When my wife and I decided three months ago to open our own restaurant, this book was our very first purchase. If you're thinking of opening one, it should be yours, too.
"Running A Restaurant For Dummies" is packed with useful tips on starting and running a restaurant: things like choosing your "concept", creating a menu, selecting the right staff and building a loyal clientelle. It's an easy read, with everything broken down into easily digested chunks and plenty of funny anecdotes along the way. The authors do a good job of getting across the glamour and the drudgery of the restaurant business, and most important, they get across the message that the restaurant business is just that, a business. Cashflow, inventory, marketing, hiring and firing -- take it from me, you'll spend at least as much time worrying about this stuff as you will about the food.
I must have bought a dozen books on the restaurant business before we opened. This was the only one I read cover to cover. Five weeks after opening, we're doing great business and getting great reviews. We regularly have to turn people away on Friday and Saturday nights. At least part of that success we owe to this book. Thinking of starting a restaurant? Buy this book. It's the best fifteen bucks you'll ever invest.
