you’ve done your homework,” says Charles Bililies, owner of Souvla, a fine casual Greek restaurant in San Francisco that has received national acclaim since opening in the spring of 2014.

“You have to show any potential investor that you have an actual plan, you know what you’re talking about, it looks professional, and you’re not just screwing around.”

Charles Bililies

Crunch the Numbers

A restaurant, first and foremost, is a business. Guests will only get to experience your creation if you’re able to build

http://souvlasf.com/


it in a financially sustainable way. This requires research, brutal honesty, and in almost every case, outside help tofigure out.

With a few rare exceptions, you’ll need to engage an accountant to help you put together the financial projections that any potential investors will expect to see. Even if you have a background in finance, soliciting a third-party, emotionally-detached opinion from a CPA who has experience with restaurant clients will ensure you’ve covered all your bases.

Charles retained an accountant while assembling Souvla’s business plan, despite having three years of relevant financial experience at Mina Group, a national restaurant group with more than 20 concepts, under his belt. He says, “It’s very helpful when you can turn around to the investors and say, ‘We have retained the services of this firm, they have verified all of these figures, and they’ll be handling our accounting moving forward.’”

Mike Harden, Co-Founder and Senior Partner at venture capital firm ARTIS Ventures, has invested in successful restaurants like Tacolicious in San Francisco and is presented with countless restaurant business plans every year. When someone is on the other side of his desk hoping for investment, he wants to know:

“Are your financial terms reasonable? Are they not only within the realm of possibility, but do they err on the side of conservatism? If everything needs to go exactly right in order to generate profit, that’s not good enough. Just because it’s your dream doesn’t mean the numbers work.”

Mike Harden

You must be able to demonstrate clearly that in the market you’re hoping to enter, you’ll be able to produce enough revenue -- based on your projected number of guests per day and your average check -- to cover your expenses, and have money left over.

Paint the Picture

The writing that comes before and after those financial charts and numbers is equally important. Mike notes, “The average person who invests in an independent restaurant is someone that wants to go there. They want to get paid back and make money, but they also look at it as an investment in a community, an investment in the people around them, and a way to have fun.”

Crunch the Numbers cont’d

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With that in mind, your business plan needs to be engaging and give the reader a clear picture of what you, your brand, and your restaurant are all about. Roberta Economidis, Partner in the law firm of Georgopoulos & Economidis, LLP, has been representing restaurants in the Bay Area for more than a decade, which means she’s laid eyes on hundreds of business plans.

She says, “A business plan, in my mind, is the first date. What I do as a lawyer is the prenup. You need that romance factor to get people bought in with solid numbers that can back it all up.”

When the reader can so clearly feel, taste, hear, and visualize the experience you’re promising that they’re craving it just after seeing it on paper, you know you’ve got a solid business plan.

This is the first, but far from the last time you’ll hear me recommend that you be very honest with yourself about what you don’t know. If writing isn’t your cup of tea, hire a consultant who is experienced in creating restaurant business plans. Many potential investors will ask to see your business plan before taking an in-person meeting with you, so it’s crucial that this document captures their interest quickly and represents your concept accurately.

Establish Your Brand

When it comes to establishing a brand, clarity and consistency are always best -- and your business plan is your first chance to get off on the right foot. Brett Traussi, the Chief Operating Officer of Daniel Boulud’s Dinex Group based in New York City, is a leader in creating new concepts for the company and, as a valued mentor, also reads business plans for concepts all over the world from former employees.

“The places that go on to be really successful aren’t the concepts that are trying to reinvent the wheel; they are the ones that are easy to understand.”

Brett Traussi

Try to describe your concept completely in one short sentence. If you can’t do it, you’re likely attempting too much at once (remember that your first restaurant doesn’t have to be your last!).

Add visual elements to your business plan to help readers better understand the experience you hope to create. Design a preliminary logo, choose a unique but easily readable font, and create a mood board within the document that shows

Paint the Picture cont’d

http://www.gelawgroup.com/


http://www.danielboulud.com/


snippets of defining design elements, finishes, and relevant food, wine and cocktail imagery. By the time potential investors are finished reading, they should have the same picture of your concept in their mind as you do. Everything you include should tie back to what you do, who you are, and why you’re doing it to help build strength and clarity into your brand.

If graphic design is out of your realm, this might be a good time to engage a branding expert. The idea of paying anyone else when you may not have even secured a single cent in funding probably sounds very unattractive, but it could mean the difference between getting 30 minutes of an investor’s time and getting passed over. Charles did as much as he could to sketch out his own logo before taking it to a graphic designer in order to minimize his costs. Looking through your contacts to see if you’ve got any talented friends is another low-cost way of going about this.

What Your Business Plan Should Cover

The strongest business plans always include all or most of the components described below. Charles advises that first- time restaurateurs read a bunch of different business plans for other restaurants and technology and retail companies to get a better sense of layout options, writing styles, and

clarity of concept. Put the sections that you feel would be most compelling to someone who’s never met you first: the “Management Team” section if you’re coming from high-profile establishments, for example. The goal is for the reader to keep turning the page.

1. Branded CoverInclude your logo (even if it’s not finalized), the date, and your name.

2. Concept Describe your restaurant concept and get the reader excited about your idea. Go into detail about the food you’ll be serving, inspiration behind your concept, and an overview of service style. Define clearly what will be unique about your restaurant.

3. Sample MenuThe menu is the most important touchpoint of any restaurant’s brand, so this should be more than just a simple list of items. Incorporate your logo and mock-up a formatted menu design (again, tap a designer for help if needed).

Your sample menu should also include prices that are based on a detailed cost analysis. This will give investors a clear understanding of your targeted price point, provide the first building block to figuring out average check

Establish Your Brand cont’d


estimations needed to create financial projections, and show investors that you’ve done the homework needed to be confident that you’ll be able to sell these items at these prices and operate within your budget. (We’ll dive into the specifics of costing menu items in Chapter 10.)

4. Service This section is most relevant for fine-dining concepts, concepts that have a unique service style, or if you have particularly strong feelings about what role service will play in your restaurant. It can be a powerful way of conveying your approach to hospitality to investors by explaining the details of the guest’s service experience. Will your restaurant have counter service designed to get guests on their way as quickly as possible, or will it look more like theater, with captains putting plates in front of guests simultaneously? If an extensive wine program is an integral part of what you’re doing, will you have a sommelier? If you don’t feel that service is a noteworthy component of your operation, address it briefly in the concept section. 5. Management TeamWrite a brief overview of yourself and the team you have established so far. You want to demonstrate that the work experience you’ve acquired over the course of your career has provided you with the necessary skills to run

a successful restaurant. Ideally, once you have described the strong suit of every member of your team, you’ll be presenting a full deck. Remember that most independent restaurant investors are in this for more than just money, so giving some indication of what you value and who you are outside of work may also be helpful.

6. Design Incorporate some visuals. Create a mood board that shows images related to the design and feeling of your restaurant. Planning on cooking in a wood-burning oven? Include that. Photos of materials and snippets of other restaurants that you love that are similar to the brand you’re building are also helpful.

7. Target MarketWho is going to eat at your restaurant? What do they do for a living, how old are they, and what’s their average income? Once you’ve described them in detail, reiterate why your specific concept will be appealing to them.

8. LocationThere should be a natural and very clear connection between the information you present in the “Target Market” section and this one. You probably won’t have a specific site identified at this point in the process, but you

What Your Business Plan Should Cover cont’d


should talk about viable neighborhoods. Don’t assume that potential investors will be familiar with the areas you’re discussing and who works or lives there -- make the connections clear. You want readers to be confident that your restaurant’s “ideal” diner intersects with the neighborhood(s) you’re proposing as often as possible. If don’t have a site, this is a good place to discuss what you’re looking for in terms of square footage, foot traffic, parking, freeway accessibility, and other important details that we’ll outline in Chapter 3.

9. Market OverviewAddress the micro and macro market conditions in your area. At a macro level, what are the local and regional economic conditions? If restaurants are doing poorly, explain why yours won’t; if restaurants are doing well, explain how you’ll be able to compete in an already booming restaurant climate. At a micro level, discuss who your direct competitors are. Talk about what restaurants share your target market and how you’ll differentiate yourself. 10. Marketing & PublicityThe restaurant landscape is only getting more competitive. Discuss your pre- and post-opening marketing plan to show investors how you plan to gain traction leading up to opening day, as well as how you’ll keep the momentum

going. If you’re going to retain a PR/marketing company, introduce them and explain why you’ve chosen them over other companies (including some of their best-known clients helps). If not, convey that you have a solid plan in place to generate attention on your own through social media, your website, and media connections.

11. Specialists & ConsultantsList any outside contractors you plan to retain, such as:

• Accountant• Attorney• Architect• Designer• General Contractor• PR & Marketing

Briefly explain the services they’ll be providing for you, why you chose them, and any notable accomplishments.

12. Business StructureThis section should be short and sweet. What type of business structure have you set up and why did you make that specific decision? As we’ll discuss in Chapter 2, you will need to work with an attorney to help you determine what business structure is best for you.



“Step one: write a business plan. Step two: hire a good attorney. In addition to helping me build a smart, sustainable business structure, my attorney was also a great resource for reviewing my business plan because she’s read thousands of them. She was a very helpful, experienced outside perspective for more than just legal matters.”

Charles Bililies

13. FinancialsLet your accountant guide you through this portion of your business plan. It is crucial that whoever you retain to help you with your financials has a wealth of restaurant experience (not just one or two places), as they should be familiar with the specifics of restaurant finances and know what questions to ask you. Before creating realistic financial projections, your accountant will want to know approximately how many seats you’re planning on having, what your average check will be, and approximately how many covers per day you plan to do. Being conservative in these estimations is key as these three data points will be used as the basis for figuring out whether your concept is financially feasible.

Lou Guerrero, Principal at Kross, Baumgarten, Kniss & Guerrero, emphasizes that, “You’ll get a lot of accountants that tell you that they’ve done a couple of restaurants, but you have to choose someone that has a deep expertise in what you’re doing. There’s nothing to gain from going with someone that doesn’t have a very restaurant-centric practice.”

A well-vetted accountant with restaurant experience will know exactly what you’ll need to have prepared to show investors. The key projections you can expect to work on are:

• Pro forma profit and loss statement for the first three to five years of operation

• Break even analysis• Capital requirements budget

Additional Resources: For detailed reading on building the financial portion of your business plan, see Restaurant Success By the Numbers, by Roger Fields, CPA.

Building a Pitch Deck

A pitch deck is a consolidated, visually-driven version of your business plan, and it’s an extremely helpful tool for you and the person you’re presenting to. Why? Your business



plan is going to be content heavy; lots of writing, not a lot of pictures, and too much information for any person to reasonably follow along with while you’re in a face-to-face meeting.

A well-designed pitch deck is a visual aid to help you illustrate your key points and to help potential investors better understand your vision. Here are a few tips for creating an effective deck:

• It should be no more than 10-15 pages (printed) or slides (digital presentation).

• Use your business plan as your outline with roughly one slide representing a section (use more for important areas like describing your concept).

• Try not to put more than 10 words on each slide and make each one impactful.

• Use visuals to engage the person you’re speaking with. What images best represent what you hope to do?

• Keep the entire deck sharp, professional and on-brand. • Bring a digital version and a hard copy to meetings so

that technology failures don’t throw you off.

Additional Tips from the Experts

• Share your business plan with people who are experts in areas that you’re not. Accept critical feedback from

friends and colleagues that you trust; it’s hard to see the picture when you’re inside the frame.

• Drop the NDA. Charles says, “I was initially petrified that someone was going to take this idea and just run with it, but I quickly realized that I had much more to gain from making it as easy as possible for people to engage with my idea.”

• Isolate your risk factors. “As a first-time restaurateur, you’re an unproven operator and that’s a risk factor,” says Mike Harden. “If you open an unproven concept in an up-and-coming location and it fails, you’ll never know why your idea didn’t work.”

Key Takeaways

1. Pick consultants who have a deep expertise in what you’re doing. Two of the most important people you’ll work with in the process of opening your restaurant will need to be identified at this stage: your attorney and your accountant. Do your homework to make sure they have depth of experience in the specific type of restaurant you’re opening, check their references, get price quotes, and ask other restaurateurs that you trust who they use for these services.

Building a Pitch Deck cont’d


2. Get consultants (like your attorney and accountant) involved as early as possible. Lou says, “A one-hour conversation today can save you a lot of heartache down the road if you’re able to address a whole host of issues that aren’t in your area of expertise.” Get a lot of input before you actually start spending time and money to open a restaurant that hasn’t been vetted.

3. Make sure your business plan demonstrates both a passion for your concept and an understanding of business and finance. You need to inspire potential investors to get involved, but you also must show that your concept will be financially viable.

1. Build a business plan that showcases your brand. This is the first representation of your brand, so make sure it’s something you’re proud of -- a designer or talented friend can help.

2. Build an image-driven pitch deck to summarize the contents of your business plan. The deck will help guide you through meetings with investors, where they won’t have time to pore over every word.

Key Takeaways cont’d

4.

5.


How to Fund Your RestaurantSetting Up Your Business

The next big decision to make about your restaurant-to-be is how the business will be structured. This part can be overwhelming and confusing, so don’t try to figure it out yourself. Get an attorney involved to help you sort through the pros and cons of each structure, as there is no one way that works best.

Your business structure will address the following aspects of your restaurant: • The amount of taxes you will pay• The extent to which you and your partners/investors are

held personally responsible for debt incurred by your restaurant (liability)

• The amount of flexibility you have in the event you decide to sell or transfer the business

• How investors get paid back• The protection of your intellectual property

The best way to find a great attorney is to ask peers whom you trust and respect for referrals. Whoever you hire must have extensive experience in working with the specific type of restaurant you’re planning to open. For example, an attorney who has 50 restaurant clients that are all fast-food chains can rightly claim that they have a lot of restaurant experience, but if you’re planning to open something closer to The French Laundry, this is not a good fit.

“You don’t have to retain a lawyer up front, but you at least need to a have a consultation with an attorney to understand your options in terms of incorporation, as well as the laundry list of other things that you’ll need to consider. Then, when you get to the point when you’re ready to retain an attorney, you already have someone that’s familiar with you and your concept.”

Roberta Economidis


Overview of Common Business Structures

There is no blanket “best” or “worst” way of structuring your business. You and your attorney will work together to determine the most successful structure based on your specific wants, needs, and circumstances. Below is a brief overview of each major category.

Sole ProprietorshipA sole proprietorship is simple -- it means you are the only owner of your business. You own all of the property, you keep all of the business profits, and you are also personally liable for its debts.

PartnershipsThere are two different types of partnerships, general and limited.

• General Partnership• This works just like a sole proprietorship, but with

multiple people. General partners, like sole proprietors, bear the risk of unlimited personal liability.

• Limited Partnership• In a limited partnership, there must be at least one

general partner and the rest of the partners can be limited partners. Two things to know here:• If someone is a limited partner, they cannot be an

active part of running the restaurant operation and cannot take a salary.

• They do not bear personal responsibility for the debts of the business beyond the amount of money they invested.

Corporations

Corporations are created by state law and essentially separate you and your partners or investors from your business. If your restaurant is a corporation and it fails, everyone who is invested in it (yourself included) is only responsible for his or her own investment, nothing more. People create corporations to shield themselves from liability.

There are two types of corporations: S Corps and C Corps. They each have pros and cons that your lawyer and accountant will be able to explain to you in the context of your specific business.

“The restaurateur wants any contracts or agreements -- whether they’re with the seller of a restaurant that you’re purchasing, or a landlord or an investor -- to be with the corporate entity, not the restaurateur themselves, to shield them from liability.”

Roberta Economidis


Limited Liability Companies

An LLC has shared attributes of a combination of a partnership and a corporation. There are some distinct advantages to creating an LLC: all members (including you) are sheltered from liability; depending on the structure, either you have all of the authority, or all members have the right to help manage the business, and there is no limit to how many shareholders you can have in an LLC. Another big plus is that LLCs are very flexible, and this flexibility will be helpful when it comes time to structure investment payback terms.

S Corp Within An LLC

Roberta, Partner in the law firm of Georgopoulos & Economidis, LLP, provided great insight into the option of creating an S Corp that will act as the manager of the LLC for two important purposes: first, to improve the restaurateur’s tax treatment and secondly, to ensure that the restaurateur’s intellectual property is protected.

If you’re thinking about replicating your concept -- building more stores of the same concept or opening multiple concepts -- it can be beneficial for the restaurateur to be a member of an S Corp, not the restaurant’s LLC. The S Corp is generally 100% owned by the restaurateur, which means that the restaurateur also owns 100% of the intellectual

property. The S Corp will be the entity that goes on to open up other LLCs and other restaurants, effectively protecting the rights to a restaurateur’s concepts and ideas, since the investors will only be owners in the subsidiary LLCs.

Figuring Out How Much Money You Need

The question every aspiring restaurateur of course wants to know is, “So, how much is this whole thing going to cost?” The short answer is, it varies wildly depending on your market, concept, space, and a host of other considerations. Those considerations are a great place to start when putting together your capital requirements budget, which we discussed in Chapter 1.

That capital requirements budget should include a summary of all of your opening costs, including working capital and contingency money for when (not if) you exceed your initial budget. Your pro forma and your capital requirements budget will help determine how much working capital you need based on when your restaurant is projected to generate positive cash flow.

This list includes some but not all of the items to consider when putting together your capital requirements budget:





• Rent & rent security deposit• Design costs

• Architect• Designer• Contractor

• Construction costs• Contractor

• Legal fees• Accounting fees• Other consulting fees• Licenses & permits

• Liquor license• (More information on licenses and permits in Chapter 4)

• Insurance• Furniture, fixtures, and equipment

• Kitchen equipment• Front-of-house smallwares• Back-of-house smallwares• Dining room furniture• Point-of-sale system• Reservation system• China, glassware, silverware, holloware• Opening inventory of all food & beverage

• Opening payroll, including staff training (discussed in Chapter 9)

• Pre-opening events (discussed in Chapter 9)• PR & marketing• Working capital• Contingency

Once you, your attorney, and your accountant feel comfortable with the accuracy of each estimate in your capital requirements budget, you’ll have your fundraising goal. As a best practice, err on the side of overestimating your expenses.

“The importance of having enough set aside both for working capital and for contingency money was imprinted on me by a number of people. It’s always better to raise more than you need because it’s a lot harder to turn back and ask for more. There’s no such thing as too much, since you can always bank it as working capital or give it back.”

Charles Bililies

Structuring Investor Payback & Ownership

Once you’ve figured out how much money you need to raise, you’re ready to hit the pavement and start pitching investors, right? Not quite. Before approaching potential investors, you need to have a good idea of what you plan to offer them.

Work with your attorney and accountant to figure out what payback terms are best for your particular business, as well

Figuring Out How Much Money You Need cont’d


as how your ownership structure will break down. Don’t be afraid to ask questions when solidifying these details. The more confident you are navigating the terms of your restaurant, the more confident potential investors will be in your handle of the project.

Take the time to research what investors in your market typically like to see in deals. Roberta’s golden rule? “Know thy investor. Having a good idea of what your investor wants is the key to getting them on board.”

Mike, Co-Founder and Senior Partner at venture capital firm ARTIS Ventures, says, “Investors are looking for good quality payback terms. In the Bay Area, that tends to mean a 60/40 split in favor of the restaurant if it’s your first time, and closer to 70/30 if you’re proven. Investors here like to reap anywhere from 90 to 100% of profits until their investment has been paid back 125%.”

But remember, those numbers vary depending on the market, economic conditions, and the particulars of your business.

Payback TermsRegardless of how your payback terms are defined, there are general rules of thumb for how long it should take you to pay your investors back. You want to be able to pay your

investors back plus their return somewhere within two to four years. If you’re in fine dining, where the profit margins are not as good as casual concepts, you want to pay your investors back plus their return within five years. Anything above these benchmarks, and you should revisit your financial projections and perhaps tweak your concept.

Preferred ReturnsA restaurant is generally regarded as a risky investment -- even more so when it’s a new, unproven concept and a first-time restaurant owner. A preferred return prioritizes and expedites the investor payback process by using 90 to 100% of your restaurant’s profits in the first few years of operation to pay back their full investment, plus whatever interest rate or premium is defined in your payback terms. Once they’ve been paid back plus their preferred return, the restaurant’s profits will revert to being divided based on your ownership structure.

Let’s say the following things are true:

• You own 70% of the business and your investors own 30%• You have agreed to pay your investors back their initial

investment plus 25% • You have agreed to pay investors 90% of the restaurant’s

profit until the preferred return is reached• Your investors contributed a total of $500,000

Structuring Investor Payback & Ownership cont’d

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• Your restaurant is earning approximately $200,000 per year in profit

In this scenario, you will be paying your investors 90% of your $200,000 profit ($180,000) until you’ve paid out $500,000 + 25% ($625,000). So, in this scenario it would take about 3.5 years to pay your investors back and once this is done, the division of profit would revert to the 70/30 ownership structure you set up for the life of that business.

In addition to prioritizing investors, Charles, owner of Souvla in San Francisco, says, “You’re also incentivizing yourself as the operator to run as lean, mean, and profitable of a business as humanly possible, because your motivation is to close that preferred return period and revert to whatever equity split that you have set up for the business so that you, the owner, can start actually making money.”

“These people are at a much larger risk financially because they really have nothing to go off besides their interactions with you. By using a preferred return method, you are putting investors first and rewarding them for trusting you.” Charles Bililies

OwnershipHow you structure ownership for your first restaurant will


be a careful balancing act between making the opportunity attractive to investors and ensuring the terms are fair for you. Expect investors to own a larger portion of the business than they will once you’ve opened a couple of successful places and proven that you’re able to run a profitable business. With that said, you will never want to own less than 51% of your business so that you always have control of it.

Roberta agrees that being good to your investors, especially when it’s your first restaurant, is extremely important. But she encourages restaurateurs to think past the immediate future when structuring ownership so that if the business grows and other key team members emerge, the equity structure allows for some flexibility to offer team members equity or profit sharing. Offering investors great terms through a preferred return gives them an attractive option to not only protect their investment, but to earn something above and beyond what they originally put in.

“If you go on to open other restaurants and you have an Executive Chef or a General Manager that are overseeing operations on your behalf, you might want to give them equity in the business and suddenly, if your ownership terms are at 51/49, you’d have to drop below 50% of your own business to do that.”

Roberta Economidis

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Once you have a solid understanding of what you’d like to offer investors, Roberta recommends putting together a term sheet with your attorney and accountant and floating it past the core group of investors that you know are dedicated to supporting your project. This lets you take the temperature of your most committed investors, and if they don’t like the terms that are being offered, you can easily adjust your term sheet. If you skip this step and go straight to submitting your offer to investors through a private placement memorandum, you may end up wasting a lot of time and money if changing the terms is necessary.

What to Expect from the Fundraising Process

Raising money will be a process with each person you approach. Nearly no one will be willing to give you money after just one meeting, so think about the process as building a relationship, not as a transaction.

In more than one conversation with restaurateurs and investors, the process was likened to dating. Get to know each other. Take the time to figure out if your areas of expertise complement one another, if your passions align, and if your personalities click. They don’t need to be your best friend, but it also doesn’t make sense to do business with someone you don’t trust. When appropriate, try

dining in a restaurant with a potential investor and using the backdrop as an opportunity to discuss and evaluate your concept and establish some common ground.

Pitch MeetingsA pitch meeting is exactly what it sounds like -- the first time you meet with a potential investor or speak to them over the phone is your opportunity to present your concept and get them excited about it. Some people will request a copy of your business plan in advance of the meeting (yes, you should send it to them), and if not, bring them a copy to keep. This is also where the pitch deck we discussed in Chapter 1 will come in handy. Be ready to explain who you are, how you came to this idea, and most importantly, why the market needs your restaurant.

Mike says, “The first five to 10 minutes are crucial, especially for people that get pitched all the time. In that first meeting, just focus on getting them excited. Don’t focus on too manydetails, just present the core of what you’re doing and if it meshes with that person and they’re excited about it then you’ll earn yourself another meeting.”

If the relationship doesn’t quite click in this first meeting, don’t throw away their email address. Keep them on your list and invite them to any events you host on behalf of your future restaurant (explained below). You never know if and when that person may warm up to the idea.



Site VisitsIf you have a location secured while you’re in the pitching process, invite potential investors to meet you at your site. The more you can incorporate tangible, visual elements into your presentation to help the potential investor better understand what you’re planning to build, the better.

However, you will also need to be prepared to hold pitch meetings before you’ve secured a location because signing a lease not only requires a good chunk of capital, it also requires confidence that you’ll be able to find the rest of the funding you need to get the restaurant up and running (see Chapter 3 for lease-negotiating tips on this topic).

Charles says that this was one of the most challenging aspects of the fundraising process for him. Almost everyone that was interested in his concept would immediately ask where the restaurant was going to be. Despite having a well-researched list of neighborhoods ready to go, the response he got to that was mostly, “Let me know when you have a location.” This can turn into a real chicken-and-egg situation, especially in cities like San Francisco, where finding and securing the right site for your restaurant can take years.

If investors commit to you before you’ve found a location, be sure to meet with them again on site so they have an

opportunity to get a status update on the project, familiarize themselves with the site, ask questions, and get excited about the progress you’ve made.

EventsHost an event where you bring everyone who’s interested together for a tasting dinner or something that represents your specific concept, so people can really envision it. When? It depends. These events are a great way of getting investors that are on the fence off of it, but they also come at a financial cost, so be mindful of making sure the money you’re investing in events has a tangible payoff.

