SCORE offers free counseling to entrepreneurs who want to start businesses. These mentors are retired business people, and if you can find one that is a retired restaurant owner, you could get some great information.http://www.score.org/index.htmlHere are some other resources for starting a restaurant business, where you can learn from other successful restaurant business owners:http://www.homebusinesscenter.com/how_to��http://www.awib.org/content_frames/artic��http://www.restaurantowner.com/Keep in mind that your local library can also be a great source of information.
Firstly, if you have no experience in the restaurant business, I d advise that you work in restaurants for the next six months or so doing everything from busing tables and washing dishes to waiting tables and cooking if they ll allow you back there and if you have the skills. This will give you some of the work experience that you ll need to understand and run a cafe/restaurant profitably.If this is your first business venture, I would strongly recommend that you talk to a business counselor before you do anything especially spend money. I d call the local office of the Small Business Development Center, SBDC (go to the link below and click o n your state to find the officer nearest you), the advice is FREE. Ask for someone who has a background in restaurants and they ll try their best to match you with the right counselor.The counselor at the SBDC will most likely advise you to write a business plan which is very good advice because it will force you to dig out all of the start up details and the costs of starting a restaurant and force you to also understand all of the aspects of this business including the customers you ll concentrate on (your market) and how you ll get them to find out and want to come to your fabulous cafe/restaurant.The location of the restaurant is important but doesn t make it successful. To prove that all you have to do is walk down a street in your town where there are several nice restaurants all in a row and you ll find one or two that are empty while the others are very busy. It has to do with menu, ambiance, and your reputation at the beginning and over time.You also have to have food handling licenses, the right zoning, the right city and county licenses and permits and you have to be skilled at negotiating with your landlord about who ll stand the cost of the build-out or the changes to the premises to make it ready for your look and feel. You also have to worry about the normal business planning and management issues related to starting up any business. Take a look and read some of the articles at YCHANGE web site (see link below) especially the ones about a business plan and starting a business. Hope this helped.
