opening a new restaurant

you should rent 'eat this new york'... very good documentary on two guys who opened up a restaurant in ny, and all the ups and downs that came with it... very entertaining and informative.

Oi Vey... Another "Chef"....


A kitchen is not just a bunch of equipment thrown together--for that you can go to a restaurant equipment supplier and get prices from their catalouge.

The devil--or in this case, the money is in the details...

How much power do you currently have?

Do you currently have rough-in plumbing or any existing plumbing?

Ventilation--that funny silver box-thingee that sits above the stove. It ain't cheap, figure on at least 20 big ones for that and another 5 or 7 for the fire supression system.

The equipment's the easy part, just plug and play.

The infrastructure is the hard part, and has everything to do with the age and upkeep of the building, current and past modifications, local health, fire, plumbing, and building codes, the style of cooking and service, amount of seats, a lounge or not....

Are you sure you're up to this?

How big of a hurry are you in? If this in in the planning stage, you can take your time and scope auctions. I had some beautiful equipment in my kitchen, all used and it cost, including rewiring the place and having pros go through everything, less than 20 grand. Don't skimp on the exhaust. Buy as much as you can afford if you think you might want to expand your menu and add equipment later. It costs about twice as much to add on as it would if you just install it in the first place. Around here it costs about a grand per foot. Licenses will depend on where you are. You can call the various agencies involved and they can tell you. However long you think it will take to set up, unless your buddies are pros and have done it several times, you can count on it taking 2-3 times as long to get up and running as you think. Don't quit what you are doing now if you can until you are really close to your open date. Also, if you have partners, make sure you are all on the same page about what type of restaurant you want. Don't be vague, be very specific. Otherwise you can run into some serious head butting that can cause the whole thing to come crashing down, which is what happened to me. Three years later I am still broke and trying to recover from it. For a privately owned place, I can not emphasize enough: decide what you want the place to be, and then let it be what it is. What I mean by that is I see and have worked in several places that are trying to be all things to all people and they're not doing anything right. I just left a place that is very popular with the clientele, but is not making the profits it should because they have no focus and are bleeding money because the menu is such a mess. It's primarily a sports bar that should focus on wings and burgers, but the owner thinks it should be more diverse so they have way too many selections on the menu. Things like mahi mahi that doesn't sell but is on the menu because the owner likes it. It has a tiny kitchen and all this junk on the menu that makes it a nightmare to work at. Good luck with this, I hope everything works out well for all of you. I know this is beyond what you were asking, but been there, done that, hate to see you make the same mistakes I did. Things will go faster and smoother if you have plenty of money. Make sure you have at least three months of working capital in the bank before you even consider opening. That will save you a lot of sleepless nights and ulcers. Start simple (less money tied up in inventory) and add items as you go if the market is there. I add new items as special promos to see how well they're received before they actually go on the menu. That way if something is a dog you're not stuck with it until the menus get reprinted. If there's anything specific you want to ask, feel free to P.M. I am an expert on making mistakes, so I can certainly tell you what not to do.

In STL restaurants have 4 weeks from openning before they are reviewed by local print.....which is not very long. That means waitstaff needs to be up to speed. One of the stupidest things I've seen done repeatedly is hiring top guns to come in and work out a menu, then not keep them on until the review hits. That expense may seem alot, but not compared with the "lower paid chef" left to muddle through as the reviewer is coming through......it's happened several times and I just shake my head wondering what the mindset was behind it. If you are paying for expertise make sure it's not done in vein.

My space was supposed to be open in Nov, it was the end of April before everything was done......and it was not open to the public but a catering kitchen. Different inspectors wanted various things......to some the floor was important, others tile in a bathroom that was not in use needed to be fixed...hard to get final punch lists when the list changed with each new inspector. They'd grandfather in the double sink in exchange for a high temp dishwasher.