Friends, Family & You

Before approaching anyone about investing money in your restaurant, figure out how much you’ll personally be able to contribute. Even if it’s nowhere near the six-figure range, any outside investor will want to see that you’ve got some skin in the game.

After you’ve assessed how much you’ll be able to chip into the pot, your friends and family will likely be the next group of people you speak to about investing money. For the sake of your business and your personal relationships, be pragmatic and professional in your approach. Treat each

What to Expect from the Fundraising Process cont’d


individual in this group just as you would any other potential investor because regardless of your personal ties, you’re asking them to give you real money, and to take a real risk on your business. Both parties need to be emotionally and financially prepared in the event that the business fails; if the idea of not being able to pay them back is too tough to bear, it’s probably best that you pass.

Even if you’ve told your older brother about the restaurant of your dreams for the past 20 years, don’t waste a valuable opportunity to practice your pitch and answer questions. It will take you time to get comfortable with the process of presenting your idea to new people, so use your friends and family to help you build confidence.

What Makes Your Restaurant a Good Investment

First of all, an investor wants to know that the financial terms (ownership structure and payback terms) are reasonable. Next, they will assess the financial feasibility of your concept and whether it’s something they’re interested in or passionate about. Mike says, “Of course, the investor needs to know that you have a good business model that’s based on conservative projections and not a best-case scenario, but once that’s established, they’re looking at the vision, the concept, and the passion behind it.”

Matt Hemsley, one of the primary investors in Spoon and Stable in Minneapolis, stresses:

“Even if you know that the economics are sound, they are never going to be the compelling part of the deal. Ever. If you’re looking at high-net worth folks who are sophisticated investors and you say ‘please invest in this hugely risky operation with low financial returns for the sake of making money,’ they’ll look at you cross-eyed. For that reason, finding investors whose passions align with yours is really important.”

The moral of the story is, if you’ve done your due diligence up to this point -- if you’ve written a researched business plan, built conservative financial projections, created investor-focused payback terms and a fair ownership structure -- you should be able to walk into these meetings with confidence, tell your story, and make an emotional connection with the investor. Ultimately, how passionate that investor is about the core of what you’re doing will determine their willingness to invest.

What Makes Someone a Good Investor

Finding investors is a two-way street -- it’s a relationship, not a transaction. As a restaurateur, you want to find

Friends, Family & You cont’d

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investors who complement you and add value to your business outside of just providing capital. Don’t sign on investors if you don’t value their opinion in some capacity. Look for investors with experience in the restaurant industry or in areas that would be beneficial to a restaurateur.

Also, do your homework. Matt says, “Really get to know and try to understand from a third-party perspective who you’re doing business with. People build reputations over time and it’s not that hard to figure out if this is this someone whose previous business partners would all do business with him or her again or if it’s someone that’s burned every bridge that they’ve crossed.”

How to Find Investors

Well folks, if you were hoping for a consolidated list of phone numbers in this section, we’re sorry to disappoint. There is no silver bullet when it comes to finding investors (or anything else, really).

Mike says, “You can sign up for every list and buy all the things and do all the stuff and go down every rabbit hole, but it just never works. I’ve just seen people try everything and the truth is, there isn’t any other way outside of just hustling the f*ck up and picking up the phone and calling

every single person you know and just be out there living it and breathing it and doing it.”

For Charles, outside of friends and family, all of his investors came from networking. The group of people that ended up funding his business wasn’t what he initially expected it to be, but those people referred him to other people and that process, repeated many times, landed him with the capital he needed to start Souvla. Be persistent and patient, and as Mike warns, be honest with yourself. If you’re having a really hard time finding your first $200k, you’re probably just not quite ready yet.

There is no specific ideal number of investors. They key is setting a minimum amount for investment and then sticking to that; you want to avoid having a lot of people coming in at very small levels.

Investor Relations

Many restaurateurs have found themselves in difficult situations as a result of not being clear about the benefits of being an investor before any contracts are signed. The contract and other investment documents that your attorney crafts for your investors will include information and parameters around what each party can and cannot do

What Makes Someone a Good Investor cont’d


and how decisions relating to the business will be made, but some of the perks that your investors may be interested in aren’t appropriate for inclusion in legal documents.

With that said, it doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be discussed. If an investor calls for a reservation for 10 people on Friday night at 8 p.m., how will you respond? Whether it’s yes or no, your investors should know in advance what special treatment they can expect. This conversation should be a positive one -- this is an opportunity for you to get to know your investors and figure out what you can do to make them feel appreciated without compromising your operation.

Some restaurants have special beer steins with their investors’ names on them, or they host investor dinners a couple times a year. Roberta urges restaurateurs to do their research around investor perks because some of them, like meal credits, can be taxable to the investor and will incur an additional cost for the restaurant. Regardless of what you offer, make sure everyone is on the same page so that no one feels unsatisfied or taken advantage of down the line.

The key to healthy investor relations is managing expectations and creating a consistent flow of information regarding the state of your restaurant. A regular cadence of updates -- from a quarterly investor meeting to a monthly email update -- goes a long way to facilitate a strong

relationship where investors feel in the loop. You may have to answer some uncomfortable questions (particularly when numbers are behind schedule), but there is no substitute for having a productive dialogue with the folks who are financing your project.

Besides finding investors, there are other financing options to consider: Bank LoansBanks are the most conservative lending option you have, and given the risky nature of startup businesses, and restaurants in particular, don’t count on getting any money from them. Even if you personally guarantee the loan, most banks won’t lend you money.

Small Business Administration (SBA) LoansThe Small Business Administration is a government entity that works with designated lenders, like banks, to issue loans. Because the SBA will guarantee the majority of your loan (you must personally guarantee the rest), it’s more attractive to banks and other lenders to issue a loan. There are pros and cons of borrowing money through the SBA, and your accountant and attorney will be able to tell you much more about your options and whether it’s a viable source of funding for you. Restaurant Success By the Numbers, by Roger Fields, also has a comprehensive chapter on this subject.

Investor Relations cont’d


CrowdfundingCrowdfunding allows entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas to anyone and everyone via online platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. People who are attracted to your idea enough to support it financially will pledge money in exchange for prizes and rewards. It sounds simple, but a successful crowdfunding campaign requires an average of 140 hours over the course of three to four months to adequately prepare for, as well as solid expertise in messaging, graphic design, photography, and videography. Given the few parameters that do apply to crowdfunding -- namely, that you only get to keep the money if you reach your goal within the time limit applied to every campaign -- you shouldn’t be relying on this method alone to finance your restaurant.

Desi Danganan of Plinth Agency is a rare expert on this subject. He is a successful entrepreneur who spent 10+ years as a restaurant owner and has raised over $2.65 million dollars for businesses through crowdfunding, angel investors, and VCs.

“Really smart restaurateurs aren’t using crowdfunding as the core of their financing. They’re using it for marketing that makes a little bit of money.”

Desi Danganan

Another major benefit? Crowdfunding is a valuable data point to show potential investors that there’s substantial interest in what you’re doing.

Here are some of Desi’s tips to ensure that your crowdfunding campaign is a successful one.

1. Build a team of people with different skill sets. You’ll need a strong writer with a good sense of marketing messaging, a graphic designer, a skilled photographer experienced in food photography, and a videographer. Know what you don’t know.

2. Set an appropriate goal. First, figure out what specifically you’re going to use the money for. Next, do research to figure out the average campaign amount in your market. Finally, calculate the cost of your rewards and factor that into your goal.

3. Prepare. Research similar projects to understand what the average person contributed to other campaigns, and get all of your messaging and social media posts organized and planned out before your campaign kicks off. Once it starts, it’s a 30-day sprint and every day is critical.

4. Build your audience early. “Momentum is essential in crowdfunding,” says Desi. “If you reach 20% of your goal


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1.

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4. in the first few days, you are 80% more likely to hit your goal. A successful party right after your launch can help jump-start your campaign by turning attendees into your evangelists.”

5. Put thought into your rewards. You can’t make a branded T-shirt the reward for a $100 pledge; it’s too far from what someone would realistically pay for a T-shirt. Remember that this is more about marketing than fundraising. Feature prizes at a variety of price points to encourage as many people as possible to contribute. Every dollar counts.

6. Track your results. Use Google Analytics and social media statistics to track key metrics like how many people are visiting your page, where they’re coming from, and how much they’re pledging. If your campaign isn’t performing as planned, be ready to change courses. “It’s like fishing. If people aren’t interested in the bait you’re using, change it.”

Key Takeaways

1. Raise more money than you think you need. Undercapitalization is one of the biggest reasons restaurants fail.

2. Work closely with your advisory team -- your accountant and your attorney -- to determine how to structure your business, how to structure ownership, and what payback terms you should offer investors.

3. Put your friends and family who are planning to invest through the same process as any other investor. It’s in your best interest personally and professionally to formalize the agreement.

4. Don’t take money from anyone who will give it to you. This is a long-term commitment, so it needs to be a good fit for both parties. Taking on investors you don’t trust or value won’t serve you in the long run.

5. Make a plan right out of the gate for how you’ll communicate with investors about the status and health of your restaurant once it opens.



How to Identify Locations, Choose a Site & Negotiate Your LeaseLocation vs. Site

A location refers to the sub-market you want to place your restaurant in, like a neighborhood in a big city or a specific area within a town. A site is the specific space at an address within a location.

The best locations for your concept will be the ones with the highest concentration of your potential diners during your specific hours of operation. Do your research to identify what location or locations are viable for your restaurant while you’re writing your business plan -- here are five ways to start. 1. Find Your PeopleFirst, understand who you expect your customers to be to ensure their paths intersect with your restaurant. Figure out

where they live, where they work, and where they spend their free time. Ideally, you’ll be able to find some areas that encompass more than one of these categories; if you are located in a neighborhood where your target market both lives and works, there’s a better chance they’ll visit regularly.

You don’t necessarily have to reinvent the wheel. If you find an area with a concentration of your people, other thriving restaurants in that location are indicators of good potential for your concept. It’s tempting to think that going to an underserved market is more sensible, but the reality is that diners tend to like options. The more viable restaurants in their area, the more likely they all are to thrive.


2. Hit the PavementGavin Kaysen, chef and owner of Spoon and Stable in Minneapolis, looked at more than 60 sites in various locations before signing a lease for the restaurant’s current home in the city’s North Loop.

He says, “You have to look to really understand a neighborhood before considering it as a location for your restaurant. Spend some time there. What kind of restaurants already exist? What kind of people are there and are they the type of diner that will eat at your restaurant? Will your concept be different than what’s already there and truly add value to that neighborhood?”

If the people you see aren’t a part of your target market or you find concepts that are too similar to yours, walk away before looking at a single space. Resist falling in love with a space when the location isn’t right. Similarly, if you’re planning on opening a taco shop in a neighborhood that already has three taco shops, honestly ask yourself if you think the neighborhood will be excited to welcome a fourth.

Neighborhood demographics can give you a broad sense of age, income, population density, foot traffic, and number of households. While these are solid initial insights, they aren’t comprehensive enough to be the basis for a decision.

Fred Castellucci, President of Castellucci Hospitality Group based in Atlanta, cautions, “Demographics give you no indication of the cultural feel of a neighborhood, and that’s the most important part. Are the members of your target market dining out where they live or work? Or are they getting into their cars and driving to restaurants in completely different neighborhoods?”

Fred also encourages prospective restaurateurs to think about how much they enjoy hanging out in the neighborhoods they’re considering -- remember, you’ll be spending most of your time there.

3. Embrace the CompetitionIt may sound counterintuitive, but the best location is often nestled into a cluster of other dining establishments. Think of it this way: If other restaurants are already in business and experiencing success, they are proof that the location is a fit for the target audience you share. Seek out spaces nearby, on the same block, or even right next door.

While it’s nice to envision your audience planning an evening at your restaurant days in advance, these diners are only a part of your total customer base. Many others will simply walk in, and others may even have been turned away from a neighboring restaurant by a long wait time. The more people in and around your restaurant, the better for business.

Location vs. Site cont’d


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4. Know Your Hours of OperationPrime locations in high-traffic areas are going to cost more per square foot, so be clear on whether your concept will be serving breakfast, lunch, dinner or some combination of the three to avoid paying a price that your restaurant isn’t designed to maximize.

“The ability to do lunch business and dinner business in the same location is rare, and if you do find one that’s great for both, you’re going to spend a high dollar per square foot to get in there. For a dinner-only concept, it doesn’t make any sense to look at locations where there’s a lunch and dinner market because you’ll be paying extra money for a space that you’re not going to be using the whole time.”

Fred Castellucci 5. Understand Developed vs. Developing NeighborhoodsEvaluate each location with your specific concept in mind, considering how much working capital you’ve budgeted and how you plan to manage it. Convenience-based concepts like cafés or diners tend to demand high foot traffic and dense populations from day one of operation in order to survive. Chef-driven and fine-casual

concepts, in contrast, may be a great fit for neighborhoods that are developing, provided that the time it will take the neighborhood to grow is reflected in the revenue projections of your pro-forma.

Fred says, “At the Iberian Pig, I took a chance on the neighborhood because I saw other similar businesses being successful doing things that were artisanal, creative, and interesting. I was also comfortable with sales building bit by bit as the neighborhood developed because I was running the restaurant myself and I wasn’t carrying the salaries of a full management team, which is a huge fixed cost.”

Choosing a Site

Richard Coraine, the Chief Development Officer of New York City-based Union Square Hospitality Group, talks about different approaches to opening a new restaurant.

“There are two ways to go about it,” he says, “There’s either a space looking for an idea or an idea looking for a space. If you dissect that, that means you either have a concept that you’ve been working on that you’d like to take to market, or you’ve found the actual frame for a piece of art that you now need to create.”

Location vs. Site cont’d

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Neither approach is necessarily better or worse, but if you’re a first-time restaurateur it’s much easier to engage investors by demonstrating the passion you have for your concept and then showing that you’ll be able to find a site that makes it financially viable. The space-looking-for-an-idea approach is more common among established restaurateurs who can either fund their own projects or have a group of trusting investors behind them. A Space Looking for An IdeaIn a nutshell, this approach is all about figuring out what an existing neighborhood needs. When Union Square Hospitality Group signed on to do three concepts in Battery Park City, they already knew they wanted two of three sites to be used for existing concepts (Blue Smoke and Shake Shack) and the landlord asked that the third restaurant be unique to the neighborhood.

“If I find a great space in a neighborhood that I really like and there’s something cool and compelling about it, then I’ll ask myself, ‘What are they missing? What do they need? What can I bring to this neighborhood that they’ll be really excited about?’ And those are fun questions to ask.”

Fred Castellucci

I repeat, do not fall in love with a space. Rent will be one of your largest fixed expenses, and buildout costs will be anywhere from 50% to 75% of your total opening budget. Falling in love with a space that isn’t right can be the difference between success and failure.

An Idea Looking for a SpaceKnow what you’re looking for before you start looking. Spend some time up front establishing what your non-negotiable “must haves” are for a site and what things you’d like, but can do without. As Fred says, not every factor will line up, and if they do the site is likely going to cost more than you can afford. Here are some of the biggest considerations:

SizeFred says, “Square footage is critical. It’s the easiest factor to eliminate a location based on. Do not try to squeeze yourself into a location that’s too small or try to take up a space that’s too big because both situations are inefficient and will lead to an inability to support your business over time.”

The pro forma that you built with your accountant will give you a good understanding of the square feet needed to make your concept work. If you’re still unclear, work with your accountant, your architect, and your designer to figure out the ideal square footage for a site based on the number of seats you need to make your concept financially viable.

Choosing a Site cont’d


RentThe amount you can feasibly pay for rent every month while maintaining the health of your business is something that should be firmly fixed in your head as you go out to look for spaces. At this point, you’ve done careful homework and invested in a team of experts to help build a budget that dictates what you can afford. Whatever that number is, respect it. There are two major types of rent structure: flat monthly rent and percentage rent.

• A flat monthly rent is just like an apartment: you’ll agree to pay a certain dollar amount in rent every month.

• Percentage rent is typically a lower flat fee in addition to a percentage of your revenue. Brian Lauck, General Counsel for AltaMarea Group based in New York City, says, “You want to fix your real estate cost as much as possible so that you can maximize your return and not have to share it with somebody else at any point.”

Blank Space vs. Existing SpaceA “blank space,” also called an “empty shell” or “white box,” usually comes in either the form of new construction or a space that previously housed something other than a restaurant, which you’re planning on building out to fit your needs.

PRO: You get to build exactly what you want when it comes to the kitchen, dining room, restrooms, etc. You get to work with a blank canvas. CON: Outfitting a blank space is often significantly more expensive.

Taking over an existing restaurant space also has its pros and cons:

PRO: This approach is generally a less costly buildout process, as most of the key restaurant needs are likely already in place. Richard says, “It’s also very clear to a permitter or the department of buildings that the kitchen always existed here and it’s not something they have to start from scratch and interpret.” CON: Looking at former restaurant spaces can limit your options. Gavin says, “There aren’t always a lot of restaurants that are going out of business and turning over, depending on your market, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find the things that were important to me in a space just based on looking at former restaurants.”

If you do take over a former restaurant space, be sure to provide a clear distinction between the new concept and the old.


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ParkingThe importance of access to parking will vary depending on your location. In New York City, there’s no need even to even consider it for most restaurant concepts, but that’s not true of some other densely populated cities or rural areas. In plenty of markets, poor access to parking is a non-starter. If parking is scarce, ask local valet companies if they have arrangements with nearby lots.

TIP: Make your parking options very clear on your website, even if it’s to let guests know that there is ample street parking or where they can find parking lots and how much they cost.

AccessibilityGavin says, “For Spoon and Stable, an extremely important factor for me was that it was a really quick drive off the Highway 394 exit and you’re at our front door. A lot of our clientele lives in our immediate neighborhood, but a lot of them don’t, and it needed to be easy for those people to get here.” Richard points out that this isn’t something that USHG has to think about too much for their restaurants in New York City because you can pretty much get anywhere by subway, taxi, or walking. There is a temptation to think that if people like what you do, they’ll make the effort to get there, but that thinking is out of step with reality.

TIP: Being in the midst of a nationwide restaurant boom, always assume that if someone does a serviceable job and makes it easy for them, they can nab your target customers. Figure out what your people need to get to your restaurant and get it done.

VisibilityThe more visible your restaurant space is to people walking or driving by, the better, making corner spaces ideal because they maximize your exposure.

TIP: Look out for restrictions in terms of signage. If it’s a historic building, for example, there will likely be strict regulations around what your signage can look like, down to color, size, and style. ZoningA pre-existing kitchen is not the only reason many restaurateurs opt to take over existing restaurant spaces. Jennifer Murri, the Business Development Manager for AltaMarea says, “If we’re looking at a property that isn’t zoned properly or doesn’t have the right use listed on the Certificate of Operations, that’s a really big deal. It’s complicated, expensive, and time consuming to change those things.”




TIP: Ask your designer, architect, or General Contractor to help you assess these details -- we’ll dive into the details later in this chapter.

Liquor LicenseEvery neighborhood, city, and state has completely different laws and regulations around liquor licenses, but the one thing that’s true everywhere is that they’re never particularly easy to get. If you’re looking at a site in a neighborhood with only one or two other bars, the scarcity may be the result of very strict regulations. Given the liabilities associated with serving alcohol, applying for a liquor license is usually an involved process that requires personal information from you and, sometimes, your investors.

TIP: If you plan to serve alcohol at your restaurant, make sure you’ll be able to obtain a liquor license at the site you’re assessing before moving forward. Do your due diligence and know what you’ll need to provide well in advance of preparing to sign a lease.

How to Negotiate Your Lease

Every expert (and I mean all of them) agreed that this is the number one place where restaurateurs go wrong. You should NEVER sign a lease without having your attorney

and either your designer, architect, or General Contractor review it. Before we dive into how specifically each of these people needs to participate in your lease negotiation process, let’s talk a bit about when you’ll need to bring them on and how you should find them.

Tanya Shea, partner at Shea Design Inc. says:

“A lot of restaurateurs will sign a lease that forces them into a financial corner and they have to pay for a lot more and put in a lot more infrastructure than they initially anticipated. The smart place to bring people on board is right at the very beginning.”

Tanya Shea

Key Players

AttorneyAt this point in the process, you will have at least consulted with an attorney and possibly already retained one. If you are happy with the relationship you’ve established and the attorney has experience with commercial leases, stay with the same person because they are already familiar with your concept. If you’re still on the hunt, start by asking your peers who they use and what their experience has been. Strong


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referrals and a deep background with restaurants similar to yours are good places to start.

Designer & ArchitectA designer is traditionally responsible for laying out a space and choosing finishes, furniture, and other interior details that make up the overall aesthetic of a space. An architect is a licensed professional that will draw your construction documents and has the power to sign them and submit them for government approval.

Many firms will have both interior designers and architects on staff in order to create seamless design and although it’s by no means required that you hire a firm that does both, Tanya stresses that your architect and interior designer should have a good relationship. If they’re not from the same firm, make sure they’ve worked together before to produce beautiful, functional restaurants and happy clients.

When seeking a designer, find a company that has designed restaurants you love and that speak to your own creative vision -- but this can’t be the only filter. Tanya warns against designers that lure you in with stunning portfolios and enticing renderings of your own concept before ever having a conversation about what your budget looks like. Don’t let yourself fall in love with images of restaurants that cost $1,000 per square foot to build out.

A critical question to ask, Tanya says, is, “What kind of business partner will you be to me? You need to bring on an architect and a designer in the beginning that are budget-conscious and timeline-conscious.”

Another major thing to look out for is whether a designer has a “look.” If you can easily see that all of the restaurants in a designer’s portfolio have elements in common or a trademark aesthetic, consider passing. Tanya says, “You want a designer that’s going to create your vision, not theirs.”

So how do you find a talented, business-oriented, client-focused designer? Through referrals and interviews with your peers. The restaurant industry is small, so ask around.

Interviewing the firms that you’re considering is also a really important step. Tanya encourages clients to control that meeting so that you don’t spend the whole time being wooed by pretty pictures. “Ask them technical questions. How do they approach restaurant design? How do they deal with budgets? How do they deal with schedules?” Of course, only consider designers who have extensive experience in restaurant design, and spend some time in other restaurants they have designed. Are the service stations functional? How has the interior held up? You’ll want to be confident your designer has practicality and the long game in mind.

How to Negotiate Your Lease cont’d


General ContractorA general contractor is responsible for the overall coordination of your construction project. This includes hiring and managing trades and subcontractors, like electricians and plumbers; creating a master schedule; applying for critical licenses and permits; and working with your design team.

Of a restaurateur’s relationship with their GC, Richard says, “It’s almost like a nanny is in your family -- they’re not quite family and they’re not quite your friend, but you’re letting them watch your kids. There’s a lot of vulnerability on the owner’s part, because your General Contractor has the three most important things: your dream, your money, and your time.”

There are two main ways to find a General Contractor. The most traditional way is to take your architectural plans, send them to three or four GCs in your area, and have them come back to you with a price quote. This approach is the more time-consuming of the two and you’ll also find a great deal of variability in what you get back. There are so many different approaches to pricing construction jobs that it will be difficult to compare each bid on a level playing field. You never want to send partially completed plans out for pre-bidding.

Tanya says, “Your plans won’t be detailed enough, so you’re going to have contractors that are either underbidding or

overbidding to protect themselves or to get the job. Never put your contractor in a position where they can’t be upfront with you or your construction process will be wrought with costly change orders.”

The second way of selecting a General Contractor is through pre-qualification. This is the method that our experts recommend because it’s a more relationship-based approach and ensures that the restaurateur finds a GC who will be a great partner to them and their architect/design team.

In the pre-qualification process, your designer will make focused recommendations for General Contractors soon after a lease has been signed (though in some cases, this happens before a lease is signed). Then the restaurateur will interview them, and the GC will provide pricing based on the scope of the project. One of the biggest benefits here, Tanya says, is that “bringing the GC on as a partner to your architect leads to an understanding of pricing at every step of the way so that both parties can keep the client’s budget in mind.”

Chris Zeman, the Vice President of Zeman Construction, based in the Midwest, advises that the interview process should include more than just the GC. “You’re not hiring a general contractor, you’re hiring a few individuals that happen to work for a GC. The project manager and the superintendent that will be on site everyday -- that’s who


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makes or breaks your project. Those are the people that you need to interview so that you’re not only qualifying the company, you’re qualifying the individuals that that company would dedicate to your specific contract.”

Legal ConsiderationsYour attorney will need to review your entire lease document and will be your greatest ally in helping you negotiate terms. Roberta, Partner in the law firm of Georgopoulos & Economidis, LLP, says, “Your lease is your insurance policy because if things don’t go well, you can sell your lease.” Every lease is different, but these are the items that every lawyer should be looking for.

Term & Renewal OptionsMake sure you have a long-term lease with renewal options. At minimum you’ll want a 10-year lease, though some operators, like Union Square Hospitality Group, prefer 15-year leases to show landlords that they’re really in it for the long game. Try to negotiate two five-year renewal options and make sure the terms and conditions of these options are as close as possible to the terms of your original lease.

Sublease & AssignmentAny lease that you sign must, without exception, have a sublease or assignment clause. Without it you will not have the right to sell or transfer your business, nor will you be able

to sublease your space. Both the lease term and the renewal options need to be assignable; otherwise, you will be severely hindering the value of your restaurant if you put it up for sale.

