Are You Cut Out for the Restaurant Business?

There is plenty of opportunity to enjoy profitable business ownership for smart independent operators who apply sound restaurant business practices and can provide guests a unique and memorable experience. The big question: Should you be one of them?

Even if you have been successful in other endeavors, jobs and careers, opening or taking over ownership of a restaurant presents unique challenges unlike those in any other occupation or profession. Success in the restaurant business isn't just a matter of smarts or business savvy, but of being prepared for these challenges. In fact, some really accomplished and educated people have failed at the restaurant business. And others, with humble backgrounds and little formal education, have enjoyed resounding success.

Welcome to the Big Time

Particularly if your dream to own a restaurant is modest -- perhaps you want to own a café in a small town -- you might lose sight of the fact that you are becoming part of one of the largest industries in the country in terms of sales and number of employees.

The National Restaurant Association compiles extensive data on industry trends nationally and state-by-state. On a typical day Americans spend $1.8 billion in the more than 980,000 commercial foodservice establishments, including independent restaurants. And there is room for a lot more growth as the population continues to expand and consumers continue to increase their spending on away-from-home meals, a category estimated to comprise 47% of all food dollars.

It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped. - Tony Robbins, life coach and self-help author.

While the major restaurant chains are often held up as the model to which all restaurateurs aspire to amass wealth, it is important to bear in mind that a significant portion of the restaurant industry is composed of single unit and small multi-unit operations. Recent statistics by The NDP Group, a market research company, indicates that independent restaurants represents 27 percent of restaurant industry guest traffic.

Millions of people eat out every day, so there is plenty of demand for good restaurants. Yet, there is also plenty of competition. Industry sources point out that 20,000 to 30,000 new restaurant business licenses are issued every year.

A big advantage veteran restaurant owners have when they open a new restaurant is that they've done it before. While experienced independent restaurateurs have a slightly different set of challenges than do first-time restaurateurs, there are certain principles, tactics, techniques that are common to all successful restaurant operations. The major chain restaurants have succeeded not necessarily because they have secret formulas or superior products, but because they have applied these core business tenets consistently, effectively, and, in many cases, with scientific rigor.