Managing the Restaurant Opening Process: Why You Can't Afford To Lose Control & How To Do It

As I walked into my client's restaurant that was one week from opening, I found myself stepping over a man installing the marble floor entry, dodging the delivery people bringing supplies to the bar, and watching the painter touch up a wall while someone else reached around him to hang up the artwork.

I couldn't help but notice the ladders in the middle of the dining room or the workers installing the sound system and hanging light fixtures.

As I greeted the manager, he explained how behind their deadlines everybody seemed to be and that he had to keep pushing the workers to complete their jobs and be gone in two days so he could clean up and practice before opening. We were interrupted by the landscape deliveryman who informed us that he wasn't able to install the front areas because of the weather. The manager seemed overly stressed at this point, and to add "insult to injury" the millworker announced that the large corner booth didn't fit and would need to go back to the shop to get modified.

Just then, we heard a loud crash coming from the kitchen where we learned that two men had bumped into the kitchen equipment installer and dropped the large mirror that was to hang above the bar ... Ouch! Welcome to another day in restaurant opening hell. If it sounds scary, it is. Instead of quaking in fear, start planning -- now. In this article, we will look at some lessons I've learned about managing the opening process, and I'll provide a couple of forms to assist with your organizational efforts. First, take a deep breath...