Liquor License Roberta says that she’s seeing more and more landlords asking for first right of refusal on the liquor license in the event that you leave the space. What does this mean? “In California a liquor license cannot be used as security, but if this clause is in your lease, a landlord has to be offered the option to buy your liquor license at fair market value if you decide to sell. In some markets, that’s a $250k asset today; who knows what it’s going to be in 5 years? If I’m the buyer of your restaurant and I know that the landlord has the right of first refusal on the liquor license, it’s going to make purchasing your restaurant at a high price much less desirable. It can also make relocating your restaurant difficult since the license is supposed to stay with the premises.”

Transfer PremiumsAs the restaurant industry continues to blossom, landlords want in on the action. Taking first right of refusal on liquor licenses is one result of this, as is the appearance of transfer premiums in restaurant leases. This means that if you sell your restaurant, your landlord will take a portion of the sale price -- in some cases, as much as 50%.





Personal GuaranteesIn every document you sign, do everything you can to remove or limit personal guarantees. If you have personally guaranteed a lease, it often means you’re legally bound to pay the rent for the entire duration of the lease term -- even if your business fails.

There are three things you can do here to minimize your risk and your landlord’s that are significantly less detrimental to the restaurateur than signing off on a personal guarantee:

1. Limit the time on the guarantee.2. Increase the amount of the deposit.3. Ask for a rolling guarantee. If you agree to a one-year

rolling guarantee, for example, this means that you are responsible for paying the next 12 months of rent at any given time.

Building ConsiderationsYou must have either your designer and architect or your General Contractor look at any space you’re considering before signing a lease. Either party should be able to do the assessment, and many architects and GCs actually include this inspection as a normal part of their services. Below, you’ll find a list of specific items that should be reviewed.

“In order to be a good tenant, we believe that we need to be focusing on cooking and serving food and being nice to people, not fixing problems that exist because of the building. We make sure that building owners agree to contribute whatever is needed because our viewpoint is that the building will always be theirs.” Richard Coraine

Delivery of Premises This section of a lease outlines exactly how the landlord will be turning the space over to the tenant: what the heating and cooling capacity of the building is, its electrical capacity, and gas specifications, among many other things. Tenants often don’t take the time to review this section carefully enough, and landlords often haven’t defined what they’ll be delivering clearly enough.

Chris says that this is where a lot of critical details are hiding. “Historically speaking, most restaurant leases are a derivative of a retail lease, and a retail space is vastly different than a restaurant space. We’ve seen an overwhelming pattern of restaurant tenants signing leases that only include half the amount of electricity and half the



amount of HVAC cooling that they need. All of a sudden, there’s $250k you’ll have to spend just to make it a usable restaurant space. Is that fair to the operator? In our world, we say no, especially when they are paying restaurant rent rates.”

When you’re reviewing leases with your team, assume that the terms defined are those needed to run a restaurant. The best way to ensure that you get a space equipped to handle the structural needs of your specific type of restaurant is to ask your General Contractor or architect to draft a Landlord Work Letter, defined below.

Landlord Work Letter The Specifications for Landlord’s Work outlines in detail what the tenant requires the landlord to provide before any lease is signed. Chris recommends giving this letter to the landlord before you even sign a letter of intent, so that no time is wasted in moving forward if the landlord isn’t willing to comply. At Zeman Construction, Chris says, “We tour the raw space and I write the Work Letter and I hand it to the operator and I tell the operator to hand it to the landlord and say, ‘This is what we would like you to deliver for us if we’re to even be interested in signing a lease for this space.’”

Black Iron You will hear this term from your landlord, your designer, your architect, and your GC. Black iron is the kitchen

exhaust system and it will be the most costly part of your buildout if you’re going into a space that doesn’t already have it. Don’t guesstimate -- ask your experts for an estimate of buildout cost for any space you’re seriously considering. Every site will be different, and this expense can vary by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Lay Out the Space From personal experience, I believe that it’s important to have your designer give you a rough layout of what your concept will look like in a space before signing anything. If you’ve thought enough about your concept to write a business plan, pitch it to investors, and look for a site, there’s no question that you have at least some idea of how you want it to be laid out. It doesn’t have to be a detailed design rendering, just a rough sketch. For clients that I’ve worked with, this exercise has been the difference between signing a lease for a space that wasn’t properly oriented or sized to hold their vision and graciously moving on to the next potential site.

Additional Tips from the Experts

There are plenty of firms you can hire that exclusively conduct inspections on buildings before business owners sign a lease. Chris cautions against using these companies



exclusively without the input of a GC because generally they can be companies derived from real estate brokerages and may not have access to current construction market pricing or techniques. “There are just so many nuances when it comes to looking at an existing space and figuring out if it can be adapted to a restaurant. The harder part is how much it will cost to adapt it, and that’s where I think that a GC is much better suited.”

Key Takeaways

1. Spend time in each of the neighborhoods you’re considering to be sure you have a thorough, first-hand understanding of their culture and what you could add to it.

2. Don’t fall in love with a space without first understanding if it makes business sense.

3. Never sign a lease before your attorney and either your designer and architect or your general contractor have reviewed it.

4. Pre-qualify general contractors to ensure they have a strong working relationship with your designer and are making budget-based decisions early on.

5. If you’re going into a space without kitchen infrastructure built, know exactly how much it will cost to install the necessary systems before moving forward.

Additional Tips from the Experts cont’d


In The Weeds: Aaron London

“I had one cook who left a couple months after opening. He was super green but had some potential, so me and my sous chef really tried to take him under our wing and train him, but we also pushed him hard and he kept f*cking up. He came in one Sunday and was not even remotely prepared and I laid into him pretty hard. Thirty to 45 minutes later, my sous chef comes in and he’s like, have you seen Kevin? We looked around and the guy had walked out. So, that was the first day that I ever worked a station at my restaurant.

I didn’t get to the station until 2 p.m. and there were only two other guys in the kitchen -- my sous chefs. I went through his station and emptied all of his mise en place and made myself a new list of what I absolutely had to do in order to be ready for service and just crushed it out and worked service. We got through that night and then we tried our damndest to hire people. We had people stage that I just couldn’t hire.

For two months, it was me and my two chefs and no cooks. I would come in at 8 a.m. and do all the receiving and all the bulk prep ‘til 10 a.m., then from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., I would do all meat and fish fabrication and portioning. At 1 p.m. I would move to cold station and start prepping out cold station and set up for service. Then I would break to do the menu with the GM, go back and finish setting up the station, break to do line up, then go back in the kitchen and

Aaron London of AL’s Place in San Francisco, on post-opening staffing woes and finding the silver lining.


work service. Anything that I had to do besides working a station, I would do here on Monday and Tuesday, both 16-hour days for me, when we were closed just to catch up. It was gnarly.

The worst thing about it wasn’t the work or the hours, it was that I felt like it wasn’t my restaurant anymore. I wasn’t seeing the food going out, I wasn’t seeing the guests, I wasn’t seeing the interactions on the floor and I wasn’t a part of anything other than working a station. So that sucked, but it also fast tracked me back to remembering how to work a station and being very confident with skills and what I want and how I want things done. I almost think a year from now, I’m going to go on stage and thank Kevin Cabrera for walking out because it may be the singular thing that made AL’s Place better faster. That was actually the singular best thing that’s happened to me since opening AL’s Place.”

In The Weeds: Aaron London cont’d


How to Deal with Legal Regulations

There’s no universal checklist for all of the necessary licenses, permits, inspections, postings, and signage for your new restaurant. These requirements vary greatly between states, cities, restaurant types, and even counties and neighborhoods. The experts that you’ve hired to help you -- specifically your designer, architect, and contractor -- will help you get through everything, but you’ll need to be an active part of the process and take on responsibility as well.

In this chapter, we’ll discuss 10 best practices to ensure you obtain everything you need to open your restaurant legally from the get-go, and then we’ll map out a case study to show you the licenses, permits, certificates, and inspections needed to open a (fictitious) new restaurant in New York City.

1. Review your lease in detail.Before you sit down with your team and put together a master list of action items, review your lease in detail so

you have a clear understanding of what your landlord will be responsible for, as well as the duties that fall on you, the tenant.

If your lease states that your landlord is responsible for trash removal, they may be required to post a decal showing which company they use and what the pick-up schedule is. Make this your first step to avoid confusion and help facilitate a healthy, productive, and accountable relationship between you and your landlord.

2. Draw on the experience of your team.Your contractor, designer, engineer, architect, and kitchen equipment vendor will be your most valuable allies in getting all of your licenses, permits, inspections, and postings completed properly. Gather this team and ask them to provide you with a list of everything that they know you’ll need, as well as areas of uncertainty so that you know where you’ll need to do focused research.


Chris Zeman of Zeman Construction says, “You need to have a team established that has experience, otherwise there’s going to be a lot of surprises and unmet expectations throughout the process. For the person that’s just going through this for the first time, it’s going to feel like an infinite list and like there are so many people that have their hand out that need to get paid for some sort of application, license, or permit.”

3. Learn your city.Some municipalities are much more organized than others when it comes to providing practical, accurate information and resources to help you better understand what’s required for you to open and operate your business. Cities like San Francisco and New York have relatively advanced online resources, while others may have nothing at all. Still, Jennifer Murri of New York City’s AltaMarea Group cautions that even the most sophisticated online tools are only a starting point. If your city doesn’t have a centralized Internet resource for new businesses, they likely have an office you can call or visit to get the same information.

Track down the information up front to avoid delays and surprises. Remember, investing a day at your municipal office early in the process can save you weeks or months of costly setbacks down the road.

4. Research the requirements of each individual city agency. Do independent research online, by calling or visiting the major city and state agencies you will need to obtain permits from, and by asking peers with similar concepts in your market what they needed to get their doors open.

Jennifer says, “It’s really important to understand that city agencies don’t communicate with each other. In New York City, for example, you need a Certificate of Occupancy from the Department of Buildings and from the Fire Department and there’s no link between the two.”

Once you’ve visited centralized websites, make sure you’re then researching the requirements of each individual agency. For example, Jennifer adds, “Grease traps are monitored by New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, but also the Department of Health, Department of Sanitation, and Department of Buildings. They all have different rules that you can be issued violations for, so you need to understand the requirements of each.”

5. Make a master list, assign responsibilities & follow up.Once you’ve consulted every available resource and done as much research as you can, sit with your team and compile a master list of every permit, license, inspection, and postingyou’ll need. Delegate each item to a member of your team

How to Deal with Legal Regulations cont’d


http://businessportal.sfgov.org/start/permits-licenses

http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/businessexpress/menuitem.6cf201b64436cf94a36a29106cd2f9a0/



and assign due dates as necessary. In your weekly construction meetings, update each other on relevant progress, ask questions, and work together to get through inevitable setbacks and complications.

6. Get comfortable with the health code in your municipality.Department of Health (DOH) requirements vary greatly from state to state and city to city, and many DOH specifications will dictate how parts of your restaurant will need to be designed. Jennifer says, “Once you know where you’re going to open a property, contact the Department of Health for your municipality and read the entire health code so that you don’t get in too deep without knowing the regulations. Once they start pouring concrete and putting pipes in, it’s done.” She warns that even though a lot of standards are consistent across the country, there are some things that are drastically different, like outdoor seating regulations. “The Department of Health really drives so much of the construction for your kitchen, back of house, and outdoor seating areas,” says Jennifer. “You need to be in sync with whatever the regulations are in your specific location.”

7. Keep all of your finalized documents in a centralized location.Some permits and licenses will need to be posted in a place where they are visible to guests and employees, and others

will need to be kept on site and presented to inspectors before and after you open. Jennifer recommends keeping copies of everything in one centralized binder that the General Manager of the property has access to so there’s no confusion when inspectors arrive. This will also make it easier to replace expired permits and keep track of renewal dates.

8. Calendar renewal dates immediately.As soon as you receive any type of license or permit, put a reminder on your calendar for the appropriate renewal date, as well as a reminder a few weeks or months before the actual date. Clearly delegate and note on the reminders who is responsible for each renewal and assign one person (probably your General Manager) to follow up as important dates approach.

9. Include health code and food handling safety in employee training.Some states require every employee on staff to go through food safety training, while others only require certain individuals to go through it. Even if your municipality doesn’t demand that every person carry a food safety card, Jennifer recommends ensuring that every employee has some level of food handling and safety training.



She says, “This creates a safer environment for staff and guests and also helps us maintain our equipment. If employees have knowledge about their workstation, how it needs to be set up, and how equipment needs to function in order to align with code, they’re better equipped to understand when something is failing. This helps us avoid huge violations for the restaurant, as well as damage to major equipment.”

Even if the law doesn’t require it, having a staff that’s knowledgeable and responsible about food safety will help shield you from the liability of an unfortunate mistake and help you sleep at night, knowing your team knows the basics.

10. Set up service contracts right away. Before your contractor and subcontractors disappear, bring in your equipment service vendors and set up maintenance contracts. Jennifer does this for all of AltaMarea’s restaurants as a preventative maintenance measure to make sure they don’t rack up massive emergency service bills when equipment breaks. It’s very expensive to call for service at night and on weekends, which are most restaurants’ primary operating hours.

Once these appointments are completed, Jennifer negotiates service contracts, calendars the dates for their visits, and

always follows up with them before and after they come in. She says, “I have to keep in touch with them to make sure that they’re holding up their end of the bargain. When I started doing this, I noticed that we had these contracts in place but no one was really monitoring whether their work was being completed.”

Licenses, Permits, Inspections & Certificates

On the following pages, you’ll find a chart that shows the primary permits, licenses, inspections, and postings required to open a fictional restaurant called Chez Ruth, located in New York City. It’s important to note that this is far from an exhaustive list and that the requirements and agencies involved in these approval processes in New York may be very different than your municipality.

We chose to use New York City as an example because it has some of the most stringent and exhaustive permitting policies in the United States. The information is intended to demonstrate that there are lot of items to sort through, and many of them will have requirements from or need to be inspected by multiple agencies. Also, the test case will give you an overall sense of what you should expect from your own licensing and permitting process.



TEST CASE: Chez Ruth

Here’s some basic information about Chez Ruth that helped us determine what they would need:

• City/State: New York, New York• Neighborhood: Upper East Side• Number of seats: 90• Catering: Onsite and offsite• Business type: LLC

• Chain or independent: Independent• Leased or owned: Leased• Outdoor dining: Yes• Historical building: No• Delivery service offered: No• Candles in dining room: Yes• Number of employees: 65

Requirements for Chez RuthNew York, New York

FederalAgency

StateAgency

CityAgency

UtilityCompany subcontractor, architect or

engineer

Installation must be performed by licensed professional; restauranteur must

Department of Treasury

Internal RevenueService

Alcohol DealerRegistration

Departmentof Health &

Mental Hygiene

Departmentof Sanitation

Departmentof Buildings

FireDepartment

Con Edison

Department of Environmental

Protection

Food ServiceEstablishment

Permit

ResuscitationEquipment

for Restaurants

Recycling& WasteRemoval

Department ofTransportation

Canopy Permit

Department ofConsumer A airs

Safety DataSheets

Food ProtectionCertificate

GreaseInterceptor

BackflowPrevention Device

Signage

Sprinkler “NoObjection” Letter

Sidewalk CaféPermit

CateringEstablishment

License

Open FlamePermit

Range Hood &Duct Inspection

Gas Authorization

Employment ID Number

State Liquor Authority

Department of State

On Premise Alcohol License

DBA Certificate

New BusinessRegistration

Department of Taxation & Finance

Certificate of Authority

Building Permit

Sign Permit

EmergencyLighting & FootCandle Letter

Certificate ofOccupancy

Fire Alarm Test

Ansul Tags

EquipmentUse Permits

Portable FireExtinguisher Tags

Place of Assembly

Cabaret License

Fireproofing


Posted Signs Required for Chez RuthThe following list shows New York City’s posting requirements, including where in your restaurant each item needs to be displayed and where a new restaurateur could obtain these items.

Some of the documents in this list also appear on the permits and licenses chart and some do not. The ones that appear twice are permits, licenses, or proofs of inspection. The ones that only appear on the posting requirements list are informational, instructional, or cautionary signs, most of which can be purchased online or made.

Source: www.nyc.gov

OUTSIDE• Letter Grade – NYC Department of Health

Must be in view of your potential customers outside your establishment

• Private Carter Decal – NYC Department of Sanitation Must be inside window or on door facing out

• Sidewalk Café License – NYC Department of Consumer Affairs Inside window facing out

CUSTOMER AREA• Certificate of Occupancy – NYC Department of Buildings • Otherwise must have Temporary Certificate of Occupancy

• Food Service Establishment Permit – NYC Department of Health

• Choking First Aid – NYC Department of Health In language of workers and customers

• CPR Kit and Information – NYC Department of Health Includes 911, your kit’s location, and where to learn CPR

• Sales Tax Certificate of Authority – NY State Department of Taxation

• Place of Assembly Certificate of Operation and Permit – NYC Departments of Building and Fire

• Maximum Occupancy for Place of Assembly – NYC Department of Buildings

• Liquor License – NY State Liquor Authority• Warning for Pregnant Women – NYC Department of Health• No Liquor Sold to Minors or Intoxicated Adults – NY State

Liquor Authority

THROUGHOUT PROPERTY• No Smoking – NYC Department of Health

In every room and stairwell• Must Wash Hands – NYC Department of Health

Above all hand sinks In languages of workers and customers

• Exit and Direction to Exit Installed by contractor

• Fire Extinguisher Inspection Tags Get from contractor On each unit showing date of last annual inspection

TEST CASE: Chez Ruth cont’d


KITCHEN• Food Allergies – NYC Department of Health

In view and in languages of all workers • Fire Alarm Test Record – NYC Department of Fire• Equipment Use Permits – NYC Department of Buildings,

Fire On each system and updated with inspection records Get from Departments

• Schematic of Hood and Ducts – NYC Department of Fire Get from contractor

• Record of Cleaning – NYC Department of Fire On each system and update every three months Get from contractor

• Record of Inspecting Hood and Duct – NYC Department of Fire On each system and updated every six months Get from contractor

WORKER AREA• Minimum Wage – NYC State Department of Labor• Fair Labor Standards Act – US Department of Labor• Benefits and Hours – NY State Department of Labor• Wage Deductions – NY State Department of Labor• Tips and Taxation – NY State Department of Labor• Unemployment Insurance – NY State Department of

Labor Get from insurer

• Workers’ Compensation – NY State Department of Labor Get from insurer

• Occupational Safety – US Department of Labor• Right to Know Workplace Hazards – NY State Department

of Labor• Equal Opportunity – US Department of Labor• Pregnancy Rights – NYC Human Rights Commission• Anti-Discrimination – NY State Department of Labor• Employment of Ex-Criminals – NY State• Veterans Benefits – US Department of Labor• Disability Benefits – US Department of Labor• Polygraph Protection Act Notice – US Department of Labor• Employee Voting Leave – NY State Board of Elections• Permitted Working Hours for Minors – NY State Department

of Labor Create for each employed minor

• Family Medical Leave Act – US Department of Labor

WASTE AREAS• Recycling Instructions – US Department of Sanitation • Private Carter Information and Schedule – NYC Business

Integrity Commission Get from waste contractor

TEST CASE: Chez Ruth cont’d


Key Takeaways

1. Do your research. Contact the people in your city and state and ask what you need based on your specific project. Get on top of scheduling critical inspections with long lead times right away.

2. Take advantage of your team’s experience, but don’t disengage from the process. Surround yourself with people that have done this before and take an active role yourself.

3. Get (very) comfortable with Department of Health regulations in your municipality. The DOH dictates many aspects of construction, kitchen design, and even how your service stations should be set up. Educate yourself on the requirements of your specific area and ensure that your GC and designer are on top of it, too.

4. Once you’ve invested the time and money to get your initial licenses and permits, make a plan for renewal immediately so that you never fall out of compliance.

5. Use service contracts for routine maintenance of major equipment and systems to reduce costs by avoiding emergency service calls.


How to Create a Brand

A brand is the communication of a restaurant’s personality through various elements, from logos and interior design to menus, a website, and staff uniforms. Every restaurant has a brand, but those that thrive make an essential commitment to controlling and fostering theirs. Here, we’ll explore seven strategies for taking ownership of the development and execution of a new restaurant’s brand.

1. Create a LanguageWhen you hear yourself describing your restaurant to other people, what words or phrases keep coming up? The process of building a brand is all about distilling the various elements down to the core of who you are and what you’re going to deliver.

John Ross, owner of B. Hospitality in Chicago, goes through this editing process as a first step to brand development

for his restaurants, which include The Bristol, Balena, Formento’s, Nonna’s, Swift & Sons, and Cold Storage. The B. Hospitality team asks, “What are five words or phrases that define what this restaurant means to us?” From there, they begin to find common ground and build a framework to enable on-brand decision making.

John says, “Doing this exercise early on really helps bring clarity to the brand and keep it focused when we make everything from big conceptual decisions to the smallest details.”

If you’re having trouble articulating the words or phrases that could serve as the foundation for your brand, this Brand Deck is a helpful tool to kick-start the process.

http://www.bhospitalityco.com/

http://branding.cards/


2. Look for Inspiration EverywhereFind inspiration when traveling to other cities and visiting new restaurants and shops, and take note of design elements you love. This process is not about trying to mimic someone else; it’s about bringing together a thousand little details collected from many different places to express a brand that is uniquely yours.

Charles Billies went through a similar process in creating the Souvla brand: “I’ve spent so many years in other people’s restaurants being a part of a brand and figuring out what I liked and what I didn’t like. All throughout my career and my travels, I’ve kept samples and detailed notes so I had a lot of inspiration to choose from when it came time to build the foundation for Souvla.”

3. Make It VisualBuilding mood boards for different brand components is a great way to make your vision accessible to others, further refine your thoughts, and check for consistency. John and his team create mood boards for almost every component of the restaurant -- food, interiors, uniforms, tabletop design, fonts, colors, and logo elements, to name a few. When you invest time into identifying how you want your brand to look and feel early on, it will save you time and energy down the line, as you’ve already done the legwork

to determine what you are and what you aren’t. John says, “We do this exercise with all of our restaurants because it means that from the beginning, we are all really clear on how we want the restaurant to feel and be.”

4. Get the Right People InvolvedStep back and be honest about which parts of brand development you and your team are great at and which parts may require some expert assistance. There are companies entirely dedicated to brand development that will be able to walk you through the process and produce various elements like your logo, website, menu, and even uniforms. A third party can also help create an end product that feels like a clear, consistent, communicable, and beautiful personality that is truly well constructed. Full-Service: Holistic design companies like Shea Design and AvroKO offer soup-to-nuts services that do everything from concept refinement and brand development to architecture, interior design, and beyond. Since companies like these are touching multiple parts of your operation, consistency and clarity in communication are easy to achieve.

Boutique: Smaller, boutique design houses can be brought in for specific projects, like Agentsie, a firm

How to Create a Brand cont’d



http://www.avroko.com/

http://www.agentsie.com

http://agentsie.com/


focused primarily on brand development and graphic design for hospitality clients. A more limited scope of work can provide cost savings, but you’re then responsible for incorporating your brand into other elements of the restaurant.

First, identify exactly what areas you need help with. Next, look for companies whose work you really connect with. Is there a restaurant with branding you love that also feels similar to what you want for your own? Get in touch with the restaurant and ask them whom they hired. Once you have a short list, interview each team in person (whenever possible).

“So much of this business is based on relationships. If you hire a designer that isn’t like- minded, how are they going to tap into you and really express your ideas the way that you’re envisioning them?”

John Ross

TIP: Depending on the size of your team, it’s always worthwhile to look internally first. John says, “Look for people who are in your house and are very talented, who might be able to do things with design or photography, or anything along those lines. It helps them build their own

portfolio and it helps you save money.” Plus, someone in your family will have an immediate understanding of who you are and what you’re hoping to build.

5. Invest in Key TouchpointsEvery brand is made of thousands of tiny details, and some pieces of your brand are going to speak louder than others. Those are the ones you want to invest in.

In John’s experience, your logo, website, photography, and menu design are four items worth spending money on. High-quality, on-brand photography will be important for your website and will also be a resource that you go back to time and time again leading up to your opening and long afterwards. A picture says a thousand words, so make sure yours are consistent with your brand message.

TIP: To maximize the value of your photography contract, split it up into three or four shorter sessions. Your first session may be just dedicated to interior design details because the kitchen may not be functioning yet, then the next shoot would be food and cocktails, and your last session should be some “live action” shots when the restaurant is actually open. That way you’ll have some high-quality photos on hand early, but you can also capture the range of images that you’ll ultimately need to have in your inventory.



6. Incorporate Your Brand into EverythingWhen it comes to your brand, everything matters. Everything that another person hears, sees, tastes, touches, and smells will help form their perception of your business and what you offer, so it’s your job to tie every decision you make back to your brand. Some major considerations:

• Social media. Social media content should be carefully considered and share the same voice as your website and other branded materials. Your Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts are important touch points -- they should be managed by a team member with an intimate understanding of your brand. If you’re a chef-driven, ingredient-focused restaurant, skip the emojis. Posts should be focused on spotlighting dishes, showcasing ingredients or techniques, and should be visually stimulating.

Each of B. Hospitality’s restaurants uses the same Instagram filter on every photo they post so that each brand is consistent, but distinct from the other restaurants. They also make sure there’s a clear connection between photos and that all social media subject matter relates back to the overall brand message.

