It doesn’t stop to amaze me how people light-heartedly make a decision to spend their life savings to open a bar, café, restaurant without ever having worked in one. I still cannot understand why everyone thinks it’s the easiest thing in the world and there is no way it will not work. Not to mention the fact that just because people eat and drink in restaurants and bars they think that automatically makes them the experts. My favorite one of all times is that everyone has had an uncle or a cousin who run a bar and they know how things work because they have grown up in one.
When I went to my first networking event as a guest of a colleague of mine, we all had to introduce ourselves and our business. Good job it was only 7 of us so it wasn’t too intimidating as this was my first introduction in front of people and in Spanish. Even though I had mentally rehearsed already what I wanted to say it never comes out as you planned it once you start talking. When I started with my introduction it seemed like I caught everyone’s attention because they were asking questions and I thought this was a good sign until there it was – The Hospitality experts! One of the ladies had her husband working all his life as a Head waiter in a restaurant and another one had a father who had his own restaurant and she had grown up with it. Basically 40% of the people attending already knew my business and there wasn’t much I can show them or teach them. Not to mention that nobody seemed to have paid much attention to what I said. This is a prime example of how ignorant people can be when it come to the hospitality & retail industry overall and what it involves.
Before I set up this business I did a lot of research on what kind of information, advice, training is available on the internet free & paid. To be honest there are tons of blogs, webs, books that people can read and find out more about how to start their own business, how to set up a bar, open a shop. Believe it or not it’s not enough. I have seen bars and restaurants that tick all the relevant boxed accordingly to the advice found on the internet or what the university teaches and they still don’t work out. In fact this happens more often than a successful end to the story. Having many years of experience or comfortable cash cushion is also no guarantee for an exit.
Before you set up your own business, bar, restaurant you must find out why you are doing it besides the money. You have to know your purpose, which will become the blood flow of your venture. Your idea and belief of why you want to do this particular work will give the main objective and the heart of your business. Once you have that clear then you can continue your research. For all small business owners and those who are planning on setting up for the first time I strongly recommend the following reads:
The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber.
Both are very inspiring, easy to read, worth every penny and will save you a lot of headache in the future.
Good luck to you all and if you want to talk more about the above topic feel free to get in touch. We are here to help!