Talk about a difficult endeavor. Opening your first restaurant is not an easy achievement. Normally the process takes a year or more after you decide to go for it. And the planning involved is immense! You have to get a business license, sign a lease agreement for your building, equipment to buy, contracts with food providers, employees to hire, advertising, . . The list goes on and on!

But you continue on. Why? Obviously it is not the documented numbers for success. Some of those numbers say you have a 90% failure rate. But no worries, you’ve got something more to offer. This is your dream, and no analyst, or dumb numbers will take it away from you.

And you know what? You’re right! Any number that is published is still just a number, and numbers do not know passion. And hell, even if those numbers do hold out, you still did something to try to achieve your dream. Most people just think about it, but you’re doing it!

Even so, no matter how much you want your dreams of owning a successful restaurant to come true, they will not unless you work hard for it. Yes, sorry, but it is true. You have to work very hard for it. Really, really hard. I don’t think I can emphasize it enough, you have to work hard (times a googol) to fulfill your dream.

The following are three lessons I believe are the most important to make your new restaurant a success:
1. Don’t Let Them Come to You – Go To Them

Some new restaurant owners think that if they open a restaurant, people will magically find out about it and will instantly become regulars. Sorry, but it just doesn't happen like that. You WILL become the most popular restaurant in the area, but only if you work at it. You have to market! Tell everybody you can when you get a chance. Random people in the supermarket, down time during your oil change, standing in line at the bank. Hand out flyers, get on the web. PR helps a lot too! You should spend half of your time or less in the restaurant overseeing the operations. The rest of your time should be spent on getting people into your restaurant.
2. Give it time

Every business takes time to create. Even names like Wal-Mart, IBM and Krispy Kreme took time to get going (did you know Krispy Kreme opened in 1937? And you started of hearing of them when?) Be patient, and make sure you have enough equity to keep you going for at least 2-3 years.
3. When the Cat’s Away, the Mice Will Play

Even though you will be exhausted working the marketing/business portion of your restaurant, you must still spend a lot of your time inside you restaurant. You are the most passionate person about the restaurant. In truth, you are the only one that really cares if it is a success! Just being around embarks additional excitement in not only your help, but your customers. If you think your restaurant runs the same when you are there compared to when you are not, you are very, very wrong.

If you have learned anything from this article, I hope it’s that you can do it . . .but only if you want to work for it. Congratulations, and best of luck (read: luck = really hard work) on your successes!

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Source: ArticleTrader.com