• Hiring. When building your team, find the right people to

create the right environment. If your restaurant concept touts the sustainable farming behind the food, hire people who share those values. This will make for more genuine guest interactions, more fulfilled employees, and a stronger brand.

We’ll talk more about hiring in Chapter 8, but as a best practice, hiring a team of folks whose values align with your brand identity makes it much easier to deliver your brand message consistently.

• Uniforms. Your people are your most impactful brand ambassadors. For fine-dining concepts, most attempts at purchasing inexpensive uniforms will detract from the message you are trying to send your guest; tasting menus and brigade-style service don’t go with poorly tailored suits. If your service style encourages your staff to express their personalities at the table, consider setting up some guidelines and letting them wear their own clothes.

• Interior design. Everything a guest sees inside your restaurant is an indication of your brand. Your flatware, plates, glassware, linens, and the quality of your furniture and fixtures should be consistent with the price point of your menu and the rest of your brand. Guests join you not just to eat and drink, but also for the experience. The ambience you create sets the tone for their enjoyment and provides a backdrop for the dishes you serve.



• Music. By selecting a soundtrack that jives with your brand, you’ll cultivate an environment that makes guests feel like they’re doing more than just dining. If you’re a fine-dining concept, volume should be modest and your selection tastefully appropriate. For more vibrant, playful concepts, lose the classical music and turn up the volume a bit.

• Press interviews. As the media begins to approach you and members of your team for information on your forthcoming restaurant, stay consistent in your communication. Make sure that every person on your team is using similar language that reinforces your brand. Early tidbits from the press may be the first impression you send to the public, so make sure that impression is not conflicting or scattered.

7. Let It EvolveThe process of building your brand will never end. As soon as you open your doors, your restaurant will occupy a part of people’s lives in ways you weren’t expecting, and it’s important to allow your brand to change organically as your restaurant evolves. That doesn’t mean you should stop maintaining and reinforcing it, but do stay open to changing course from time to time.

The most successful restaurants offer up a brand identity but also take cues from their guests and the energy they bring. It’s important that both sides are represented and that the experience you create is one that guests feel like active participants in developing.

Key Takeaways

1. Know what you don’t know. Developing a cohesive, engaging brand is difficult and important. If you don’t feel 110% confident doing the work yourself, hire an expert to guide you through the process.

2. When hiring outside help, do your research and make sure you see eye to eye. Get references from people whose brands you love, look for creative expression that attracts you, and make sure you personally connect with the person you hire.

3. Consistency is key. Every interaction your guests and employees have with your restaurant will impact their perception of your brand. From your uniforms to your plates to your logo to the people you hire, make sure every element reinforces the brand you’ve defined.

4. Prioritize your social media strategy. Social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools at our disposal. Work with your team to implement a strategy that reinforces the aesthetic and spirit of your brand, and follow through with it.

5. Invest more money in the brand touchpoints that have the most impact. Your website, logo, photography, and menu design are items that guests will use to form an initial impression of your restaurant, and they’re also things that will stay with you for the longest time. Make sure you get them right the first time.



How to Design Your Restaurant

The decisions you make about the construction and design of your restaurant will be some of the most expensive and impactful. Knowing what you don’t know, doing your research, and understanding where your money is going to make the most impact before opening your checkbook are key steps to get the most out of your investment.

Construction

Mind Your BudgetAs you take this next step into design and construction, you’ll be making a big move out of the theoretical “what if” portion of the restaurant opening process and into more tangible action items like pouring concrete, choosing wall treatments, and writing checks. Take time now to run back through your major capital requirements and make sure you’re still on track.

“One of the most common things I see is first- time restaurant owners starting a construction project without fully understanding their total development cost.”

Chris Zeman

Once your construction schedule and design plans are finalized, it will be difficult and damaging to make any significant adjustments. Tanya, partner at Shea Design Inc. says, “Restaurateurs that miscalculate their budget end up trying to value engineer their project and cutting things out arbitrarily. Then, suddenly, your result at the end of the day is nowhere near where you started.”



Minimize Construction CostsUnless you’re moving into a space that you plan to change very little, construction will always be your greatest cost. If you’re turning an office into a restaurant or working out of a blank space, expect construction to be anywhere from 50% to 75% of your total startup costs -- and it’s very easy for that number to creep up as the project moves forward.

The most common way for construction costs to grow is through change orders. Change orders tend to be much more frequent when the contractor is brought onto the project just before building starts, and when the restaurateur isn’t educated about the plans that they’ve approved.

Design-BuildChris Zeman of Zeman Construction says that his most successful clients have used the design-build approach to reduce their costs and ensure the entire team makes conscious, value-driven decisions from the beginning.

He says, “When the contractor is brought on very early and is used as an equal partner to the architect and designer, they have the opportunity to participate in the development of the design documents. This gives the client and the designer the benefit of using the contractor’s knowledge of which materials, what processes, and what design elements will be more or less expensive than another, have a longer lead time, or are more complicated processes to schedule.”

When a General Contractor builds based on plans they had no part in creating, you miss out on the decision-making power that comes from two experienced professionals with different areas of expertise. Plus, you are much more likely to run into costly change orders.

“If you have your contractor on board early, there’s an inherent inability for the contractor to show up halfway through the project with a change order that he didn’t know was on the plans. You’ve prevented that event from ever happening.”

Chris Zeman

Educate YourselfGet involved, stay involved, and ask questions every single day you’re on site (and be on site often). You’ll learn a lot, which will help ensure the success of your first project and better prepare you for future projects, and you’re also much more likely to catch things that don’t look right.

The Bottom Line: The contractor is going to build what the plans dictate, so if a wall goes up that you aren’t happy with, the solution is going to be a change order that you’ll have to pay for. Be an active participant in construction meetings and take the time to study your restaurant’s construction plans.

Construction cont’d



Kitchen Design

Your kitchen will be the most expensive part of your restaurant’s total buildout cost. It’s also where the most space and money tend to get wasted as a result of inefficiencies in size, flow, and equipment placement.

SizeThe bigger your kitchen is, the more it’s going to cost you. All of our experts implored restaurateurs to remember that you don’t make money in your kitchen; if the kitchen takes up a disproportionate amount of space, you won’t have enough seats to support the business. Every concept is different, but Tanya says that in general, a kitchen should never be more than ⅓ of the total space (including storage space).

If it’s congruent with your concept, designing an open kitchen with some counter seating can be a good way of maximizing your kitchen square footage. Tanya says, “That’s a way to blur the line. If your kitchen is going to creep out into the dining room, you want to make sure you at least get some seats out of it.”

FlowInefficient flow is a common symptom of a poorly thought-out kitchen. The best way to avoid this is to think about your restaurant, particularly the path that food will take, in a holistic way.

Chris says, “You really have to be cognizant of where the raw product comes in the door, where it gets prepped and stored, where it gets cooked, where it gets plated, and then how it gets to the table. Keeping those lines as short and straight as possible with minimal cross-over is the best way to maximize efficiency.”

EquipmentKitchen equipment will be another of your highest expenses and again is an area where many restaurateurs commonly overspend. Richard reminds the chefs of USHG that you can always add, but you can’t take away.

He says, “We try not to build the dream kitchen right away and give ourselves an opportunity to move pieces of kitchen equipment in or out, and that saves us a lot of money. We ask our chefs to design their kitchens with only the things that they truly need.”

Be wary of your relationship with your kitchen equipment vendor. Even if they offer kitchen layout design as a complimentary service, you may get a plan back with a kitchen that takes up half of your restaurant space. Remember, the company is selling kitchen equipment to chefs who want it all.

TIP: If you’re working off of a tight opening budget, consider renting some pieces of equipment. Aaron London, owner of


AL’s Place in San Francisco, got great value out of purchasing pieces of equipment that were the most durable (like a range) and renting others that are notorious for requiring constant service calls (like an ice machine), since maintenance on rented equipment is always free. Given the size of his kitchen, the blast chiller that he rented before opening has proved to be the single most important piece of equipment for his team, but with a $9k price tag, he never would have been able to afford it outright.

Interior Design

The way your restaurant looks, sounds, and feels when a guest first walks in will set guests’ expectations for the rest of their experience and send an impactful message about your brand. If your restaurant relies heavily on walk-in business, interior design (not a website or social media) is solely responsible for telling your brand’s story before a guest sits down.

Carefully consider the placement of key front-of-house elements to ensure efficient flow, as well as the necessary level of comfort for guests. Here are a few tips to make sure your interior design represents your brand at every

touchpoint, allows your team to do their best work, and helps create consistency in your guests’ experience.

Communicate with Your DesignerSome restaurateurs will give their designer the broad strokes of their concept and let them take it from there. Our experts preferred a much more hands-on approach in order to communicate not only what they want their guests to see when they walk in and sit down, but how they want the space to make their guests feel.

The USHG team provides hundreds of bytes of information to designers so that they have a comprehensive understanding of exactly how a guest should feel in the space, from the moment they see the restaurant to the time that they leave it.

Focus on Your BrandWork with your designer to define the core components that make your restaurant unique. For example, if you’ve curated a special wine list that is a core element of your concept, consider creating a beautiful wine cellar that’s visible to guests or a captain’s table stocked with wine in the center or your dining room. If they are not a notable part of your restaurant, these same design elements may confuse guests.

Kitchen Design cont’d

http://www.alsplacesf.com/


“You need to understand what your brand is and what’s going to make you different. Being an approachable, everyday place that everyone wants to go to isn’t enough. What makes you unique? Once you’ve got that nailed down, you need to find a way to express it through design.”

Tanya Shea

Next, figure out what physical spaces are going to have the most impact for people. Tanya advises against spending too much on ceilings, floors, and decor, instead creating zones and focal points that make the guest feel comfortable. Key design elements don’t need to be expensive, they just need to be impactful and consistent with the experience you’re creating for guests.

Editing is another important step. In addition to saving you money, taking away pieces that don’t actively reinforce your brand will ensure guests aren’t distracted and their experience isn’t diluted. Ask yourself, “Is this going to drive more business for me? Does this reinforce a key part of my brand?”

Lighting and AcousticsSometimes the little things have the biggest impact -- and this is especially true when it comes to lighting and acoustics. Lighting and sound levels must be consistent with your concept, which can be an involved process.

Compare McDonald’s to The French Laundry, and you’ll see the extremes of both noise and lighting (and many other things as well). McDonald’s has only hard surfaces and is as bright at midnight as it is at noon. The French Laundry is filled with soft surfaces like padded booths and upholstered chairs, as well as lighting that changes throughout the day in order to maintain a comfortable and intimate ambiance. Your concept will likely be somewhere in the middle of these two, so make adjustments accordingly.

Having separate dimmers for different areas of the restaurant is a great way to control how your restaurant feels. With sound, ask your designer about discreet acoustical panels, introducing soft surfaces, and a good sound system with well-placed speakers. Eastside, located in Minneapolis, received a number of guest complaints about noise levels as soon as they opened and immediately had their designer come back to install acoustical panels in key locations all over the dining room. If you don’t get it right the first time, make sure you react and make thoughtful adjustments quickly (one of many reasons that you need three to six months of working capital).

Interior Design cont’d


Space and FlowTanya says, “A restaurant’s layout requires someone that is both a talent and a technician.”

The technician part is directly related to the many city, state, and federal codes that will dictate important details like how much space you need between tables, how wide certain corridors must be, and what you’ll need to satisfy ADA regulations. Your designer also needs to understand how a restaurant flows from the front of the house to back of the house, and how to allocate space and transitions appropriately.

The talent part of this equation will help your guests feel like they have front-row seats to a beautifully choreographed show, allowing servers, food runners, and bartenders to move around the room gracefully and easily. Both are equally important. The same people will be repeating the same actions every night, and over time, inefficiencies can cause long wait times and negatively impact team morale.

Just as you’ll do with kitchen design, draw lines to represent how a theoretical staff member would navigate the dining room in order to do his or her job. This will help you place your coat check, host stand, service stations, restrooms, coffee station, and employee entrance in the most efficient places.

Do the same exercise with guests. What route will they need to follow in order to get from the host stand to a table and from a table to the restroom? Minimize cross over, especially between staff and guests. Work with your designers to create a space that’s comfortable for guests and allows your team to excel without unnecessary complications. Even designers with lots of experience don’t spend their days and nights working in kitchens or on the floor, so you’ll need to be an active part of this process.

You don’t need to have a functioning restaurant to know which will be your most desirable tables and which ones will be difficult to seat. Tables that are close to service stations, near the front door, in high-traffic areas, or far away from any kind of anchor (like a banquette or pillar) tend to be the least desirable. Once your designer has presented you with some layout options, figure out how many “bad” tables you have and challenge your design team to get that number as low as possible.

In addition to code compliance, the spacing around your tables will also be related to the market you’re in. In New York City, guests are used to sitting shoulder to shoulder with the table next to them, but this isn’t true of most markets. In a new market, do some research and ask your designer what guests feel most comfortable with.



“You want to extend the brand into the space and create the right guest choreography. It’s never about individual elements or materials, it’s about brand impression as a whole, and using unique focal points and seating zones to ensure every seat is part of the experience.”

Tanya Shea

FlexibilityBuilding flexibility into your design will help you maximize revenue. Smart examples of flexibility in dining spaces are:

• Building tables that have the same width whenever possible so that you have the ability to combine them.

• Building hinged flaps underneath some square tables that can be flipped up to create a large round.

• Putting a removable air wall into your private dining room that allows the space to be bisected for two smaller parties or used for one big event.

• Creating only one or two chair types so that you can use the same chair across spaces.

Key Takeaways

1. Make sure your kitchen is the right size for your concept. It’s the most expensive space to build out, and every square foot that’s used in the back of house can’t be used for a revenue-generating seat. You can always add equipment down the line.

2. Make decisions that protect your budget. Do your homework and choose a budget-conscious designer, pre-qualify your General Contractor, use the design-build method, and stay engaged in the construction process.

3. Map out flow in the front and back of house to ensure your restaurant’s design is efficient. If a cook will need to take eight steps to get from their station’s mise en place to the cooking equipment they need, consider rearranging. Every step counts.

4. Invest in acoustics and lighting. The sound and

brightness levels of your restaurant need to be consistent with your concept and are some of the most important components of your restaurant’s atmosphere.

5. Focus on simple but impactful design that reinforces your brand at every corner. Work with your designer to create strategic focal points to draw your guests’ attention towards features that tie back to your concept.



In The Weeds: Amanda Cohen

“I had a location. I had (almost definitely) a liquor license. I had an architect. Now I needed a contractor. Choosing a contractor is a bit like choosing your mugger -- you want someone who won’t hit you in the face and will maybe let you keep $5 for cab fare. Unfortunately, we didn’t find that kind of mugger.

We interviewed a couple of contractors and whittled it down to two: Moto and Anthony. Moto was a nice guy who had done a lot of work building restaurants in the East Village, but he played his cards close to his chest. I wanted a communicator, someone who would keep me in the loop, and Anthony and his foreman, Colin, seemed genuine, nice, kind, and efficient. They would give us schedules, updates, weekly site meetings, and paperwork tracking the project. It seemed wonderful -- contractors who would talk to us and keep us informed of their own free will. Sure, they hadn’t built a restaurant before, but they seemed game for the challenge and this space is only 350 square feet. What could go wrong?

Everything.

One day Anthony didn’t show up at a site meeting. Colin took me aside and told me that Anthony was in the hospital because he’d had a nervous breakdown and I should hire him to finish the job instead. A few days later, Anthony showed up as if nothing had happened. Colin never mentioned this again. I felt like they were gaslighting me. Everything Anthony said was a lie, or crazy and, even worse, my restaurant wasn’t getting built.

Amanda Cohen of Dirt Candy in New York City on working with contractors.


“We’re leveling the walls,” they’d tell me, day after day.

Then, in the middle of the job, Anthony asked for $70,000 in a change order. Change orders are a natural part of any building project, and you get them if you discover you need to re-route a pipe at the last minute, or you decide you want black countertops instead of white. Usually they come out to a few thousand dollars here and there as you build. But a $70,000 change order takes your breath away. That was almost half of our construction budget. Some of it was for leveling, some of it was flat-out crazy. I refused to pay because, apart from the leveling, they couldn’t tell me where the previous $70,000 I’d paid them had gone.

We scheduled a meeting to work out what we would and wouldn’t pay in this change order and, not surprisingly, Anthony didn’t show. Shortly thereafter he disappeared. A few days later, his dad called and offered to ransom back construction materials they’d special ordered but had never brought to the site. I needed this stuff and wound up paying thousands in cash for this guy’s dad to bring me materials I’d already paid for, and to tell me I was a stupid girl. It was one of the grimmest hustles I’d ever been the victim of. And in the end, my walls still weren’t level.”

You can (and should!) read about all of Amanda Cohen’s restaurant opening adventures in her blog, How Not to Open a Restaurant.

In The Weeds: Amanda Cohen cont’d

http://www.dirtcandynyc.com/tags/how-not-to-open-a-restaurant/


How to Order and Purchase

Once the work to build your restaurant has begun, start strategizing your opening purchases for the front and back of house. These purchases are the whole slew of items that are smaller than a walk-in refrigerator or bar stool but are just as critical in terms of functionality: plates, glasses, uniforms, pots, and pans. The tips in this chapter outline key considerations to help you make smart purchases before and after your restaurant opens.

What Do You Need?

The exact items you need to select and purchase at this point depend on your restaurant concept; what you have already chosen with your designer, architect, and contractor; and your budget. Some major ones to consider are:

Front of House• Plateware• Glassware• Flatware• Serviceware (tea and coffee pots, marking trays, service

trays, water pitchers, salt and pepper grinders, etc.)• Bar smallwares• Table top decor (vase, votive holder, etc.)• Linens• Uniforms• Menu covers and paper (food, wine, cocktail)• Check presenters

Back of House• Pots, pans• Cooking utensils (tongs, knives, spatulas, mixers, etc.)• Kitchen smallwares (cutting boards, etc.)• Paper and plastic supplies (deli containers, paper towels,

toilet paper, to go boxes and bags)


What Do You Need? cont’d

• Plate, silverware, and glassracks• Cleaning supplies• Storage racks• Uniforms• Office supplies

Key Considerations

The four most important factors to weigh when making purchasing decisions are cost, durability, brand consistency, and lead time. Even though your opening orders will be your biggest, they certainly won’t be your last -- those $40 plates that break when you look at them the wrong way and take two months to import will be a pain in your P&L for as long as your restaurant is in operation. CostMoney will likely be the greatest determinant in what you decide to purchase for your restaurant. That doesn’t mean every restaurant owner should spend as little as possible on every purchase, but it does mean you should consider where investing more will actually produce a tangible outcome for your team and guests. Even in fine-dining restaurants, there are always opportunities to save money without sacrificing anything of importance. Here are a few money saving tips from our experts:

• Decide what you want to invest in before you start looking. Once you have catalogues, samples, and reps in front of you, it’s going to be hard to decide objectively whether a beautiful steak knife is a worth the price. Make a master list and go through it line by line to figure out where it makes sense to spend and where it makes sense to save.

SPEND: Gavin, owner of Spoon and Stable in Minneapolis says, “I opted to spend more money to have the handles of my flatware buffed out so that it had a matte finish that hides wear and tear. New flatware gets scratched so fast -- it looks terrible, and then you have to buy more. Plus, it’s one of the few items in a restaurant that doesn’t break, so I felt good about investing in it.”

SAVE: It’s tempting to buy expensive water glasses because they’re almost always in front of guests, but they also get handled more than any other item and therefore break more. Opt for a water glass that’s consistent with your overall aesthetic, but doesn’t break the bank.

• Get multiple quotes and negotiate pricing. In many markets, there are multiple distributors that can sell you the exact same thing. Do your research and make sure you’re comparing apples to apples; some reps will give you one price (usually lower) for your opening order and then a different price for all subsequent purchases, while others will give the same price across the board.


SAVE: Regardless of how many competitive bids you get, always negotiate down before purchasing.

• Think outside the box, but understand the trade-offs. Searching for unique service pieces or used equipment at a flea market or consignment store can be a great way to save money and bring cool items into your restaurant. However, keep in mind that most secondhand finds won’t be designed for commercial use, meaning they will be breakable and impossible to replace with the exact same item. The eclectic aesthetic also needs to be consistent with your brand as a whole, or the confusion it creates for guests will negate your cost savings.

• Don’t buy everything in time for day one. Keep your purchasing strategy focused on everything you really need, not on everything you really want. Aaron London, owner of AL’s Place in San Francisco, explained that his mindset when opening AL’s Place was to start small in order to preserve working capital for his first months of operation and then build, grow, and add slowly.

SAVE: Some things he held back on? “I couldn’t afford nice plates so we bought the cheapest ones possible to start and now we have singular plates made by local

potters, but that took time. Another big one was the patio. If I’d taken on all of that expense up front -- tables, chairs, awning, heaters, extra china glass and silver -- I would have had no operating cashflow and I wouldn’t have been able to recover from unexpected expenses.”

• Weigh all the factors when choosing quantities. Some distributors will offer price breaks when you buy certain quantities, which can be great -- but it can also be a quick way of taking over all of your storage space and leading you into spending more money than you needed to.

SAVE: Don’t be sold on what you don’t need; it’s easier to buy more of something than get rid of something that you have in abundance.

Lead Time

Lead time for items in your kitchen or your dining room will impact your initial purchases and is often even more detrimental once operations are in full swing. When Aaron opened AL’s Place, he was on a strict timeline to get the restaurant up and running as soon as he had to start paying rent, so anything that could potentially affect his opening date was automatically dismissed.

Key Considerations cont’d


If you do have the luxury of time in your opening process, consider challenges you may face if you realize you’re low on a certain bowl or glass and it takes six weeks to get it. This is common with pieces that have some sort of custom element, like branded plates or uniforms. If you do purchase items with long lead times, make sure that you have a solid inventory and ordering system in place, which we’ll talk more about later in this chapter.

DurabilityFor Gavin, how frequently he would have to replace things was a big factor in determining what to purchase. When he considered that he would be writing a check to replace plates and glasses almost every month, he decided to spend less on those things up front.

“I put out maybe 60 samples of plates on the floor and then I put post-its with the price on every single one. That made me think a lot more consciously about whether I wanted to spend that much money on those types of things or if I wanted to spend it on something else that I might get more value from. And that’s what it all comes down to -- what’s the most effective place to spend the money you have?”

Gavin Kaysen

Brand ConsistencyEvery purchase you make needs to tie back to your brand, because everything that a guest or employee sees, touches, wears, or uses will give them a data point about what your restaurant stands for. Gavin spent more to have custom leather wine lists covers because he’d already invested in curating an interesting wine list and creating a beautiful wine room that was visible to guests. He didn’t want them to walk in and see a design element that indicated one thing and a flimsy paper wine list that indicated something else entirely.

Another expense that Gavin prioritized were employee uniforms. There was no way his hospitality philosophy would shine through his team if they didn’t feel comfortable, confident, and empowered on the floor. He says, “Maybe the water glass is going to sit there the entire meal, but that server is going to bring them their experience and how that server looks and feels is a reflection of me.”

Post-Opening Ordering & Purchasing

Opening day will come and go quickly, and it will be all too easy to forget to check pars on uniforms, to-go boxes, and wine glasses. Get ahead of the game: build organized order sheets, set up inventory days, and delegate ordering responsibilities before you open so that everyone understands their part right out of the gate.

Key Considerations cont’d


Build Order SheetsBy the time you’re placing pre-opening orders, you will have spent hours reviewing pricing, looking at quote sheets, circling product numbers in catalogues, and talking to reps. Once you’ve placed orders, either use the final invoices or ask your distributors to put together a list of everything you purchased, including the name of the item, item number, size specifications, lead time, price, and the quantity you’re starting with. Include purveyor contact information and par levels so it’s easy for anyone to figure out how to place an order.

Then consolidate these lists (hiding columns you don’t need on a regular basis) into one that’s based on how you organize your restaurant. Charles, owner of Souvla in San Francisco, recommends basing your order sheets on your storage plan so that when it comes time to place orders, you can move from left to right, top to bottom alongside your storage space.

Take Inventory RegularlyMost restaurateurs are pretty comfortable with taking food and beverage inventory at the end of every month (or sometimes even more frequently). But many operators don’t even think about taking inventory of china, glass, silver, uniforms, menu paper, or the many other things

that can suddenly go from being fully stocked to 86’d. Once your order sheets are built, calendar inventory dates and be clear about who on your team is responsible for performing inventory and following up with necessary ordering.

Key Takeaways

1. Decide what you want to invest in before you start looking. Figure out where it makes sense to spend and where you can save, taking your brand representation and key touch points into consideration.

2. Always get multiple quotes and negotiate pricing. Talk to many distributors before making a purchase, and don’t accept your first offer.

3. Create a foolproof system for ordering and purchasing after opening. Set up regular dates for taking inventory and compile documents that make it easy to do so. Make sure everyone on your team knows their role in the process, so you’re never surprised to find you’re low on a critical item (with zero time to order a new one).

Post-Opening Ordering & Purchasing cont’d


How to Build Your Team

Before you can identify the best candidates for your team, you first need to figure out what you’re looking for. Organizational structure and the specific qualities that make a person a good “fit” will be different for every restaurant, but the best practices around the process are largely universal. Identify the soft skills that reflect your concept and brand, determine what skill sets will be needed to perform critical operational responsibilities, and define what your own role will entail. Then, develop a hiring strategy to find people that fit your criteria.

Your employees are your biggest asset, and in our industry they’re often the scarcest resource. Developing and executing a hiring strategy will pay off in the long run by reducing turnover, ensuring great guest experiences, and promoting brand consistency.

