| Many new restaurant owners put their hard earned | | | | the business open and generating revenue as soon |
| money (or more likely the money of their friends, | | | | as possible. |
| neighbors and relatives), and a great idea of time into | | | | A quick Google search will yield many "how to" sites |
| re-decorating. | | | | devoted to restaurants. One site in particular, which I |
| I will never forget the seemingly endless spent | | | | consider a leading authority on restaurant and bar |
| re-finishing a bar top in the first place I owned. It | | | | operations lists their main departments as follows: |
| was beautiful! Birds-eye maple. Several coats of | | | | - Business & Financial |
| varnish made it look like glass and, after many days | | | | - Business Plans |
| of curing, you could slide a pint glass the entire length | | | | - Food & Beverage |
| with a gentle push. A bar owner friend came by just | | | | - Menu |
| before we opened and commented on how much he | | | | - Customer Service |
| admired the bar top. Then he said "But, if you do the | | | | - Marketing |
| business you hope for it'll be covered with elbows | | | | - Startup & Growth |
| and glassware". | | | | - Technology |
| He was absolutely right. The old bar top would have | | | | None of the sites I visited included a department |
| done just fine and saved a lot of time and money. | | | | devoted to decorating. |
| That new bartop didn't put one dime in the till. | | | | It's important to create the proper atmosphere, one |
| Likewise neither do most of the so-called | | | | conducive to dining, rockin' out, or whatever your |
| improvements we make. when it comes right down | | | | concept is, but it's easy to allow the emphasis to |
| to it isn't it more for our own ego? Are we just | | | | become the focus. It's not by accident that major |
| building monuments to ourselves? | | | | management websites do not include painting |
| "Making it your own" is exciting and one of the | | | | instructions. |
| benefits of owing your own business. It's | | | | You'll find that 99% of the "decorating" can be |
| understandable that you're anxious for the place to | | | | accomplished between open hours. Unless there are |
| reflect your style and imagination yet, many | | | | major repairs, like major plumbing for instance, just |
| operators allow that effort to supersede other, more | | | | do it after close. |
| operationally valid, efforts. | | | | It aint rocket science! Quality, Service, Cleanliness. |
| That initial funding goes very quickly and, unless | | | | Get the cash coming in and make changes on the fly. |
| you're financially independent, your first job is to get | | | | |