My Dilema

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Hey all,

Here's my dilema, perhaps you all can help.

I am a Helicopter Mechanic in the midwest making about $40k a year. This is about the minimum i can live on and pay bills. My family and friends think i'm an excellent cook and tell me i ought open up my own restaurant (which i would just LOVE to do).

1. I don't have the capital/experience at the moment to do so.
2. There are STILL plenty of things i don't know about cooking.
3. Pay? I used to work at a restaurant in my college years as a prep cook and a fry cook, and pay was RIDICULOUS!

Since i can't live on anything below $40k a year, how much can i expect to make (considering #3). I consider myself more of a grill chef, tho i still have alot to learn, and my future restaurant menu would revolve around the grill.

[Clove]

Of course there are ways for you to make this happen, but if you aren't at the point in your life where you are ready to make sacrifices in order to follow your dreams, perhaps this wouldn't be a good path for you. There are many ways you could cook in your free time without having to give up any income.

Opening your own restaurant would require determination and more sacrifices than just a cut in pay.

[m brown]

Get to know local restaurantaurs and find out how they started or howz about staging at a local restaurant on your free time?

You could learn the joys of kitchen prep and clean up, from there you could learn the stations of the kitchen and from there you could say go back to cooking for pleasure or follow the dream with real life experience and lots of contacts!

either way, great learning!

keep us posted and best of luck on your journey.

[Steve A]

Dude, I don't want to rain on your parade, but the world is littered with closed restaurants opened by people "who think they could cook well." Cooking well is only part of the equation. You can be a mediocre cook and operate a successful restaurant if you can operate a restaurant. However, you cannot be successful based solely on your cooking abilities.

I don't often send people offsite for information which may be available to them within the site, but I'm personally acquainted with both the site and the author. Opening a Restaurant 101

Do your homework before you throw yourself into the lion's den.

Ciao,