Prioritize Soft SkillsWhat qualities must every member of your team possess to create the guest experience you’ve imagined? Alex Seidel, owner of Fruition, Mercantile Dining & Provision, and Fruition Farms in Denver, says,

“When we hire our team, we’re not looking for bodies. We’re looking for people that we can work with, that are like-minded, and that want to grow and develop. When you surround yourself with people that have the same mission as you, there’s no limit to what you can do.”

Alex Seidel

http://mercantiledenver.com/our-story/our-team/


http://www.fruitionfarmsdairy.com/


http://fruitionrestaurant.com/


Every restaurant will have different priorities when it comes to soft skills. Keep in mind that some of the qualities you look for while selecting your opening team may be different than those you look for months or years down the road.

Sabato Sagaria, Chief Restaurant Officer of Union Square Hospitality Group, takes a bit of a different approach with new restaurants. He says, “We really try to understand the type of environment that somebody flourishes in. If someone is open minded, has shown their ability to be a chameleon, and can take whatever curve balls are thrown at them, we know they’re going to thrive during an opening.” Candidates who need structure and consistency to do their best work get referred to more established restaurants within the group.

Identify Roles & ResponsibilitiesIdentify the roles and responsibilities you need your team to take on at a management level and an hourly level. If you’re already familiar with the size, scope, and service style of the restaurant you’re opening, you likely have a good idea of what your organizational chart will look like. If not, talk to peers who have concepts and hours of operation similar to yours about their organizational structures, do some market research, and make modifications based on the specifics of your restaurant to develop a working model.

One tool that can be helpful is a comprehensive list of the major responsibilities you expect each person to own. Then, factor in the amount of time each person will need to spend on the floor or in the kitchen during service. Your goal is to strike a balance here: make sure your team has the bandwidth to meet your performance expectations without burning them out.

Specific tasks will vary greatly from restaurant to restaurant, but I’ve provided a sample list of management responsibilities here to help spark your thought process:

• Scheduling• Hiring• New employee training• Disciplinary action and termination• POS maintenance• Payroll• Ordering (food, beverage, dry goods, dining room supplies)• Private dining sales • Private event execution• Bar program • Inventory• Cash handling

Reporting structure can, and often does, evolve after opening. Below is a sample organizational chart for the management team of a mid-sized, full-service restaurant

How to Build Your Team cont’d




a more casual, counter-service concept may require only a few people who all have similar job descriptions.

When thinking about team structure, map out a typical guest experience and take note of the individual touch points necessary to provide great service. For example, let’s say your typical guests are a group of four joining you for drinks and dinner. They will enter the restaurant to check in for their reservation, head to the bar for a cocktail, and then sit down for a multi-course dinner.

In this scenario, it’s clear you’ll need a host and floor manager to ensure guests are greeted and directed to the right place, as well as a fully-staffed bar team. Additionally, multi-course dinner service means many touch points with each table, which require support staff for your servers (think runners, bussers, and sommeliers) and your culinary team (expediters, polishers, and dishwashers).

By contrast, a counter-service concept might find many of these positions wholly unnecessary. In a typical experience, these diners might simply enter and be directed by signage to a cashier to place their order. Once they’ve paid, they may receive a number to pick up their food from a window when it’s ready and have no further interaction with the restaurant staff.

to give you an idea of positions to consider and how they interact with each other.

Establishing responsibilities -- as well as the size, service style, and concept -- will help you understand what hourly positions you need to hire. For a fine-dining restaurant you’ll likely have a more layered front-of-house structure, whereas

OWNER

EXECUTIVECHEF

PASTRYCHEF

SOUSCHEF

SOUSCHEF

GENERALMANAGER

FLOORMANAGER

PRIVATE DININGMANAGER

BARMANAGER



In this scenario, unlike the previous, there isn’t need for much service or support staff, only cashiers, cooks, dishwashers, and a floor manager to facilitate.

There is no “one size fits all” guide to how to staff your concept, as each one varies. As a best practice, simulate service and ensure that each touch point with a guest is covered by a particular staff member equipped to deliver a great experience.

Here are some roles to consider:

Define Your PositionBe clear and honest about your strengths, availability, and the role you plan to fill at your restaurant. This is one of the most important steps in figuring out who to surround yourself with.

Will Beckett, Founder & Owner of Underdog Restaurants (parent company of The Hawksmoor) in the U.K., says, “Irrespective of who you are and how much experience you have, there is stuff that you’re really good at and there’s stuff that you are not. And you need to be able to plug those gaps straight away.”

If you’re a chef but you don’t know much about the front of the house or running a business, your first priority will be to find a General Manager who is dedicated to your vision, is experienced in running a front-of-house team, and has strong business sensibilities. Don’t assume you’ll be able to perform major functions that you have no experience with. Conversely, if your strengths are business and operations, but your knife skills aren’t particularly notable, you’ll want to find a chef very early in the process.

CaptainServerServer assistant / backwaiterFood runnerBusserBaristaPolisherExpeditorHostCashier

CookPrep cook

Butcher

DishwasherStewardReceiver

Front of House Back of House


http://thehawksmoor.com/


Recruit the Right People

Once you’re crystal clear on what you’re looking for, start finding candidates. Earlier is better than later. Thoughtfully written job ads and the channels you choose to circulate them through will also serve as filters.

TimingStart your search for managers before you look for hourly employees. Sabato (of USHG based in New York City)and Will agree that key positions like chefs and General Managers should be brought on two to four months before opening day, meaning you’ll need to start posting job ads, planting the seed with your peers, and working your network four to six months in advance.

What’s the point of paying your two most expensive people before your doors even open? It all comes back to culture. Will says, “You need that opportunity to spend time together getting on the same page with the kind of restaurant you’re going to open and making sure the relationship is good and that it’s trustworthy.”

Hiring individuals at the top of your leadership structure is much more than just checking a box. Chefs and General Managers need to be aligned with your brand, share your values, and believe in your vision. It’s particularly important to find a chef early on so they have enough time to develop a menu you’re both happy with, test that menu, and work with your design team on laying out the kitchen.

Hourly employees can be brought on later in the game, but leave your new employees with time to give respectful notice to their current employer and be on board in time for pre-opening staff training. Bringing on a couple of servers or cooks to fill open positions is very different from onboarding a new team from scratch. Starting early and being honest with candidates about the fact that your timeline may shift a bit is better than starting late and having to hire bodies rather than individuals who are an ideal fit for your restaurant.

Job AdsThe ads that you post should include keywords describing your company culture as well as your restaurant’s concept, style of service, projected opening date, and any relevant specifics regarding job description and schedule requirements. Incorporate the legwork you’ve done to define your brand and the type of person you’re looking for to build ads that look and sound unique to your project.

Ads should be professionally presented and shared through multiple channels, such as online job boards and social media. Getting the word out among your network is also one of the most important ways of recruiting great employees.

Let your friends in the industry know you’re on the hunt for an awesome opening team and extend your outreach beyond your immediate market. People in the restaurant


industry are always on the move, and you want your entire rolodex to be aware that you’re looking to meet great candidates. Once you start hiring your first team members, encourage them to invite their peers to apply -- these introductions are great ways to find good people efficiently.

Interviewing

Effective interviewing is the key to finding top performers for your restaurant -- don’t rely on first impressions or gut reactions. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Develop a Core Set of Interview QuestionsAssemble a thoughtful list of questions designed to determine whether a candidate shares your values and uncover details of their professional experiences. Often, the best way to do this is to work backwards. Figure out the five most important qualities you want a candidate to possess, then design questions that will allow them to demonstrate each one.

The Hawksmoor looks for front-of-house employees who are passionate about food and drink. This may seem like an obvious quality to require, but for many restaurants it actually isn’t a top priority for front-of-house employees.

Asking candidates questions about the role that food plays in their lives or having them describe favorite dishes and pairings is a great way to gauge interest. The content of their answer is much less important indicator than the emotion with which they deliver it.

If teamwork is a value that ranks high on your list, think of everyday situations that demonstrate teamwork and then come up with questions that provide candidates the opportunity to talk about those things. I always like to ask interviewees what makes a shift feel fun and rewarding versus a shift that feels disappointing or frustrating. Usually, candidates who have a natural tendency towards teamwork will demonstrate that by telling you about busy nights in which everyone has to support each other to get through. Always ask candidates to give you specific examples so that you’re more likely to get a real answer.

Will recommends asking candidates situational questions based on past experiences as opposed to asking how they would deal with a hypothetical problem. He says, “People are way less inclined to try and work out what you want them to say when you’re asking about the past and they’re way more likely to give you an answer that’s representative of how you can expect them to behave.”

Recruit the Right People cont’d


Coming up with unique questions will help you determine fit and also increase the likelihood that you’re getting genuine answers from the people you’re interviewing. An efficient interviewing process also demonstrates your level of professionalism to applicants and gives you more objective criteria for evaluating them. If someone is a total rockstar when it comes to knowledge but comes across as selfish and not a team player, it’s best that you pass and look for someone who more closely aligns with your mission and values.

Make Interviewing a Two-Way StreetNever forget that candidates are also evaluating you. Show up on time, read their resume beforehand, and dress appropriately -- it will go a long way in creating a strong impression of what they can expect if they come on board. Always put your best foot forward so that when you come across great candidates, you’re able to hire them.

Alex Seidel explains that giving every candidate the opportunity to interview his team first is one of the most important steps in their hiring process.

“We want people to analyze our culture, our philosophy, the environment, the people that

they’ll be working next to, their superiors, so that we can ask them -- is this an environment that you want to be in? Hiring someone for any position is a commitment and it’s an understanding on both sides of what our collective goals are.”

Alex Seidel

Get More Than One OpinionPassing over a great candidate can be as big of a loss as hiring a bad one, so take more than one person’s opinion into account. Managers should sync up between interviews to highlight any areas of concern for others to investigate further. That way you know hiring managers all have buy- in. Everyone who conducts interviews should take notes -- especially for an opening team, because you’ll be meeting with applicants constantly. It’s easy to forget how you felt about someone or confuse them with a different person when you’re in the throes of pre-opening onboarding.

Assembling Your Team

When it comes to assembling a team, diversity is your friend; this applies to knowledge, skill set, past experience, and personality. Pay attention to balance as you bring people on board, as a diverse and dynamic staff helps everyone to

Interviewing cont’d


learn from one another. Be wary of hiring too many people from the same restaurant or company.

Aim for BalanceHaving a team of great people won’t do you any good if they’re all great in the exact same way.

“You want to build a band, not a bunch of people that play the clarinet. Everybody has to be able to play in the sandbox together and that’s really key because there’s a lot of intensity in an opening. Employees aren’t just adapting to their surroundings, they’re adapting to each other, and you need to have people that can link arms going into it with a real sense of camaraderie.”

Sabato Sagaria

Check ReferencesAsk every candidate you’re seriously considering to provide you with three professional references. Let the applicant know up front that you will need to hear back from at least two of them in order to move forward with the hiring process. No matter how great someone seems or how strongly you connected with them, do not skip this step. Hiring someone is a commitment to a relationship. Know

what you’re looking for and be clear with that person about your goals. Give them an opportunity to figure out if you have what they need to grow as an individual.

Mark Canlis, co-owner of Canlis in Seattle, holds this principle above all else. He says, “If you’re not willing to enter into a relationship, then you’re just faking it. Each employee is a relationship, and relationships are hard. They can be tricky and they can be messy and they can be time consuming and they can be rewarding and they can be fulfilling and they can be rejuvenating and restorative, but they always take a lot of work.”

The process of building your team is all about ensuring that you’re selecting people whom you’re excited to do that kind of work with.

Key Takeaways

1. Invest time in identifying what exactly you’re looking for in prospective employees before you begin the hiring process. Know what values, character traits, and skills your team will need to have in order to make your vision a reality.

Assembling Your Team cont’d

http://canlis.com/


1.

2. Prioritize soft skills when hiring. Teaching someone how to clear a table is easy, but teaching them to have a different attitude is almost always impossible.

3. Define your role. Be honest about your areas of expertise and create realistic expectations around what you’ll be contributing to the restaurant on a day-to-day basis, then hire your leadership team based on the gaps you can’t reasonably fill.

4. Create a hiring strategy. Make sure your recruiting, interviewing, and onboarding strategy is intentional, universally understood, and thorough.

5. Understand that employment is a relationship. It has to

be a good fit for everyone involved, and both sides need to be working towards the same goal to be successful.



How to Train Your Team

If the cost of labor, product, and lost revenue associated with pre-opening training makes you uncomfortable, think about how much money you’ll spend as a result of high turnover, botched guest experiences, and bad press -- all of which are the direct result of an underprepared staff.

Will Beckett, Founder & Owner of Underdog Restaurants (parent company of The Hawksmoor) in the U.K.,learned this lesson the hard way after running so low on capital leading up to his first restaurant opening that he had no choice but to open his doors without a trained staff. Now that he’s just opened his 10th successful location, he says with confidence, “Employing your staff with enough time to do training and a soft opening properly is much, much better in the long term, though it’s much more expensive in the short term. It is absolutely worth doing that.”

Start Early

Begin planning staff training when you’re building the pro-forma for your business plan. The costs of labor, food, beverage, printed materials, and other expenses associated with classroom training and soft opening events should be a part of your pre-opening budget so you don’t find yourself three weeks away from opening with dwindling funds.

Designing an effective pre-opening training program is extremely time consuming, especially if you’ve never done it before, so make sure you start early and delegate projects appropriately. Gathering all of your employees before you even start generating revenue is a big financial investment, and you can’t afford to squander that by procrastinating on the planning front. Make this a priority months in advance of bringing on staff, not weeks (and certainly not days).


Classroom Training

Pre-opening training is generally divided into two major sections: theory and practice. Classroom training generally takes five to eight days and teaches employees what they need to know about the restaurant, how to perform their specific job, in-depth product knowledge, details of the physical space, and team building.

Start by making a training schedule, which will be your road map through the process. It will help you keep your training plan organized, set expectations for your management team, and determine what written materials you need to assemble for your staff. These are 10 important topics that almost every restaurant should consider including:

1. Start with WhyOn the very first day of training, discuss your restaurant’s “why” and lay the framework for the culture you hope to grow. Rocky Cirino, the Managing Director of AltaMarea in New York City, often chooses to do this through telling anecdotes and including the staff in the conversation. Questions like, “What is good service?” and “What are we trying to achieve with this restaurant?” are often part of a focused discussion very early on. Will does the same in order to ensure that “everyone is on the same page and pushing in the same direction right off the bat.”

Sabato Sagaria of USHG, stresses the importance of starting with “why” and incorporating the company’s values and philosophy into training at every possible moment. That way, each employee is better prepared to make good decisions in unrehearsed situations. He says, “If an employee is faced with a new challenge, they can tie it back to a similar scenario or train of thought and feel comfortable handling it on their own because they understand our overall vision.”

“The only way to build culture is to constantly talk about it and constantly work at it. If you don’t talk about it, it will never exist.” Alex Seidel

2. Introduce LeadersIt seems obvious, but it’s often forgotten: Introduce each member of your leadership team and allow them to speak briefly about themselves and why they are proud to be a part of your restaurant. Prioritizing engagement, especially early in the game, is critical. Rocky says, “Presence is everything.” Depending on the size of your staff, giving the rest of your employees the opportunity to do the same sends a positive message and reinforces how much you value what each team member brings to the table.


3. Clean & Set UpIt’s unlikely that your space will look like an operational restaurant on the first day of staff training. That’s ok, and depending on how far off you are it can actually be a good thing. The stacks of boxes of unwashed plates, glassware, and silverware; the many storage areas that are yet to be organized in a remotely logical way; the service stations that are barren with the exception of that box of cereal that you’ve been living off of for a week -- these are all opportunities for your new team to dive in and make your restaurant their functional, beautiful home.

Not only does allowing your staff to take on cleaning and organization remove some heavy lifting from your plate, it also creates a strong sense of buy-in and ensures that the location of equipment and service items makes sense to the people who will be using them the most.

4. Employee Handbook ReviewEmployees who have a clear understanding of what they should expect to give and to receive from their employer are more comfortable and confident, allowing them to do a better job. Even though it may not be the most stimulating material, an employee handbook is necessary -- and simply handing it out and asking staff to read it and sign it isn’t enough to be sure that they are absorbing its contents.

Will agrees that this portion of training isn’t the most exciting. “I think it’s fair to say that almost nobody likes it, but it’s important and so I try to do it in the middle of training. My goal is to get them excited, get them eating some food, get them through the dull compliance stuff and then get them excited again before they open a restaurant.”

5. Product KnowledgeWhat you cover and how much time you devote to each subject will depend on your restaurant’s concept. All of these topics provide a good opportunity to include the vendors, farmers, and distributors you’ve been working with; they will appreciate the chance to share their passion for their products, and staff will benefit from learning from different people. Nikki Wallis, Head of Academy Training and Development at Gaucho Group in London, brings in industry experts to train because staff education is at the core of Gaucho’s culture. These are the major categories to consider:

• Menu (ingredients, cooking techniques, presentation, allergens, substitutions)

• Cheese• Wine• House cocktails• Classic cocktails• Spirits• Beer• Coffee and tea

Classroom Training cont’d

http://openforbusiness.opentable.com/features/how-an-employee-handbook-can-make-or-break-your-business/

http://www.gauchorestaurants.co.uk/


6. TastingAcademic knowledge is important, but tasting is a key component of training for the entire team. Cooks need to understand how every component of every dish should taste, and your front-of-house team needs to feel excited about the menu and be able to guide guests through their dining experience confidently. Will says, “We bring our kitchen staff in a week before our front of house because we want to get everyone tasting the food early, have plenty of time to explain it, and get them excited about it. There’s no point in doing that if the food coming out of the kitchen is no good.”

7. Service StandardsPre-opening training is your best opportunity to define what is right and wrong when it comes to technical service. How do you want tables to be cleared? What’s the proper way to transfer a bar check? It may feel tedious, but on your first busy night you’ll be grateful that you aren’t wasting time explaining the same thing to 20 different people and being frustrated that they don’t already know the “right” way of doing things. Your managers and employees will also be more comfortable if they have a clear understanding of your expectations.

8. POS TrainingSure, most of us have used every POS system under the sun, but none of these experiences have been in your restaurant. You don’t want servers searching for a tomato salad button

for five minutes in the middle of the first night of service, only to find that it was never programmed to begin with. Give your team time to familiarize themselves with the locations of functions and menu items in your POS. Make sure every menu item is in the computer in the right place at the correct price and printing where it’s supposed to.

9. Staff-on-Staff ServiceBefore you dive into preview events, do some dress rehearsals just with your staff to work out some of the bigger kinks. Wouldn’t you rather find out your expediting printer doesn’t work before you have guests of any variety in your house? Organizing some “staff-on-staff” exercises in which one group serves while the other dines is a great way to make some early improvements and discoveries. What’s the best place for trays to go in the service stations? How should the service bartender organize their tickets? These exercises should include the whole team — a well-practiced service team is useless without a well-practiced kitchen team.

10. Additional ConsiderationsPrioritize training around elements of your restaurant that are uniquely yours or that may be new to your team. To prepare his team for the opening of Vaucluse in New York City, Rocky hired a tutor from the French Culinary Institute. Given that AltaMarea focuses on Italian concepts, he wanted to be sure that his team was completely confident with French cooking techniques and pronunciation.



Ryan Burnet, owner of Barrio and the newly opened Eastside in Minneapolis, installed a number of large, eye-catching pieces of artwork throughout Eastside’s dining room that each had an engaging story. Ryan shared details of each piece in the restaurant’s service manual and brought one of the artists on site during training to speak to the staff directly about his installation. He also trained his team to explain the restaurant’s artwork confidently to guests who might want to know more.

Prepare Written Materials

Having a vision of what service should look and feel like is one thing, but being able to put that vision on paper and teach it to others is something else entirely. Creating written standards for your team implements one solid point of reference that can serve as everyone’s North Star. By taking the time to write documents like a comprehensive service manual, you’ll give yourself an opportunity to edit your thoughts before teaching them to others and make sure they are cohesive. This exercise will also make new hire training dramatically more consistent and efficient before and after you open.

Training materials that you’ll want to consider putting in writing include:

• Employee handbook. Regardless of your concept, you need one. An attorney with experience in labor law and restaurant operations should build this with you and review it before you give it to employees.

• Service manual. This document should outline the restaurant’s concept and the story behind it, bios of key players, information about important partners like your designer or major vendors, and a detailed outline of steps of service. It’s also helpful to include a quick summary of how to deal with guest complaints and a dedicated section for hosts and front door policies.

• Menu descriptions. These should include menu item ingredients, allergens (and feasible modifications), preparation techniques, and a photo.

• Beverage descriptions. These will vary depending on your concept and teaching style. Consider building templates that include the name of a cocktail or wine by the glass and then leaving specific fields (like ingredients or tasting notes) blank for your team to fill in during training classes.

• Floorplan. Your front-of-house team will need to commit

table and seat numbers to memory immediately. Give them a tool to start practicing on day one.



Build in Performance MeasurementPre-opening training is a big investment, so it’s critical that you’re holding your team accountable for learning and retaining everything you’re teaching them throughout the process. Daily written quizzes will ensure that employees are committing important information to memory and send a clear message about the level of dedication you expect. Incorporate verbal testing into daily training exercises and get everyone involved in hands-on training.

TIP: Rocky says, “It is incredibly important to weed people out. We have a responsibility to create the best team possible, so when we know that someone doesn’t fit with our culture, we are quick to fire.”

Preview Events

Pre-opening events serve three essential functions: they are dress rehearsals for your entire team, they provide an exclusive first look of your restaurant to key players in your community, and they give you an opportunity to receive critical feedback and make changes before you open your doors to paying customers.

Your first few weeks of service are the most important ones you’ll ever have, and losing the trust of your “early

adopters,” receiving negative reviews on social media, lacking support from the press, and discouraging your staff early in the game are all surefire ways of damaging your short- and long-term success.

Sabato says, “Giving your team as many practical opportunities to interact, learn the voice of the restaurant, retain menu items and steps of service prevents your first paying guests from being your guinea pigs. We want to be our own guinea pigs.”

Friends & Family MealsWhat: This type of pre-opening event should happen as close to opening day as possible and serve as a comprehensive dry run. Invite friends and family of the restaurant to dine in exchange for critical feedback and the right to make mistakes sans judgement. Typically, all or most of the food served at these meals is complimentary.

This is the most important opportunity your staff will have to practice cooking your menu, mixing your cocktails, talking about your wine list, and going through steps of service before opening day, so structure it exactly the way you would a normal service.

Who: Typically invitations to these meals are pretty coveted, and you’ll have no shortage of volunteers. Above all, invite

Prepare Written Materials cont’d


people you trust to be honest and whose opinions you respect. Another thing to keep in mind: If you have a few big hiccups on your first night, will the people you’ve invited understand and forgive or send a snide tweet to their 5,000 followers? Make sure it’s the former.

Sabato says, “We invite people within our company because they see how we do things at all of our other restaurants and are able to provide some amazing feedback. Sometimes when you’re opening you’re so far in it, it’s hard to step above and look at it with an open mind.”

Tips for getting the most out of it:• Host at least two days of friends and family meals, but

three or four days is ideal. You want the opportunity to receive critical feedback, make mistakes, and correct them before you open.

• Control your cover counts. You’ll be surprised by how many friends and family members you have all of the sudden when you give away free meals at a hot new restaurant. Decide how many people you want to serve each night based on your budget and your operational capabilities, then stick to those numbers.

• Involve your entire staff. This may mean giving servers smaller sections or having more cooks in the kitchen than you normally would, but the primary purpose is for

everyone on your team to get some hands-on, real-time experience so they’re comfortable and confident going into day one.

• Make feedback cards for your guests. Honest, critical feedback is a significant portion of your ROI for this type of event so getting your guests’ thoughts on paper and reviewing comments with your team every night is an absolute must.

Press PreviewWhat: Generate buzz by hosting a small event to give the press a first look at the restaurant when it’s still a few weeks away from opening day. Martin Williams, owner of M Restaurants in London, says “We do hard hat nights to allow the press to see the venue before it’s fully completed. This gets them excited and gives them the chance to leak the story before anyone else knows details.” Going above and beyond to show that they are important to you will help keep your restaurant’s name top of mind as others continue to open.

Who: Invite all of the major food writers in your community — magazines, newspapers, websites, and widely followed bloggers. For press events, focus on quality, not quantity. If you have too many people in your space, you’ll lose the feeling of exclusivity and also lessen the likelihood of making a personal connection with everyone in attendance.

Preview Events cont’d

http://mrestaurants.co.uk/

http://mrestaurants.co.uk/


Tips for getting the most out of it:• Make the invite personal. Depending on how many

people you have on your list, sending a well-branded, thoughtful paper invite or making individual phone calls are the most appropriate ways of getting your press preview on their busy calendars.

• Don’t mind the dust. An unfinished interior makes the experience feel a bit more exclusive. Plus, there will still be an element of surprise the next time they come in.

• Provide some tastes of your menu and cocktails during the event. Taking a tour of the space is an essential part of the experience, but getting your future supporters and critics excited about the product you’ll be serving is just as important. Keep it simple — three perfect bites are better than 10 imperfect ones.

• Work the room. Having a group of media heavy hitters in the same place at the same time is a tremendous opportunity. Embrace it! Your entire management team should be on the floor getting to know each person and entering their information into your reservation system. That way you’ll know to take extra-special care of them ʷhen they come in to eat.

• Send them home with something unique. A sweet treat with a branded recipe card or a bottled cocktail are examples of items that will make a lasting impression. Skip things like printed menus that are liable to continue to change as opening day approaches.

Other Pre-Opening Events to Consider• Opening Party. The best opening parties have a greater

purpose than solely celebrating your restaurant’s opening. Host a fundraiser for your favorite local charity, or turn your opening event into an appreciation party for the many people who helped build your restaurant.

• Offer a Discount. After hosting friends and family meals, Will plans a period where regular guests (i.e. the general public) dine at the restaurant with a 50% discount in order to give his team one last grace period to work out kinks before normal operations begin.

• Guest Previews. Offer your future guests an exclusive preview of the restaurant. Martin worked with OpenTable to sell tickets to OpenTable VIPs, giving them a first peek at the restaurant, the opportunity to have a drink with Martin and members of his team, and a chance to book a table before reservations opened to the general public. The outcome? Martin says, “Guests loved it and we had 3,000 bookings before we even opened the phone lines.”

Preview Events cont’d


Key Takeaways

1. Start planning staff training and pre-opening events early. These big investments are critical to your restaurant’s success, so build the expense into your capital requirements budget and plan them early to get the most out of them.

2. Create a comprehensive training schedule that starts with company culture. Other topics to include are product knowledge, steps of service, POS training, and tasting.

3. Prepare written materials like an employee handbook, a service manual, food and beverage descriptions, and a floorplan to provide your team with the tools they need to be successful.

4. Plan pre-opening events like friends and family dinners to give your entire team the opportunity to get comfortable, work through kinks, and practice what they’ve learned so that they go into opening day with confidence.

5. Host a pre-opening event exclusively for key members of the press to help build buzz before you open to the public.


In The Weeds: Sean Heather

“In B.C. at the time, you had to have the intention to eat if you went into a restaurant and you wanted to have a drink. You couldn’t just have a drink while you waited for your friends to arrive before going to eat somewhere else. We were combatting these antiquated liquor licensing laws, and when we explained that we were doing a charcuterie restaurant with cheese, they would say, well you’re not cooking anything. That’s not dinner.

So, the liquor board wouldn’t give us the liquor license because we didn’t have a functioning kitchen with stovetops. We looked around our own market to see what operations existed already that might allow us to slide in under the mat. We’re on the coast and we have a huge Asian population, and we realized that sushi restaurants were quite popular and well established and a lot of them didn’t cook a single thing. They cut fish like we were going to cut meat and they put it on rice like we were going to put it on crackers, and so we stopped calling ourselves a charcuterie bar and we started calling ourselves a sushi restaurant.

Right up until the week that we opened, the city and the liquor board thought that we were opening a sushi restaurant in an alleyway because that was the only way that we could get it past the hurdles. I’m sure that lots of places come up against things they have to battle with, but that was ours. We had to pretend that we were opening up a sushi restaurant for most of the bills and most of the inspection and then launch it as a charcuterie and cheese restaurant.”

Sean Heather of Salt Tasting Room in Vancouver on obtaining a liquor license.


How to Create Your Menu

Guests seek out your menu more than any other element of your restaurant. The dishes, pricing, and physical appearance of your menu will play a hefty hand in determining who your guests will be, how frequently they dine with you, and how they feel about your brand. For most guests, this process begins before ever walking through the front door of a restaurant -- OpenTable’s research shows that 86% of consumers “always” or “frequently” check out a restaurant’s menu online before they dine out.

Perhaps most importantly, the way your menu translates into sales will be the basis of your restaurant’s revenue stream, making it not only a critical brand touchpoint but the key to your financial viability. Make thoughtful decisions when deciding what to put on your menu and

how to present it to guests. Once you’ve opened your doors, be flexible and ready to make changes once you start to receive guest feedback.

Start with Trust

When Danny Meyer describes hospitality, he often refers to the importance of making guests feel like the restaurant is on their side. This approach builds a sense of trust, making them feel cared for on that particular visit and increasing the likelihood that they’ll return. Earning the trust of guests is paramount to every restaurant, but it’s particularly so when it comes to new restaurants. Guests will set their expectations based on your restaurant’s initial menu, and while you work out the early kinks you’ll want to ensure you’re delivering on the promise of your brand.


“We wanted to win trust from our guests before anything else. I think if we’d opened up the restaurant and did tasting menus or food that was a little too out there or too chef-y right away, we would have lost a lot of guests.” Gavin Kaysen

This doesn’t mean that you need to dumb down your concept, but it does mean that you should always be considerate of accessibility. Balance is key, and just because you don’t put a particular item on your opening menu doesn’t mean that it will never see the light of day. Make sure you have a mix of crowd pleasers and more complex, ambitious dishes so you can gauge guests’ reactions and let your kitchen and service staff find their groove. A menu that’s full of lesser-known dishes, ingredients, and techniques will be overwhelming for your guests and for your team.

Building trust through pricing is also important. If you’re opening a fine-casual Italian restaurant, take a look at competitors in your market with similar concepts. What do they charge for a house cocktail or a signature dish? Gavin says, “Learning what type of pricing is making guests feel comfortable and like they’re getting value is really important.”

If you can make it work financially, price yourself just below your competitors to get traction and make guests feel like you’re on their side -- but do be careful with this. Restaurants that open with menus that are priced artificially low to gain a following and then raise prices significantly months down the road often receive harsh criticism and have a hard time retaining their core guest following.

Art vs. Commerce

“Although what you want to do as a chef is very important, there’s an art vs. commerce factor. You’re running a business, and I think that the reason so many restaurants fail is because people lose perspective on that.”

Gavin Kaysen

This all comes down to balance and your ultimate reason for opening a restaurant. Plenty of owners open restaurants that prioritize profitability above all else, and in that case, letting strategically-priced crowd pleasers dominate is the way to go.

Start with Trust cont’d


For restaurateurs who open more visionary, chef-driven concepts, building a menu is a constant balancing act between practicality and creativity. Opening with a menu that appeals to a wide audience and then adding or removing dishes based on guest feedback will help you avoid alienating people right off the bat.

Gavin says, “I learned so much about our guests by walking around the dining room and just asking them what they thought of the menu and also figuring out what their basis of comparison was. What I think of as a fine-dining restaurant or a casual restaurant is very different from what the average guest at Spoon and Stable thinks, and that has a huge impact on how our menu is perceived.”

Building in Profitability

Your menus -- food, wine, and cocktail -- and the guests who order from them are responsible for your financial success. This means that pricing must be strategic and intentional, taking product cost, balance, and perceived value into consideration.

Product CostIn most restaurants, budgeted food cost should be 28-32%, though it will vary depending on market and concept. Pizza

restaurants, which rely heavily on inexpensive ingredients like flour, tend to run lower food costs than concepts that rely heavily on protein, like steakhouses or seafood-focused restaurants.

Wine cost will be budgeted in a similar range as food (usually closer to 27-30%) but again will vary depending on your concept and location. Liquor and beer tend to be budgeted much lower than both wine and food (which is one of many reasons it’s very beneficial to have a liquor license). Restaurants with craft cocktail programs may aim for a 14-18% liquor cost, compared to your local dive bar that likely runs closer to 10-14%.

Balance Is KingIf you know you’re aiming for approximately 30% food cost, doesn’t it then make sense to simply base every menu item on that calculation? Nope.

“We’ll price chicken at $24, which gives us a 20% food cost because chicken is cheap. As a result, we’re able to price pork at a lower price point with a higher food cost so that the two balance each other out. I don’t want a $16 chicken main course next to a $32 pork dish.”

Gavin Kaysen

Art vs. Commerce cont’d


Using this example, if pork is at 35% food cost and you start to sell more of it than any other entree, that’s going to push your overall food cost up. As you study your restaurant’s product mixes and learn more about diner preferences, you should start to see trends in which dishes are consistently top sellers. Make sure that those items are at (or preferably below) your budgeted food cost so that they truly do balance out your value-driven menu items at a higher food cost.

Sometimes it may be easier to work backwards when developing menu items. For example, if you know you’re missing a poultry dish and you need it to be around $28 to be consistent with the rest of your pricing, you then know you’ve got $7.80 to spend on product for the dish to ensure it’s in line with your target food cost.

Value MattersSometimes it makes sense to have items on your menu that are primarily designed to add value to your guests’ experience or to entice diners to have a particular experience. Gavin says, “We have a dry-aged beef ribeye for two on the menu for $39 per person that is not very good for our bottom line, but it looks really great when it’s out in the dining room, and it makes people feel like they’re getting a really great value because they are. I’d rather have them know they’re getting value so they feel motivated to make a second reservation and come back and order the chicken that has the 20% food cost.”

When you get into luxury products like caviar, white truffles, high-end wine and vintage spirits, traditional cost benchmarks tend not to apply. By bringing in specialty food and beverage offerings, you differentiate yourself, engage your guests, excite your staff, and generate press. They can also make you some money if priced strategically, but don’t expect them to be your most profitable items. You’ll have a hard time actually moving products like these unless you price them with value in mind. But less is actually more, here, as selling 30 orders of caviar each night at 45% food cost would actually throw off your numbers.

Working with Purveyors

The relationships you have with your purveyors are incredibly important. The people you purchase products from will impact everything from pricing to payment terms to ease of business. When assessing different companies in your market, look for those that prioritize customer service.

Gavin says, “They’re not just selling me on a butternut squash – what I’m buying is customer service. The expectation is that it’s treated like a relationship; we respect them and they respect us.”

During the opening process, discuss payment terms with your purveyors right out of the gate. Many purveyors will

Building in Profitability cont’d


want COD (cash on delivery) or seven-day payment terms for a new restaurant, which can range from difficult to impossible for a restaurant that isn’t taking in revenue yet. When opening Spoon and Stable, Gavin worked out an agreement with purveyors in which he abided by seven-day terms for a 90-day period. Once he’d proven that he could be trusted to provide payment on time, suppliers agreed to give him 14 days to pay invoices.

Menu Design

Once you’ve decided what you’re going to put on your menu, work on how you’re going to present it to guests. Whether you’ve brought on a branding company, hired a graphic designer, recruited a talented friend, or are planning to do this on your own, there are some key considerations to think through early so you don’t invest time and money into creating something that isn’t operationally feasible or financially sustainable.

We spoke to Carla Siegel, founder of the creative firm Agentsie based in New York City. With a Communication’s Design degree from Syracuse University, a Culinary Arts diploma from The Institute of Culinary Education, and several years in the trenches of New York City’s fast-paced restaurant business as Creative Director for the restaurant

group of Chef Daniel Boulud, Carla provides rare and valuable perspective on creating eye-catching designs that are operations-friendly. Here are some of her top menu design dos and don’ts:

• DO treat your menu as an extension of your brand. Make sure the presentation aligns with the formality of your concept. Paper quality, size and weight, font styles, graphics, colors, section titles, formatting, and whether you opt to use a menu cover or backing should all tell the story of your concept and add to guests’ experience

• DON’T choose a menu design that can’t stand on its own. As the focus on hospitality in restaurants continues to increase (a great thing!), some menus have started to become overly minimal to expand the role of the server in guiding the guest experience. Train your service team to engage with guests and guide them through the menu, but don’t rely on them to translate everything from how a guest should order to what individual ingredients are. If guests can’t reasonably decipher most ingredients, your menu becomes a bottleneck that hurts your bottom line. While there are plenty of inquisitive diners out there, there are equally as many who are turned off by needing to have a menu interpreted for them.

• DON’T overuse design features like boxes. Carla says, “Not every dish can be special. Once you add multiple

Working with Purveyors cont’d

http://agentsie.co/


• boxes of equal weight on a single page the items lose individual emphasis, and the guest may not understand why those things are called to attention. Pick and choose what you want to draw attention to.”

• DO prioritize readability when choosing font sizes and styles. Carla says, “Font selections will depend on the look, feel, and intention of your brand, but when it comes to the heart of the menu, a clean, legible font is a smart choice. Keep the overall number of fonts used to a minimum, making sure those assigned to communicating dish descriptions and pricing are the clearest of all.”

• DON’T opt for a multi-page menu design. If table turns are a key factor in meeting budgetary goals be sure to keep things concise. When guests have to flip through multiple pages to review appetizers and main courses, they spend more time looking at the menu and generally take longer to order. Help out your turn times by keeping all of your food items on a single page.

• DO consider the strategic marketing benefits of investing in a beautiful, on-brand menu. For many guests who post restaurant photos on social media sites, the attractiveness of a menu will determine whether it’s a part of the picture or not. Carla says, “Russ and Daughters Cafe, for example, has a striking place- mat style menu that becomes a part of the branding

both in the restaurant and on social media. If done correctly your menu has the capability of being a strong marketing tool beyond the walls of your restaurant.”

• DON’T build your menu in a software program that is overly complex or expensive. When you hire a graphic designer or branding company without restaurant operations experience, they’re likely to prioritize beauty over practicality. Programs like Illustrator and InDesign unquestionably have a more sophisticated design capacity than Word, Publisher, or Excel, however they may be overkill. Carla says, “At the end of the day, the beautiful work doesn’t matter much if a manager or host isn’t able to make edits easily. Designers often want to deliver something beautiful without consideration of ongoing maintenance. Maintaining costly software with an abundance of tools that you just don’t need on a daily basis isn’t a smart investment.”

• DO keep the cost of your menu paper top of mind. When looking at samples, it’s easy to gravitate towards thick, uniquely-sized paper with design elements like watermarks or pre-printed logos -- it is one of your most important brand touchpoints, right? True, but consider cost and practicality. The reason so many restaurants avoid non-standard paper sizes is because the cost associated with getting it cut and finding a compatible printer can really add up.

Menu Design cont’d


• DO research laser printers before finalizing your menu design if you plan to print your menus in house. Carla says, “When proposing menu designs many firms don’t consider the constraints of the typical restaurant office, nor do operators know to bring these sorts of limitations to their attention in the design process. For maximum flexibility, buy a printer that has an external tray into which you can feed special sized paper.” Of course, make sure that the printer you choose fits in whatever space you have available in your office.

• DO keep your initial paper order small. Considerable learning takes place in those first couple months of operation with regard to what’s working and what’s not both in operations and on the menu front. This includes how quickly you’re exhausting resources like paper. If you’re changing your menu frequently or needing many more menus for each service than you initially expected, it might be worth revisiting the cost per sheet so your expenditures don’t get out of hand.

• DO be diligent about proofreading and copy editing. Errors in grammar, misspellings, and inconsistent formatting all reflect poorly on the restaurant’s attention to detail. Everything, no matter how small the scale, is important.

Key Takeaways

1. Create an opening menu that prioritizes building trust with guests. Make sure you have a mix of crowd pleasers and more complex, ambitious dishes. Then pay attention to what’s working and what’s not -- for guests, front-of-house staff, and back-of-house staff.

2. Strive for balance. This applies to the type of menu items you’re selecting as well as the price point and cost percentage. Having a budgeted food cost of 30% for your whole menu does not and should not mean that every single item is priced based that percentage.

3. Put a few value-driven items on your menu. These will be things that don’t necessarily bring the most profit to the bottom line, but they create value for the guest by giving them a unique and memorable experience.

4. Opt for a menu design that is easy to read and understand. Although your service team should be trained to help guide guests through the menu, you don’t want a menu design that requires an in-person tutorial. Make sure your menu is approachable for diners who prefer less engagement.

5. Keep printing and material costs in mind. Fancy printers, expensive paper, and custom menu covers add up quickly. Make sure you’re spending your money where it will really have an impact for guests.

Menu Design cont’d


How to Use Technology

In recent years the technology sector has grown rapidly, and more and more experienced restaurant professionals are partnering with tech companies, creating new, practical solutions for the industry. This section delves into best practices for introducing technology into your operation, systems worth considering, and tips for managing and capitalizing on your restaurant’s online presence.

Technology Solutions to Consider

There are a dizzying number of options for everything from point-of-sale systems to inventory management. Do your research and talk to similar restaurants using each product and get feedback before making a decision. While some restaurateurs will opt to utilize technology at every turn, that doesn’t mean every product will benefit every restaurant.

Below is a list of systems to consider, with a brief description of their primary purposes. Point-of-sale and guest management systems are used most universally, so we’ve provided a bit more detail for both.

Point of Sale (POS)A point-of-sale system is like your restaurant’s central nervous system, serving as an indispensable link between your guests, service team, kitchen team, accountant, General Manager, and Executive Chef. Don’t default to a brand just because you are familiar with it or want to save money. Avoid spending money on functionality that you don’t need or purchasing a low-cost product that doesn’t sufficiently support your business.

In general, you get what you pay for in the POS world. Systems range from tens of thousands of dollars to less


than $100 a month. The best way to know that you’re investing in the right one for your restaurant is to first establish what you need from a POS.

The world of POS is split into two major camps: local server systems and cloud-based, wireless systems. The former includes industry standards and well-known platforms like Micros or Aloha, where the latter includes more recent, iPad-based products like Breadcrumb, Revel, and Square. As I mentioned, there’s a use case for either style, but it’s wholly dependent on your restaurant size and operational needs.

If you’re setting out to open a large restaurant with multiple dining areas, a bar, private dining, and a large staff, a local server system is a must. The durability of these restaurant-grade systems, as well as the stability of the connection and quality of support, completely justify the higher price tag of these platforms.

If you’re planning to operate a smaller restaurant with a simple menu and modest staff, it might make more sense to opt for an iPad-based, cloud system. When you’re opening a restaurant cash flow is of the essence, and overspending on a POS that far exceeds your business needs can put you behind before you even get started. These platforms are easier to use, take up less space, and are significantly more sleek and affordable in a smaller operation.

Restaurateurs who are planning to introduce technology in many different areas also need to be sure that those systems will integrate. All other products will need to communicate with your POS, so be sure that you understand the capabilities, limitations, and areas of flexibility of any system before committing.

Guest & Reservation Management

I have seen and worked with restaurateurs who use their reservations system solely for reservations, and it’s a huge missed opportunity. OpenTable is a comprehensive guest management tool that, when used properly, has the power to raise service levels, improve guest loyalty, and substantially increase revenue.

The vision at OpenTable is always evolving. In the past few years, the company has moved far beyond just providing restaurant reservations to giving restaurants a toolbox to run and grow their businesses. The team is creating products that can work for restaurants all over the world, tapping into a global dining network. Plus, products and services are evolving in the same direction as the industry as a whole. The latest innovations are designed to help restaurants engage guests who are dining on a casual basis, so they can

Technology Solutions to Consider cont’d


see availability at a restaurant and join the waitlist remotely. Ultimately, the focus is on helping restaurants maximize their time and revenue.

Here are the many different ways you will use your guest and reservation management solution, and how to get the most out of it.

ReservationsChoose a system that will allow you to manage reservations, waitlist, and walk-ins simultaneously. When it comes to reservation systems, it is absolutely necessary to place yourself in the biggest possible pool of customers, and OpenTable’s network of 17 million diners gives you unparalleled marketing exposure. Unlike the POS market, going with a better-known reservation system can have a significant positive impact on your revenue.

Guest Management A steady flow of one-time visitors isn’t what keeps most restaurants busy, open, and thriving over the years. Repeat guests and regulars are a must, and in today’s increasingly competitive market it takes more than good food and service to get people to come back. The difference is hospitality. One of the most important pillars of this intangible game-changer is the ability to make your guests feel important and recognized, which is what OpenTable’s software is built to provide. It gives you the power to record

and manage guest preferences, then utilize them to create outstanding guest experiences easily and consistently.

As you build profiles for your guests over time, you can also launch targeted marketing campaigns based on the contact information, preferences, and spending habits you’ve collected from your customers. Focus on sending the right information to the right people, as opposed to the largest possible volume of people.

Table ManagementOpenTable’s Guest Center solution maximizes the daily seating capacity of your restaurant, then makes those seats available and accessible to potential customers in your market. The system is tailored specifically to your restaurant’s floor plan, and it’s completely flexible: you can control your pacing and turn times, and also leverage table combinations and flexible seating to make room for large parties.

Calculating how much revenue each seat of your restaurant can potentially earn you each year ($40 check average x 1.5 turns x 360 days = $21,600) is a good exercise to demonstrate that investing in the most recognizable, widely-used, capable, and comprehensive reservation management tool is smart business.

More technology solutions to consider:

Guest & Reservation Management cont’d



Scheduling Products like ScheduleFly allow managers to build schedules, record and save employee time-off requests, and post information in one accessible online location. On the staff side, these programs create an easy platform for employees to switch shifts, make requests, post messages, and access their schedule from any Wi-Fi enabled device.

Time and attendancePayroll processing

Type of Technology System Description of Purpose Commonly Integrates With

Time and attendance

Shift-to-shift communication

Payroll processing

Comprehensive human resources solution

This is what your employees will use to clock in and out and what your managers will use to edit punches. A restaurant’s POS system is one of the most common time and attendance tools, but there are many other companies that offer this service in combination with other human resources functions.

These products provide a platform for your managers to record notes in a daily logbook. This should be used to communicate information such as employee issues, guest complaints, facility maintenance needs, flow of service, and sales. These programs centralize all of this information in one searchable, shareable, easy-to-use resource that keeps your key team members in the loop.

These systems take time and attendance records and turn them into paychecks. They also track paid time off and sick time accrual and allow you to build payroll reports.

Companies like ADP and Push Operations integrate multiple HR functions so you can manage everything related to timekeeping and payroll in one platform. Some of the newer platforms also integrate with your POS to give you real-time labor cost and help forecast labor needs based on sales.

SchedulingPayroll processing

Often included as a feature in sales management software, scheduling systems, and comprehensive HR solutions, though can also be purchased independently

SchedulingTime and attendance

SchedulingTime and attendancePayrollPOS

http://www.adp.com/

https://pushoperations.com/



Type of Technology System Description of Purpose Commonly Integrates With

Kitchen display system (KDS) Commonly used in the fast-food sector, kitchen display systems are paperless solutions that display orders from the POS on a screen in the kitchen. KDS may also have a place in fine dining, since cooks can see fewer checks at a time (six to eight) instead of 30, allowing them to stay focused and efficient.

POS

Mobile payments

Kitchen management

Sales management

Inventory management

Solutions such as OpenTable’s House Accounts allow guests to opt in to paying with their credit card at the same time they make a reservation, skipping cash exchanges and in-person transactions. Guests don’t have to wait for a server to deliver the check, and servers can turn tables quickly and efficiently. In an increasingly cashless world, these payments are more secure and more convenient for guests.

Systems like FusionPrep provide a platform for recipe creation, prep list management and standardized ingredient labeling.

Even if you have an advanced POS system, a program like Avero will provide significantly more insight into the performance of your restaurant by making key data available, comprehensible, and actionable. Integrating a sales management system can help your team drive business in off-peak times, make strategic decisions regarding menu pricing, understand what items may need to be removed or changed, and coach weak servers.

Inventory management systems remove the need for binders of invoices, pencil and paper inventory, and Excel spreadsheets. Bringing these functions online reduces human errors and helps diagnose opportunities and potential problems by tracking your purchases, sales, and inventory.

POS

n/a

POS

POS

https://restaurant.opentable.com/products/payments/

http://www.averoinc.com/

https://restaurant.opentable.com/products/payments/


Tips for Choosing & Using Tech Solutions

Chad Clark, Operations Director of Hawksworth Restaurant in Vancouver, is the most forward-thinking proponent of using technology to increase operational efficiency that I’ve encountered in my career. Chad’s approach is particularly novel, as Hawksworth is a fine-dining concept. Though there are plenty of examples of quick-service and fast-food chains adopting tech solutions, there really aren’t too many fine-dining models to look to. As a result, Chad has had to learn a lot of lessons the hard way -- here is the advice he shared for other restaurateurs looking to up their technology game:

• Choose companies that are poised to stand the test of time. Tech startups are doing a great job identifying and helping to bridge gaps in efficiency, but there are so many people trying to get a piece of the pie that failure for some is inevitable. Chad says that he’s already experienced bringing on a tech partner only to have the company dissolve within the year. To avoid falling in love with a solution that’s not in it for the long haul, do your homework.

• Make sure your solutions integrate. As mentioned above, when bringing on multiple partners that each serve a specific purpose for your restaurant -- POS, inventory management, payroll, scheduling -- make sure they integrate with one another. If they don’t, you are cutting off their collective capacity at the knees. Chad says, “Trying to sift through all of the choice out there these days is

an interesting exercise, and pulling together the perfect palette of technological ‘colors’ for your restaurant’s tech- based canvas is one of your most important.”

“We’ve grown accustomed to doing things a very specific way, but when you look at them through an operations lens, they’re just highly inefficient.”

Chad Clark

• Seek out companies that prioritize customer service and welcome customization. A system malfunction on a Friday night is a major inefficiency. Similarly, a solution that requires workarounds in order to work for your restaurant defeats its core purpose of making it easier to run your concept. As a best practice, always inquire about support and implementation before signing any contract and adopting a solution. Oftentimes restaurateurs overlook these details and end up footing the bill for products they can’t rely on -- which they ultimately don’t use.

• Work with tech partners you trust. From Account Managers to Product Managers, employees at OpenTable have a wealth of real-world restaurant experience, having collectively worked just about every role in the front and back of house. In fact, a survey of 200+

https://hawksworthrestaurant.com/


• members of the OpenTable field team showed that more than 76% had been servers at some point in their careers. That’s a differentiator among many tech companies today, in which the people you’re working with may not know the industry. Chad says, “You really need to have people that you trust overseeing your project who know your property, know the restrictions, and know potential pitfalls, and then be ready to take an active role in managing those people.”

• Be realistic about new systems your team can take on. Introducing change always requires extra energy and time to learn a new way of doing things. However, there’s a difference between asking your team to stretch themselves and asking for the impossible. If the specific product you’re suggesting feels really overwhelming to the people who will be required to use it every day, consider other companies that provide the same solution. Go through product demos yourself and with your team, and push for a 14- or 30-day trial to give your staff time to uncover what, if any, shortcomings the product may have when inserted into the day to day.

• Use technology to increase efficiency, not replace human interaction. Chad says, “The big concern is that introducing technology makes people disengage. But what I’m trying to get my team to wrap their heads

around is the idea of being so efficient around ordering and operations that they actually have more time with their guests. I personally believe that as customer service evolves, getting to speak to a human is going to feel like a greater and greater luxury.”

“I can’t afford to have technology replace my people, but I do want technology to increase the time that my people have together.”

Chad Clark

• Start by thinking about what problems you want to use technology to solve, and then seek a product within your budget that can functionally affect them. It can be really easy to start paying for sleek systems that you may not actually need. More isn’t always more, and it’s important that any technology-based solution provides true value for your restaurant.

Managing Your Web Presence

In today’s digitally-driven world, every restaurant owner should assume that the first contact a guest will have with their brand will either be through their own website

Tips for Choosing & Using Tech Solutions cont’d


or through online review sites. Plenty of potential diners will opt not to visit your restaurant if they can’t find basic information like your hours of operation or an up-to-date menu -- or if your online reviews are predominantly poor.

How to Build Your Website

When it comes to building a website, you have options: you can spend tens of thousands of dollars hiring a professional web developer or you can use a platform like Squarespace that charges a relatively low monthly rate and provides customizable web templates. The right decision depends on the level of complexity your website requires and on your budget. Here are a few key strategies to keep in mind:

• Stay on brand. It is critical that a guest’s first look at your website feel consistent with the first feeling they will have when they walk through your front door. Anyone whom you’ve brought on to help with branding and design should be an integral part of determining the aesthetic of your website.

• Prioritize readability. It sounds basic, but plenty of restaurants let design touches get in the way of making words legible. Avoid setting light typeface on top of similarly colored backdrops, and steer clear of overly

complex design. The easier on the eyes your website is, the more time someone will spend looking at it, which will increase their likelihood of becoming a customer.

• Make basic information easy to access. Your restaurant’s phone number, address, email address, and hours of operation will likely be available on many different sites (Yelp, Google, TripAdvisor, OpenTable) but you want the information to be front and center on your website, too. Include a map for people in search of cross streets.

• Keep your menu updated. There’s nothing worse than having a guest ask about a dish that’s on your website but you no longer have on your menu. Plenty of people (myself included) will go out of their way for a particular dish, and not only does it create a feeling of disappointment for the guest, it reflects poorly on the restaurant. In the early weeks and months your menu is likely to change often, as your kitchen team continues to tweak dishes; make sure that a specific person on your team (such as the opening manager) is responsible for updating it online. Always post a formatted text menu on your website rather than forcing guests to download a PDF. OpenTable integrates with the menu provider SinglePlatform to host menus that are easy to update and easy for search engines to read (another boon for your online presence).

Managing Your Web Presence cont’d


• Include beautiful photos. Photos are the best way to give your guests an idea of what you’re all about. High-quality, professional photos of seating areas, kitchen features (like a wood burning oven), dishes, and cocktails are a must. Especially for new restaurants, guests will look to your initial photography to gauge their own interest in your restaurant. Make the investment and don’t cut corners, as these photos tell your story even before your team has the chance to do so.

How to Manage Your Presence on Online Review Sites

Ultimately, you can’t control what your guests write about you on outlets like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and OpenTable. What you can control is the level of service guests receive while they’re within your four walls and how you respond to whatever they post. Here are five tips on how to handle your restaurant’s presence on online review sites.

1. When it comes to negative experiences, early diagnosis is key. Train your service and management teams on how to identify and handle guests who are having negative experiences. The best way to ensure that a customer doesn’t speak poorly of you on the Internet is to catch them before they leave. Martin Williams, owner of M

Restaurants in London, says, “Everyone in the restaurant industry messes up -- there will be occasions where people leave underwhelmed. If we’re not meeting or exceeding expectations then we have to do everything we can to recognize that in the restaurant.”

2. Look for trends in reviews and don’t let your team get discouraged by outliers. Reading reviews with the purpose of identifying consistent feedback is a much healthier and more practical exercise than dwelling on the goose eggs. John Winterman, Managing Partner of Batard in New York City, says, “If you get bogged down in online reviews, you lose the forest through the trees. Not everyone is going to like what you do.” By not dwelling on the one-offs or individual rants and raves, you can assess trends that are more actionable for your team. If there’s consistent negative feedback about a particular dish, it may be best to bring up with your chef to re-evaluate. Similarly, if you notice a large volume of guests praising a playlist from a particular night, make sure that one stays in your rotation.

3. Engage with online reviewers. Expressing gratitude to reviewers who say positive things about you online will increase the sense of connection that guest has with your restaurant. Making your customers feel appreciated is a great way to get them (and hopefully their friends) to

How to Build Your Website cont’d


1. come back regularly. John also suggests entering notes in OpenTable for people that leave reviews (good or bad) so that your service team is better prepared to take care of them the next time they come in. Engagement is even more important with guests who leave negative reviews. Reach out to them promptly, listen to the details of their experience, and offer a sincere apology and perhaps something complimentary to encourage them to give you another try. You won’t win every person back, but it’s important to try.

2. 1. Make sure your restaurant’s information is up to date.

There is nothing more discouraging than going out of your way to visit a restaurant after looking up its hours of operation online, only to find that it’s closed. Your hours of operation should always be available and accurate and include holiday closures whenever possible. If you make a change to what’s posted on Google, it usually takes two to three business days to update, so make sure that you request changes in advance.

2. If you have a buyout or private event that affects your availability during normal business hours, post to social media to inform your guests. These little touches strengthen the connection between a restaurant and its audience and will ensure that your concept is evaluated on the food, drink, and experience you create.

3. A picture says a thousand words. When you first start your Yelp and TripAdvisor pages, upload some images of your restaurant. Soon enough, your guests will start posting their own photos as they leave reviews, but having a few photos of your restaurant’s interior, dishes, and cocktails available for your early adopters is a good way to control the story from the start.

How to Manage Your Presence on Online Review Sites cont’d

4.

5.

Key Takeaways

1. Seek out technology partners that are excited to build features based on your needs. You’ll also want to make sure that whoever you partner with has the integration capabilities your business needs and 24/7 support so that you aren’t the only one trying to work through a random computer glitch on Friday night at 8 p.m. Just like everything else, do your homework before investing.

2. Introduce technology for the purpose of increasing the efficiency of your business. Hospitality is an industry that inherently relies on human interaction, so make sure that the systems you introduce allow your team to spend more quality time improving guest experiences, not less.


1. Start by figuring out what you need and then start to look for a product that provides the appropriate services. If you start by looking at products, you may end up spending too much for functionality that you’ll never use or finding a thrifty option that falls way short of helping you effectively manage your business.

2. Invest in your website. For many people, it will be the first interaction they have with your restaurant, so make sure it’s beautiful, easy to navigate, up-to-date, and on-brand.

3. Engage with online reviewers and consider making operational improvements based on consistent feedback. Only spend time reflecting on the constructive criticism and encouraging praise that online reviews can provide. Taking the time to respond to and recognize the guests who took the time to share their thoughts will surely reinforce their relationship with your restaurant.


4.

5.3.


How to Create Buzz

Opening night in a new restaurant is among the most thrilling and energy-filled experiences you will ever have. Make a concentrated effort to create buzz so your big night is preceded and followed by attention from the media and your community. This process begins long before you ever open your doors and will be a huge catalyst to ensuring your early success, as well as establishing a core group of regulars right out of the gate.

After assessing your budget, time constraints, and your skill set as it relates to public relations and marketing, you may decide to solicit help from an outside firm, but it’s certainly not necessary. Either way, these 10 strategies will help you gain attention for your restaurant leading up to opening day.

1. Get Your Story Straight

Throughout the process of opening your restaurant, you

will be telling your story constantly -- who you are, what inspired the concept of your restaurant, what makes you unique, and information on the key members of your team, from chef and pastry chef to sommelier, bartender, and even manager or maître d’, according to what is relevant for your business. Before reaching out to members of the media or responding to any incoming requests from them, get the very best version of your story on paper and ready to share. A few tips:

• Cover your bases. Your story should be like the Cliff’s Notes of your restaurant -- but shorter. Include the unique selling points of your concept, a clear description of your menu style, a brief bio of you and other key players on your leadership team, your location, a description of the interiors and important interior design features, anything significant about the location or the history of the space, and what meal periods you will be open for.


• Make it compelling. You’ve been living and breathing your restaurant for years, and it can be easy to lose perspective. Try to step outside yourself and consider what a potential guest will find most interesting or unique about your forthcoming concept. Once you have some key points in mind, ask a few trusted peers for feedback.

• Keep it concise. No matter how interesting your project is, keep attention spans in mind. The people who will be reading this summary read many others every day, so don’t scare them off with a long, intimidating document. Aim to fit everything on one page.

• Edit. Like everything you put into the world, this document will be a reflection of you, so it needs to be very well-written and, of course, edited for grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

TIP: If writing isn’t your cup of tea, this may be an area where you need outside help from a PR firm or a friend. Before enlisting help, write down the key points of your message so that the person spinning it into an engaging story has all the information you want to communicate.

• Use visuals. Include a curated selection of professional photographs along with what you write. Photos will bring your words to life and make the presentation of your restaurant much more tangible and engaging. Even if your space is not fully ready to be photographed, you

can always find something appealing to shoot, whether it’s signature dishes or the talented members of your team.

TIP: This same summary of your restaurant will be a very helpful tool for your staff, so consider including it in your training materials and keeping it at the host stand for reference once you open.

Georgette Farkas, owner of Rotisserie Georgette in New York City, says,

“Everyone has a story. Every menu, every dish, every restaurant, and every chef has a story. You need to find a way to tell yours so that the most unique elements shine through.”

Georgette Farkas

2. Find the Key Players

Depending on the size of your market and your familiarity with it, this can be easy or very challenging. Do some preliminary research and make a list of all of the major food writers, bloggers, and reviewers in your area.

Georgette also urges restaurateurs to think outside the box when identifying members of the media who may be

1. Get Your Story Straight cont’d


worthwhile to reach out to. She says, “Don’t limit yourself only to food writers or restaurant writers. You’ll want to think about people who write about wine, cocktails, lifestyle, society, interior design, business, real estate, and fashion because there can be really great opportunities there as well.” Martin Williams, owner of M Restaurant in London, always tries to build stories around the restaurant that are appealing as news stories as opposed to being solely targeted to food press.

“Building relationships with journalists who are news journalists, not just foodie journalists, has given us a completely different angle for achieving press coverage.”

Martin Williams

Once you have a master list of names put together, prioritize it. At the top, list people who are of the greatest interest to you and reach out to them personally. Contact lower-priority outlets via email with all of your materials attached.

TIP: This is an area where you may need outside help. Georgette says, “It may be a little harder in large markets because so much of the important writing is done by freelancers these days, and if you’re not in that media community it’s sometimes hard to figure out who the

key contacts are. Be sure not to overlook up-and-coming writers new to the scene.” Another big consideration: do you have the time to do the necessary legwork?

3. Communicate with Intention

“Communicating with the media is really just an extension of hospitality. Taking care of people from the marketing world should follow the same rules as taking care of a guest.”

Georgette Farkas

Once you have an engaging summary of your restaurant, an excellent selection of high-resolution images, and a list of media contacts, you’re ready to start reaching out. If you’ve decided to bring on a PR company, they will take the lead here, but if you’ve decided to go it alone, remember that most members of the media will be really excited to hear directly from a chef or restaurateur.

For those who choose not to hire a PR firm, the two most difficult parts of communicating directly with press are getting comfortable with self promotion and answering difficult questions. The best way to handle both of these challenges? Prepare. Keep your one-page summary handy, come prepared with talking points, and make sure that you

2. Find the Key Players cont’d


anticipate difficult questions and plan answers in advance. If you get stumped, Georgette says, “There’s always a gracious and thoughtful way to redirect without being disingenuous. No one knows better than you what is most interesting about your restaurant. And sometimes, you just have to say, ‘That’s something I’m not quite prepared to discuss right now.’”

TIP: Immediately after interaction with the media (whether a formal interview or impromptu conversation), follow up. Make it as easy as possible for them to share information about your restaurant. Send an email expressing gratitude for their time and interest, along with your one-page summary and photos.

4. Love Thy Neighbor

Reach out to your community and give them an opportunity to get to know you and your restaurant before opening. Jennifer Baum, owner of the New York City marketing and consulting firm Bullfrog + Baum, emphasizes that your local community will likely be the bread and butter of your day-to-day business. It is critical to prioritize outreach in your own backyard.

There isn’t too much complex strategy involved here; Georgette says, “I literally walked every block in a 20-block radius and went into every store to introduce myself, give people cards, and tell them about the restaurant. Another absolutely vital group to reach out to are concierges in your area.”

Earning the trust and support of your immediate neighborhood is extremely important, because they are the guests who will be filling your seats on freezing cold nights and holiday weekends. Consider hosting a social hour with wine and light snacks, and ask attendees to drop a business card on their way out. This will earn you some immediate good will, give your staff a chance to build early relationships with neighbors, and give you a high-quality head start on your mailing list. Enter these names into OpenTable right away with a guest note indicating they are neighbors so your team is always prepared to give them a little extra love.

5. Host a Media-Specific Preview Event

As described in Chapter 9, creating a small event to give the press a first look at your restaurant when it’s still a few weeks away from opening day is a great way to generate buzz as you head down the home stretch. It also helps you build goodwill with the people who will be critiquing you and following your restaurant for years to come.

3. Communicate with Intention cont’d


“Everyone likes to discover things. Even if the restaurant is still a construction site or you’re only able to show the certain elements of your concept, they’re going to appreciate the opportunity to discover.” Jennifer Baum

For key people who are unable to attend the media preview event, Georgette recommends offering to set up one-on-one appointments. Your most valuable media contacts are unlikely to attend group events. Invest time in arranging to meet with them one on one. This will give you the chance to start building relationships and makes the other person feel important and valued.

TIP: It can be really tempting to nix the media preview and invite members of the press to friends and family dinners instead. Keep in mind that friends and family dinners are training exercises; it isn’t wise to expose influential writers and bloggers to the inevitable missteps that will occur.

6. Avoid Oversharing

Jennifer says, “You don’t want to engage with the press and tell them something that you ultimately wish you

hadn’t told them. I have to take things back for clients a lot. Especially when you’re in pre-opening phases, giving more information is not always ideal.”

Remember that every interaction you have with the press -- even if it’s informal or in a social context -- can be incorporated into a story about your restaurant, so be mindful of what you say and how you say it. In today’s media landscape, when one person writes about you the story can get picked up and repeated in many other outlets almost immediately. When asked about an opening date, Georgette recommends giving a target range, as opposed to pinpointing a specific date. No matter how on-schedule your construction and hiring timelines are, you never know what’s going to happen. Promising hard dates too early on can get you in trouble.

7. Start Your Social Media Feeds Early

Start social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) as soon as you’ve chosen the restaurant’s name. Document and share the progression of construction, menu item testing, staff training, and anything else that will help your audience get to know you, your team, your space, and your brand. Giving your guests the opportunity to take the pre-opening journey with you will create a sense of ownership and build familiarity with your brand before the restaurant has even served its first guest.

5. Host a Media-Specific Preview Event cont’d


Jennifer says, “Everything needs to speak to your brand.” Social media content should share the same voice as your website and other branded materials. The photos, captions, and articles you share should look and feel like one continuous story and not like a random collection of multiple people’s thoughts. Your guests can only get to know your restaurant if its representation is thoughtful and consistent.

8. Build Relationships

“Nurture every relationship. The best bits of media coverage I’ve had have been through relationships I’ve had with certain individuals in the press community for many years. The more they understand who you are, the more they’ll see stories which you don’t necessarily see yourself that interest them and interest their readership.”

Martin Williams

Restaurant culture is in the midst of a major boom, which means that the media will take an interest in your restaurant opening. This gives you a great opportunity to take initiative and invest time and energy in building relationships with these key people. That way, in one, two, or ten years -- when you aren’t the new kid on the block

-- you already have an existing rapport and are better positioned to keep your restaurant in the news.

9. Respond to Reviews

After your doors have opened, there will be so much going on that responding to guest reviews will feel impossible. Still, it’s extremely important. It is always a good idea to recognize the folks who took the time to write a positive review for you, either by re-posting content on social media, responding to someone on Yelp, or sending an email to a guest who reached out directly.

Negative reviews are always more challenging but even more important. Time is of the essence, so make sure you reach out promptly. Your goal is to engage with the guest, learn about their experience, and then find some sort of resolution that encourages them to give you another shot. Offer a genuine personal apology, send the guest a gift card, or help them make their next reservation and do something special for them when they come in.

TIP: Add notes in the profiles of guests who have had a negative experience at your restaurant. If it took too long for entrees to come out the first time they were in, you’ll want to have the information on file so that your team can pay extra attention to timeliness on their next visit.

7. Start Your Social Media Feeds Early cont’d


“We try to answer reviews whether they are good or bad so that we’re engaging. If you reach the point where you’re getting a negative review, you’ve messed up. But, if you’ve engaged with the guest and you manage to turn it around, then that becomes a good thing. And, at least if nothing else, you’ve tried and you’ve demonstrated that you care.”

Martin Williams

10. Get the Most Out of Your PR Company

The process of vetting, hiring, and working with a PR company is like every other relationship you will have in your restaurant: In order to find the best people and get the most out of them, conduct research before writing a check, set clear and actionable expectations, and follow up on progress consistently.

Do Your HomeworkConducting interviews and checking references are critical first steps to finding a great PR company. Look for a sense of synergy and fit in order to foster a positive and productive relationship. Georgette also says that calling current and former clients of each company you’re considering to suss out pluses, minuses, and red flags is an extremely important step.

“I would always suggest that you get a PR company that has got a personal interest. They need to be as excited about your restaurant as you are and then they’ll be great at getting you press.”

Martin Williams

You Only Get What You Give After assessing your options and making a decision, give your new PR team as much data as possible about who you are, what you’re doing, and why you’re doing it. It doesn’t have to be beautifully written or attractively formatted (as this is presumably why you’re paying them), but if your PR company feels like they know and understand you really well, it will be much easier for them to write compelling stories about you and your restaurant. Georgette says, “If you don’t give them vital, colorful, valuable, good, interesting information, what are they going to use to tell your story with? They need tasty ingredients just as much as the chef does.”

Set Expectations Make sure you are vocal and transparent about your expectations regarding the specific type of support and press coverage you’d like to see. Georgette recommends coming to the table with a wish list of publications -- print and digital -- and then have them add to it; part of the reason you’ve

9. Respond to Reviews cont’d


hired them is for their expertise in knowing and having relationships with outlets you may not be aware of.

“Have a very clear conversation with your PR company about your goals and have them respond to you as specifically as possible about which of those goals they feel they can and cannot meet, not to mention goals they add to the list.”

Georgette Farkas

Follow Up Set up regular meetings with your PR team and be diligent about checking in on progress on a monthly basis. Use the list of goals and publications you discussed with them as a tool to track progress to ensure you’re getting the most out of your investment. Your PR company is no different than an employee or a purveyor; it is highly unlikely that you’ll get more than what you consistently ask for.

10. Get the Most Out of Your PR Company cont’d

Key Takeaways

1. Prepare a compelling and concise summary of your restaurant to share with media. Focus on its unique selling points and make sure that you get help writing it if you’re not much of a wordsmith.

1. i

2. Reach out to the community directly around your site and let them know about your restaurant. Walking into businesses in the blocks around you to pass out business cards, introduce yourself, and encourage your neighbors to come check out the restaurant is an important first step in building lasting relationships with people who will hopefully become your most reliable regulars.

3. Host a media-specific preview event. Creating a small event to give the press a first look at your restaurant when it’s still a few weeks away from opening day is a great opportunity to generate buzz and also to build goodwill with the people who will be critiquing you and following your restaurant for years to come.

4. Dealing with members of the media should feel like an extension of hospitality. Make sure that you communicate clearly and appropriately, follow up with additional information, and always express genuine gratitude for their time and interest.

5. Prepare for interviews and events with the press. Identify key points about your restaurant that you’ll want to be sure to mention and do your best to anticipate difficult questions that may be asked of you so that you can prepare answers in advance.


Glossary

Black Iron: Kitchen exhaust or hood system. (Chapter 3)

Change order: Work that is added to or deleted from the original scope of work of a contract, which alters the original contract cost and/or completion date. (Chapter 6)

Design-build: A method that allows a designer, architect, and contractor to work as equal partners in creating and executing construction plans. (Chapter 6)

Food cost: The cost of every component of a dish, divided by the price. For example, if the cost of all ingredients that go into a burger is $4.50, it would need to be priced at $15 on the menu in order to have a 30% food cost.

Landlord Work Letter: Outlines in detail what the tenant requires the landlord to provide before any lease is signed. (Chapter 3)

Organizational structure: Defines how activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision are directed toward the achievement of company goals. (Chapter 8)

Ownership structure: Defines how much of the business you will own and how much your investors will own. (Chapter 2)

Payback terms: Payback terms define the parameters around how you will pay back the money that your investors loaned you to open your restaurant. They stipulate details like how much time you have to pay back the money, how much interest will be accrued, and how much you’ll owe them over defined periods of time (for example, paying a portion of the money back every year as opposed to a lump sum after x number of years). (Chapter 2)


Pre-bidding: When a contractors submit bids based on preliminary, partially completed plans. (Chapter 3)

Prequalification: The process through which a designer or architect makes focused recommendations to a restaurateur for a General Contractor. The process includes an interview and an overview of how the project will be priced. (Chapter 3)

Private Placement Memorandum: A PPM is a legal document provided to prospective investors when selling stock or other security in a business. This document lays out all of the disclosures and risks of investing in the business to increase the transparency between the business owner and the investor. A PPM also includes a subscription agreement, which requires the investor to disclose their financial status in order to protect the restaurateur from taking money from someone they shouldn’t. (Chapter 2)

Product mix: A report that shows how many of each menu item was sold in a predetermined amount of time.

Soft skills: personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, interpersonal skills, managing people, leadership, etc. that characterize relationships with other people. (Chapter 8)

Working capital: Also known as operating reserve, working capital is the money you will need to set aside to keep your business running at it’s best for the 3-6 months after you open your doors. Your restaurant will be taking in money starting on opening day, but depending on how quickly business picks up, it may not be enough to cover your expenses in those first few months. (Chapter 2)

Glossary cont’d


Sample P&L

Income

Total Sales Total Income Cost of Goods Sold

Food Sales Beverage Sales Liquor Sales Wine Sales Beer Sales NA Bev SalesTotal Beverage Sales Sales Adjustments

Food Cost Beverage Cost Liquor Sales Wine Sales Beer Sales NA Bev SalesTotal Beverage Sales Labor Cost FOH BOH Other Costs Health Insurance Worker’s Compensation Payroll Taxes Payroll Fees Total Other CostsTotal Labor Cost

$975,000

$183,750$262,500$52,500$26,250$525,000$1,050

$292,500

$27,563$78,750$8,925$5,250$120,488

$209,853$254,822

$10,500$12,741$82,442$17,987$123,671$614,570

$1,500,000

$1,498,950

65%

35%50%10%5%35%0.07%

30%

15%30%17%20%23%

14%17%

0.70%0.85%5.50%1.20%8%41%

100%

99.93%

Category Annual Budget $ % of Sales


Total Cost of Goods Sold Gross Profit Expenses

Operating Expenses Restaurant Supplies Kitchen Supplies Décor Tabletop Uniforms Laundry and Linen Cleaning Supplies Credit Card Fees Gift Card Expenses Reservation System Music Security Printing Sales TaxTotal Operating Expenses Occupancy Expenses Rent Insurance Utilities Repair and Maintenance Total Occupancy Expenses General and Administrative Marketing and Advertising Research and Development Legal Fees IT Fees Bookkeeping

$1,027,557

$471,393

$9,743.18$11,991.60$3,747.38$8,993.70$2,248.43$8,993.70$5,995.80$52,463.25$899.37$5,246.33$749.48-$4,496.85$2,248.43$117,817

$37,474$2,548$19,486$4,497$64,005

$37,474$1,049$8,244$4,497$17,987

69%

31%

0.65%0.80%0.25%0.60%0.15%0.60%0.40%3.50%0.06%0.35%0.05%0%0.30%0.15%8%

2.50%0.17%1.30%0.30%4.27%

2.50%0.07%0.55%0.30%1.20%


Sample P&L cont’d


Total Expenses Net Operating Income Other Income Other Expenses

Total Other Expenses Net Income

Accounting Licenses and Permits Office Supplies POS Expenses Computer Supplies Bank Fees Employee Appreciation Total General and Administrative

Interest Deprecitation Amortization

$11,992$5,996$3,747$2,248$2,248$1,499$749$97,732

0.80%0.40%0.25%0.15%0.15%0.10%0.05%7%


Sample P&L cont’d

$279,554

$191,839

19%

13%


Contributor Bios

Jennifer BaumPresident & Founder, Bullfrog + Baum

Jennifer Baum is the president and founder of Bullfrog + Baum, an award-winning, nationally-recognized agency specializing in hospitality, lifestyle and consumer marketing. Under her guidance the agency has had a hand in turning chefs like Laurent Tourondel and Michael Psilakis into internationally-recognized brands while strategizing for well-known culinary luminaries like Bobby Flay and Wolfgang Puck. Jennifer received her MBA from New York University and became enamored by the business of hospitality. Combining her corporate savvy with a keen eye to make a concept successful, she carved out a niche for herself by building an agency that not only launches restaurants, but brings strategy to the diverse array of needs that figure in their success. During the last 16 years at the helm of Bullfrog + Baum, she has played an integral part in the changing landscape of hospitality marketing.

Twitter: @BullfrogAndBaumInstagram: @bullfrogandbaumFacebook: facebook.com/BullfrogAndBaum

Will Beckett and Huw Gott Owners, Hawksmoor Restaurants Will Beckett and Huw Gott met at school at the age of 11 and went into business together in 2003, when they opened The Redchurch, a late-night bar in Shoreditch. By 2007 they owned three more venues: Green & Red, a Mexican restaurant and tequila bar; the Marquess Tavern, a gastropub focusing on well-sourced British produce; and Hawksmoor. Having sold the others, they now have four Hawksmoor restaurants: Spitalfields, Guildhall, Seven Dials and Air Street, which are among the most popular and best reviewed in the country. Will is the son of food and wine author and restaurant critic Fiona Beckett. While other kids were out stealing

http://Facebook.com/BullfrogAndBaum


hubcaps or honing their skills in pool halls, Will accompanied his mother to Michelin-starred restaurants. From the bad lands of the Roux brothers’ restaurants, he decided that his dedication to endless eating and drinking could only mean one thing – he had to open his own restaurant. Huw Gott is the grandson (and great grandson) of butchers and son of award-winning café owners. In-depth discussions on the evils of vac packing and the onslaught of double-muscled Continentals (beef cattle, not bodybuilders) were commonplace over the Sunday roast. After stints in kitchens in London and Paris, Huw realized that he wasn’t cut out for a career as a chef, deciding that life as an owner would be significantly easier.

Twitter: @hawksmoorLondonInstagram: @hawksmoorrestaurantsFacebook: facebook.com/hawksmoor

Charles BililiesCreator & Owner, Souvla

Charles Bililies is the creator and owner of Souvla. After cooking on the East Coast, Bililies moved to California in 2006 to work at The French Laundry as Culinary Assistant to Chef Thomas Keller. Thereafter, he served as dining room manager of Bouchon Bistro. He later relocated to San Francisco, working as Chef Michael Mina’s Culinary Assistant. He was tasked to open RN74 in 2009 and later became the restaurant’s Assistant General Manager.

Bililies holds degrees in Hospitality Management from Cornell University and Culinary Arts from Johnson & Wales University. A Greek-American, Bililies comes from a family tradition of restaurateurs; the vintage copper and brass pots throughout the space that were originally used in his grandfather’s restaurant in Boston, Mass.

Twitter: @souvlasfInstagram: @souvlasfFacebook: facebook.com/souvlasf

http://facebook.com/hawksmoor

http://facebook.com/souvlasf


Federico CastellucciPresident, Castellucci Hospitality Group

A graduate of the Hospitality School at Cornell University, Fred Castellucchi has worked in the restaurant business his entire life. He helped create and develop the original Sugo restaurant and grew the concept to four locations, including three franchises. In 2009 he created a new modern Spanish restaurant concept called The Iberian Pig.

Following that success, Fred embarked on two more projects: Double Zero Napoletana in 2011, featuring handmade pasta and traditional Neapolitan pizza; and in 2014, the Basque-inspired concept Cooks & Soldiers.

Fred currently serves as president of Castellucci Hospitality Group, the management company that he created in 2010, which includes Sugo, The Iberian Pig, Double Zero Napoletana and Cooks & Soldiers.

Twitter: @CooksatlInstagram: @cooksatlFacebook: facebook.com/cooksandsoldiers

Twitter: @iberianpig Instagram: @iberianpigFacebook: facebook.com/IberianPigAtl

Mark CanlisCo-Owner, Canlis

The second of three sons, Mark grew up in a restaurant family. When he officially joined Canlis in 2003, he had already graduated from Cornell University, served as a Captain in Air Force Special Operations, and worked in nearly a dozen restaurants across the country. He met his wife, Anne Marie, while working for famed restaurateur Danny Meyer in opening Danny’s fifth restaurant, Blue Smoke, in Manhattan.

Returning to Seattle, Mark spearheaded the effort towards generational transfer and brand modernization that has garnered the family business national acclaim as one of the finest restaurants in America.

Twitter: @doublezeroatl Instagram: @doublezeroatlFacebook: facebook.com/DoubleZeroNapoletana

Twitter: @sugo Instagram: @sugorestaurantFacebook: facebook.com/SugoAtl

https://www.facebook.com/cooksandsoldiers

https://www.facebook.com/IberianPigAtl

https://www.facebook.com/DoubleZeroNapoletana

https://www.facebook.com/SugoAtl

https://www.facebook.com/DoubleZeroNapoletana

https://www.facebook.com/IberianPigAtl

https://www.facebook.com/SugoAtl


He now owns and operates Canlis restaurant with his brother, Brian.

Twitter: @canlisrestaurantInstagram: @canlisrestaurant

Chad ClarkGeneral Manager, Hawksworth Restaurant

Chad Clark, the cosmopolitan General Manager of Hawksworth Restaurant, has managed and consulted with leading restaurants across Canada and in Europe. Hired as part of the integral opening team of Tom’s Kitchen in London, Chad cites his time working alongside the reputable two-star Michelin chef as one of his most inspiring tenures.

Other career highlights include managing Feenie’s and Lumière in Vancouver, in addition to consulting for Chambar, Café Medina, and Boneta. In 2007, Chad relocated to Montreal to become general manager of Koko Restaurant and Bar at the Opus Hotel, and in 2009 he returned to Vancouver to open Oru at Fairmont’s new Pacific Rim hotel, just before the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. His goal is to enhance the Vancouver dining scene by delivering value alongside culinary excellence within an elegant, yet comfortable and relaxed environment.

Twitter: @HawksworthResInstagram: @hawksworthrestFacebook: facebook.com/HawksworthRestaurant

Richard CoraineChief Development Officer, Union Square Hospitality Group

Richard is the Chief Development Officer of Union Square Hospitality Group, and oversees the Department of Business Development, the division of USHG created to innovate, incubate, and develop a fresh generation of award-winning restaurants and other groundbreaking ventures for the USHG family of businesses.

https://www.facebook.com/HawksworthRestaurant


A few of his most notable innovations and openings have been Eleven Madison Park (which earned 4 stars in the New York Times), Blue Smoke, Shake Shack, Maialino, Untitled at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and most recently, North End Grill in Battery Park City. Additionally in 2009, Richard worked with Susan Salgado to launch Hospitality Quotient, a learning and consulting business designed to help clients in diverse industries integrate hospitality into their technical service. Before becoming Chief Development Officer, Richard was Chief Operations Officer, in which capacity he was responsible for the performance of all USHG operations, directly supervised the executive chefs, general managers, and directors, and trained the restaurants’ management teams to provide guests with USHG’s renowned cuisine and hospitality. Richard joined USHG as a partner in 1996, following a decade of leadership with Wolfgang Puck Group, and the launch of his own restaurant, Hawthorne Lane, which he opened in San Francisco in 1995. Richard is a Boston native, a graduate of the University of New Hampshire Whittemore School of Business and Economics, and holds an AOS in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America.

Twitter: @USHGNYCInstagram: @ushgnycFacebook: facebook.com/unionsquarehospitalitygroup

Desi DangananFounder, Plinth Agency

To Desi Danganan, believing in your dream and relentlessly chasing after it is the definition of entrepreneurship. Now he uses his experience to help businesses grow through branding and crowdfunding. Not only that, he’s always open to mind meld. You can find find him at plinthagency.com.

Twitter: @plinthagencyFacebook: facebook.com/plinthagency

http://www.hospitalityq.com/

https://www.facebook.com/unionsquarehospitalitygroup

http://plinthagency.com/

https://www.facebook.com/plinthagency


Roberta EconomidisPartner, Georgopoulos & Economidis

Since 2004, Ms. Economidis has been a partner in the law firm of Georgopoulos & Economidis, LLP. The firm’s primary focus is representing businesses in the hospitality industry with an emphasis on corporate structure, private securities offerings, contracts and real estate.

Before going into private practice, she served as a Deputy District Attorney for Santa Clara County and was subsequently appointed as the Executive Director of the California Educational Facilities Authority by the California State Treasurer. Ms Economidis received her law degree from Santa Clara University of Law.

Twitter: @GELawGroup

Georgette FarkasFounder & General Manager, Rôtisserie Georgette

This native New Yorker, who’s enjoyed an international career, is a restaurant professional with over 20 years in the field. Georgette gained hands-on culinary experience at Roger Vergé’s Moulin de Mougins, Alain Ducasse’s Louis XV in Monte Carlo, and with Daniel Boulud while he was Executive Chef at New York’s Hotel Plaza Athenée. She later returned to work for Daniel, serving as his Public Relations and Marketing Director from 1995 to 2012. During her 17-year tenure she was one of a small group of executives who helped to extend Boulud’s Dinex Group to 14 venues.

Today, Georgette is extending the lessons she’s learned across the world of hospitality to delivering pleasure to her guests at Rôtisserie Georgette. Ms. Farkas and her restaurant have been recognized with a “Restaurateur of the Year” (2015) award from the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, a Wine Spectator “ Award of Excellence” (2015) and a Women Chefs & Restaurateurs “Golden Fork Award” (2014) for excellent service.

Twitter: @rotisserieg @georgettefarkasInstagram: @RotisserieGFacebook: facebook.com/RotisserieG

https://www.facebook.com/RotisserieG


Lou GuerreroPrincipal, Krost, Baumgarten, Kniss & Guerrero

Specializing in restaurant business consulting and tax planning for over 30 years, Lou has assisted a wide range of clients with operational, tax and accounting related matters. Over his career Lou developed his expertise in the restaurant industry and has been an integral part in the expansion of the firm’s niche in the industry.

Today, Lou is the tax practice leader for the firm’s largest concentration of clientele – the foodservice industry. He is involved with every aspect of the industry including operational consulting, tax consulting & compliance, financial consulting, accounting & auditing, and bookkeeping / business management services.

Jean HaganPrincipal, Krost, Baumgarten, Kniss & Guerrero

Jean has owned, operated, and consulted in the restaurant industry for almost 30 years. During that time she worked with a well known national chain, managed food and beverage for several ski facilities in Squaw Valley, and became the president, CEO, and shareholder of one of the highest grossing restaurants in California. Today Jean is Principal and leads the restaurant operations consulting practice at Krost, Baumgarten, Kniss & Guerrero.

Jean brings a unique skill set to our CPA firm. With her extensive industry experience she is able to consult with our clients at the store operations and strategic management levels. Jean’s expertise and drive has helped develop the consulting practice to include services such as P&L coaching, restaurant openings, systems automation, business management, sequence of service, check average analysis, management bonus structures, labor & related costs analysis, POS systems analysis, flash reporting implementation and analysis, and much more.


Mike HardenCo-Founder & Senior Partner, ARTIS Ventures

Mike Harden is the co-founder and Senior Partner at ARTIS Ventures. Mike and ARTIS have partnered, funded, and supported YouTube, Nimble Storage, Practice Fusion, Stem CentRx, Bracket Computing, Versa Networks, Omicia, Aruba Wireless Networks, Silver Spring Networks, and Quid, among many others, helping them transform and disrupt major industries.

Prior to joining ARTIS Mike was with the CSFB Technology Group, where he was one of the first mobile internet and device analysts. He also graduated from Lucent Technologies / Bell Labs Leadership Development Program, where he worked in the mobile division. Mike currently serves on the boards of Practice Fusion, Stringify, and Quid. He is the co-founder and chairman of ChefsFeed; is on the board of Tacolicious; and is a board observer at Looksharp and Juicero.

Twitter: @hardwiremike

Sean HeatherOwner, Heather Hospitality Group

Sean Heather is the owner of the successful Heather Hospitality Group, which encompasses the Irish Heather Gastropub, Salty Tongue, Salt Tasting Room, Shebeen Whiskey House, Fetch Coffee Kiosk, Penn Bakeshop, Bitter Tasting Room and Rainier Provisions. Sean oversees the day-to-day operations and finances and manages staff for venues, but purchasing and sourcing key products is one of his favorite aspects of the role.

Sean opened the Irish Heather in 1997 and since then has found great success in the restaurant industry in Vancouver. In 2000, he launched Shebeen Whiskey House, then three years later, the Salty Tongue Café. 2006 saw the expansion of the Heather Hospitality Group to include the critically acclaimed Salt. From 2009 to 2011, Sean opened five more venues: Fetch, a coffee kiosk; Bitter, a beer-tasting house; and most recently Rainier Provisions. Along the way he joined forces with his business partner, Scott Hawthorne, who part-owns Salt and Bitter.

Twitter: @TheIrishHeatherInstagram: @TheIrishHeatherFacebook: facebook.com/theirishheather

Twitter: @SaltTastingRoomInstagram: @SaltTastingRoomFacebook: facebook.com/Salt-Tasting-Room

Twitter: @SaltyTongueCafeFacebook: facebook.com/Salty-Tongue-Cafe

https://www.facebook.com/theirishheather

https://www.facebook.com/theirishheather

http://facebook.com/Salty-Tongue-Cafe-141356235926953/?fref=ts

http://facebook.com/Salty-Tongue-Cafe-141356235926953/?fref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/Salt-Tasting-Room-482746298489938/

https://www.facebook.com/Salt-Tasting-Room-482746298489938/


Matt HemsleyInvestment Banker, Piper Jaffray & Company

Matt Hemsley is an investment banker for Piper Jaffray & Company in Minneapolis, a global strategy and management consulting firm. He started his career at Goldman Sachs & Company in New York. In addition to his professional career, Matt has been an investor in a variety of entrepreneurial endeavors. Matt was an investor in Crispin Cider, which was sold to MillerCoors in 2012, and he is an investor in the Minneapolis healthy fast-casual restaurant Agra Culture Kitchen & Press and in the award-winning restaurant Spoon and Stable in Minneapolis. He has also invested in variety of natural resource projects associated with the Bakken shale oil field.

Matt graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a bachelor’s degree in economics, where he was also elected Phi Beta Kappa. He earned a master’s degree, with distinction, in economic history from Oxford University’s Magdalen College, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University. Matt serves on the board of directors of the Piper Jaffray Foundation, as well as the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, and is a former board member of the Stanford Business School Fund and the Greater Twin Cities United Way.

Gavin KaysenChef & Owner, Spoon and Stable

There is nothing quite like the frenetic and fleeting seasonality of the upper Midwest to inspire a soulful cook. For Chef Gavin Kaysen, an old soul at heart, this idea beckoned him back home to Minneapolis to open Spoon and Stable restaurant in fall 2014.

Gavin refined his dexterity in contemporary American fine dining by dedicating time to some of the world’s best restaurants. After graduating in 2001 from the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vermont, Gavin worked at Domaine Chandon in Yountville, CA; L’Auberge de Lavaux in Lausanne, Switzerland; and the famed L’Escargot in London before becoming executive chef at El Bizcocho in San Diego, where he was named one of Food & Wine magazine’s Best New Chefs. In late 2007, he joined Chef Daniel Boulud as chef de cuisine of Café Boulud in New York City, where he later earned the James Beard Rising Star Chef award and a coveted Michelin star.


Gavin is one of the founding mentors of the nonprofit ment’or BKB Foundation (formerly Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation), for which he currently serves as Team USA’s head coach in preparing for the famed biennial culinary competition that showcases the world’s best up-and-coming chefs. He brings an intimate knowledge of the Bocuse d’Or competition, as he proudly represented the U.S. in 2007.

Twitter: @spoonandstable @gavinkaysenInstagram: @spoonandstable @gavinkaysenFacebook: facebook.com/gavin.kaysen facebook.com/spoonandstable

Aaron LondonExecutive Chef & Owner, AL’s Place

Chef Aaron London is the Executive Chef and Owner of AL’s Place in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood. Aaron began cooking at age 14 after getting in trouble with the law and needing a way to channel his energy. He continued to work his way up -- eventually to his first sous chef position -- at local restaurants for the next four years.

While attending the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, Aaron interned and completed his six-month externship at the critically acclaimed Restaurant Daniel. Upon graduation, he moved to Montreal to work in the kitchen at fine-dining Toque and Au Pied de Cochon. After three years, Aaron returned to New York and spent a year at famed Blue Hill at Stone Barns, then headed overseas, where he spent time biking and interning his way through top establishments in Europe: Michelin-starred Arpège, L’Astrance and La Chassagnette.

He returned to California to join Chef Jeremy Fox on the opening team of Ubuntu Restaurant & Yoga Studio in Napa. He was promoted to sous chef and then again elevated to chef de cuisine within the first two years. Upon Fox’s departure, Aaron stepped up as executive chef, where he received local and national recognition of the ground-breaking vegetarian restaurant. In 2012, he moved to San Francisco to hone his skills behind the bar, gain insight into the front of house, and develop his own restaurant concept. AL’s Place opened in

https://www.facebook.com/gavin.kaysen

https://www.facebook.com/spoonandstable


February 2015 to mass anticipation from the San Francisco dining scene and quickly became a favorite amongst critics and diners.

Twitter: @alsplacesfInstagram: @alsplacesfFacebook: facebook.com/Als-Place

John RossOwner, B. Hospitality Co.

John Ross emerged onto the Chicago dining scene in 1997, taking a vital role as Director of Service in the opening of Michael Jordan’s fine-dining restaurant One Sixty Blue. In 2000, he opened his own self-financed concept, Sage, a farm-to-table restaurant in his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa. In 2005, he sold Sage to his head chef and returned to Chicago to rejoin One Sixty Blue. After two great years there, John spent some time managing and directing food and beverage at Chicago’s iconic Ambassador East Hotel, including The Pump Room and Tramonto’s Steak & Seafood.

In 2008, John partnered with the talented Chef Chris Pandel and his longtime friend, Phillip Walters, to form B. Hospitality Co. and to open The Bristol. With the great success of The Bristol, the team went on to partner with Boka Restaurant Group to open Balena in 2012. In early 2015, B. Hospitality Co. launched Formento’s, an Italian-American heritage restaurant, and Nonna’s, an Italian sandwich shop, two projects near and dear to John’s heart. Named after and inspired by his Grandmother Formento, the restaurant was designed to offer the classic Italian dishes and warm hospitality that John grew up with. B. Hospitality Co. also plans to partner with Boka Restaurant Group to open another West Loop eatery, Armour & Swift, an upscale steakhouse.

Twitter: @johnthebristolInstagram: @johnthebristol

https://www.facebook.com/Als-Place-758368404254122/


Sabato SagariaChief Restaurant Officer, Union Square Hospitality Group

Sabato Sagaria is the Chief Restaurant Officer of Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG), which includes some of New York City’s most acclaimed and beloved restaurants. Sabato works closely with USHG leadership to continuously improve operations and strengthen the restaurant brands. In addition, he oversees USHG’s centralized functions of facilities management, information technology, public relations, and marketing to elevate restaurant operations and guest experience through a collaborative, streamlined approach. Over the past 20 years, Sabato has fulfilled many roles at nationally-acclaimed restaurants and hotels, from cook to restaurant manager to wine director. Most recently, he directed food and beverage operations at The Little Nell Hotel in Aspen, Colorado, during which time he played a pivotal role in refining and developing the hotel’s restaurant concepts, including Element 47 and Ajax Tavern. Earlier, Sabato served in leadership roles at The Inn at Little Washington, The Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, and the historic Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia. In 2012, Sabato became a member of the Court of Master Sommeliers, a prestigious honor held by fewer than 250 individuals worldwide.

Twitter: @sabato3Instagram: @sabato3

Alex SeidelChef/Owner, Fruition and Mercantile dining & provision

Alex Seidel, a Food & Wine Best New Chef, is chef-owner of Fruition Restaurant and Mercantile dining & provision in Denver and owner of Fruition Farms Dairy, Colorado’s first artisan sheep’s milk creamery.

Alex began his culinary career at 14 and worked his way up to positions at Sweet Basil and at Frank Bonanno’s fine-dining flagship, Mizuna. He launched his own restaurant, Fruition, in 2007, receiving accolades from Zagat and “Best Chef Southwest” nominations from the James Beard Foundation. In fall


2014 Alex opened a third endeavor: Mercantile dining & provision, a restaurant and European-style market located in Denver’s Historic Union Station.

Twitter: @FruitionDENInstagram: @FruitionrestaurantFacebook: facebook.com/Fruition-Restaurant

Tanya SheaPrincipal, Shea, Inc.

Tanya Shea has more than 20 years of experience in marketing, branding, and creation of consumer experiences. Tanya’s expertise is in developing business plans, brand strategy, and consumer-based concepts through all points of contact, from marketing to the physical environment.

As a principal at Shea since 1999, Tanya has been involved in all aspects of consumer branding and design in the areas of restaurant, hospitality, and retail for clients. Her clients range from entrepreneurs and chefs to the Fortune 500 companies in all aspects of development or refresh. Tanya’s life and career have been significantly shaped by her extensive travels both domestically and abroad. Through her travel, she gains an understanding of the consumer experience from many perspectives, giving her a worldview that enhances her role as principal of an award-winning design firm.

Twitter: @shea_incInstagram: @shea_inc

Carla SiegelFounder, Agentsie

With a Communication’s Design degree from Syracuse University, a Culinary Arts diploma from The Institute of Culinary Education, and several years in the trenches of New York City’s fast-paced restaurant business, Agentsie founder Carla Siegel’s background includes graphic design training and extensive culinary knowledge in addition to tangible front- and back-of-house restaurant experience.

Twitter: @MercantileDENInstagram: @MercantiledenverFacebook: facebook.com/Mercantile-dining-provision

https://www.facebook.com/Fruition-Restaurant-116210601740696/

https://www.facebook.com/Mercantile-dining-provision-1398982970354750/


Today, Carla offers her expertise to established restaurant groups, growing restaurant brands and PR firms in the hospitality industry. She brings a unique combination of creativity, culinary knowledge, operational experience, communications skill and public relations savvy to her work.

Twitter: @agentsieInstagram: @agentsie

Brett TraussiChief Operating Officer, The Dinex Group

Brett Traussi is the Chief Operating Officer of The Dinex Group, the management company of Daniel Boulud. With Dinex, Brett supervises everything from new concept development and design to construction and restaurant openings, overseeing the ongoing operations of Boulud’s eighteen restaurants. His professionalism, stubbornly positive attitude, and flexible approach are the perfect complements to Boulud’s energy and creativity and have made an invaluable contribution to the chef’s lasting success.

A graduate of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, Brett also served as Food and Beverage Director for New York’s Palace Hotel, where he was part of the team reconcepting the hotel’s entire F&B program, including the opening of Le Cirque 2000.

Twitter: @btraussiInstagram: @btrauss1

Martin WilliamsFounder, M Restaurants

Martin left his post as Managing Director of the Gaucho restaurant group to start his own venture, M THREADNEEDLE STREET, in 2014, gaining widespread acclaim and a number of ‘Best New Restaurant’ of the year award nominations. The instant success of M resulted in the opening of M VICTORIA STREET last December. The new site will house two restaurants RAW and GRILL, plus M BAR, along with exciting brand extensions: M WINE STORE, a unique, high-quality wine shop, tasting gallery, and online website delivering


what Martin describes as “extraordinary restaurant wines for the home”; and M DEN, a Private Member’s Bar with the world’s smallest cinema.

Martin began his restaurant career in earnest, taking the position of General Manager at WokWok, a high-quality mid-market restaurant group. Following promotions within the group, he moved to a four-year spell at Zizzi and eventually left his position of Area Manager to join Christopher’s in Covent Garden. He has managed to rise through the ranks, ultimately raising over £5M of investment for M Restaurants and thriving in the already saturated London hospitality market.

Twitter: @mrestaurants_Instagram: @mrestaurants_

John WintermanManaging Partner, Bâtard

Born and raised in Indiana, John Winterman was in college when he learned that cuisine is more than three vegetables and overcooked meat. He has distinct memories of the first time he tasted foie gras, Kobe beef, wasabi and 1928 Cheval Blanc.

For the past 17 years, Winterman has worked in front-of-the-house positions for such notables as Charlie Trotter, Gary Danko and Daniel Boulud, most recently as maître d’hôtel of restaurant Daniel. Along the way, he became a certified sommelier and an expert in artisanal cheeses. John has now joined forces with restaurateur Drew Nieporent at Bâtard, where he is Managing Partner.

Twitter: @johnwintermanInstagram: @johnwinterman


Chris ZemanVice President, Zeman Construction

The combination of 30 years experience, relentless drive, and an unwavering commitment to clients make Chris Zeman a premier project manager. Over the last decade, Chris has managed over $160 million dollars in projects. By fostering a team approach to project management, he established a singular track record of successfully guiding multiple concurrent projects.

Much of Zeman’s growth comes from repeat business, a clear indication of our client’s confidence in their services. In recognition of his management style with clients, co-workers, and the larger community, Chris was awarded The Catholic Spirit’s 2013 Leading With Faith Award.


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