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How much time, money, and effort is needed to jump start a restraunt?
Is the time and effort worth the business at the end of the day?
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5 answers
Updated
Robert’s Answer
Nayeli,
The answer to your question revolves around you, what you want out of life and what you are looking to do. opening a restaurant is serious business, so even before you can think about getting a business license, you need to develop a feasibility study report for the area that you want to set up a restaurant. This report will show the market area for the restaurant you want. it should show you how much foot traffic you may have. for instance, I would not open a restaurant on the same street as 3 or 4 other places. You need to be able to capture the audience at hand and know your audience. so don't open a chicken sandwich restaurant in a bad demographic.
Completing this study will also show you what the open buildings are costing, the taxes needed, the lease prices. If you want to use an existing place or build one. each choice comes with their own requirements. You can also check out the national restaurant association for help on opening a place, they should give you all of the required government industries that you need to contact. Another thing you can contact the small business association, there will be a handful of senior citizens who have extensive knowledge about opening a business.
Once you have picked a building or built one, getting the food equipment together (buying it, or cleaning it) once you are ready to open you need the health department to check out your establishment, they have the say so if you open or not. Get Serve Safe Certified, this is a Must.
Once you have passed through the legal red tape, remember the first 6 months of your restaurant will either make you or break you. This is when the customers will make up their mind about your business. also, before you open, and have the authority to do so, get the chamber of commerce to approve of your place, hold a members only open house just for the chamber, the mayor, the dignitaries of the area, do not invite the public at this time. You will need to wow these people. Then I would give food for free. sell yourself and the new place by creating finger foods, possibly desserts make small trays of them and pass them to the fire department, police department, doctors' offices, banks. these people will come and spend at your restaurant. while open I would always, make an extra 3-4 gallons of chili, cool it down, and the following day deliver it to the fire station in the area. Once a month, would be good.
I guess that is enough for now. relax, if you really want to open a place and have the capitol to so, then do it. if you need help, I am mostly always here to do so.
Chef Rob Mingus
The answer to your question revolves around you, what you want out of life and what you are looking to do. opening a restaurant is serious business, so even before you can think about getting a business license, you need to develop a feasibility study report for the area that you want to set up a restaurant. This report will show the market area for the restaurant you want. it should show you how much foot traffic you may have. for instance, I would not open a restaurant on the same street as 3 or 4 other places. You need to be able to capture the audience at hand and know your audience. so don't open a chicken sandwich restaurant in a bad demographic.
Completing this study will also show you what the open buildings are costing, the taxes needed, the lease prices. If you want to use an existing place or build one. each choice comes with their own requirements. You can also check out the national restaurant association for help on opening a place, they should give you all of the required government industries that you need to contact. Another thing you can contact the small business association, there will be a handful of senior citizens who have extensive knowledge about opening a business.
Once you have picked a building or built one, getting the food equipment together (buying it, or cleaning it) once you are ready to open you need the health department to check out your establishment, they have the say so if you open or not. Get Serve Safe Certified, this is a Must.
Once you have passed through the legal red tape, remember the first 6 months of your restaurant will either make you or break you. This is when the customers will make up their mind about your business. also, before you open, and have the authority to do so, get the chamber of commerce to approve of your place, hold a members only open house just for the chamber, the mayor, the dignitaries of the area, do not invite the public at this time. You will need to wow these people. Then I would give food for free. sell yourself and the new place by creating finger foods, possibly desserts make small trays of them and pass them to the fire department, police department, doctors' offices, banks. these people will come and spend at your restaurant. while open I would always, make an extra 3-4 gallons of chili, cool it down, and the following day deliver it to the fire station in the area. Once a month, would be good.
I guess that is enough for now. relax, if you really want to open a place and have the capitol to so, then do it. if you need help, I am mostly always here to do so.
Chef Rob Mingus
Updated
Doug’s Answer
Have you looked at the ‘ghost kitchen’ path?
You lease space in a health and safety approved kitchen then have door dash delivery the food.
It would be a great way to develop a clientele with out the expenses of real estate. Once you have volume and proof of demand, you could open a store.
You still have to figure how to promote your kitchen but the money saved in real estate could fund a powerful marketing campaign
Personally, I’m looking for a high end fried chicken place. Let me know!
You lease space in a health and safety approved kitchen then have door dash delivery the food.
It would be a great way to develop a clientele with out the expenses of real estate. Once you have volume and proof of demand, you could open a store.
You still have to figure how to promote your kitchen but the money saved in real estate could fund a powerful marketing campaign
Personally, I’m looking for a high end fried chicken place. Let me know!
Updated
david’s Answer
Weel, there is no easy answer. All I can share are the many steps involved, but not the costs or the time. Whether it's worthwhile is whether the restaurant becomes a success, which generally takes a year or more for people to become aware of the restaurant. Anyway, here is a tentative list of what may like ahead:
- you would need a business license
- you would need a bank account for "Nayeli's restaurant" - that's different from a personal account.
- you might need a tax id from the Federal government
- you need business liability insurance and business property insurance
- you need a business phone number
- you need to rent space and probably have a minimum one-year lease.
- you probably need a tax accountant
- you will need written agreements with food suppliers to ensure adequate food to prepare.
- you will need a line of credit from the bank, so you can purchase supplies and food prior to selling them.
- you will need to hire several employee to ensure the store is always open.
- you will need an appropriate software accounting system to track payments, inventory, and salaries
- you will need to buy appropriate shelving and other furniture for the restaurant
- you will need professional assistance in creating ads for the restaurant
- you will need to advertise in multiple media to announce your restaurant.
- you will need legal advice on managing the restaurant
- you will need sufficient cash for initial obligations, and enough in savings to handle all costs for the first few months until the restaurant begins to stabilize with costs and revenues.
However, with all that, if it feels right, it can be a source of endless smiles. All the best to you in your pursuits.
0
Your answer to this question:
- you would need a business license
- you would need a bank account for "Nayeli's restaurant" - that's different from a personal account.
- you might need a tax id from the Federal government
- you need business liability insurance and business property insurance
- you need a business phone number
- you need to rent space and probably have a minimum one-year lease.
- you probably need a tax accountant
- you will need written agreements with food suppliers to ensure adequate food to prepare.
- you will need a line of credit from the bank, so you can purchase supplies and food prior to selling them.
- you will need to hire several employee to ensure the store is always open.
- you will need an appropriate software accounting system to track payments, inventory, and salaries
- you will need to buy appropriate shelving and other furniture for the restaurant
- you will need professional assistance in creating ads for the restaurant
- you will need to advertise in multiple media to announce your restaurant.
- you will need legal advice on managing the restaurant
- you will need sufficient cash for initial obligations, and enough in savings to handle all costs for the first few months until the restaurant begins to stabilize with costs and revenues.
However, with all that, if it feels right, it can be a source of endless smiles. All the best to you in your pursuits.
0
Your answer to this question:
Matthew L. Tuck, J.D., M.B.A.
CEO/Managing Attorney, Greater Detroit Area
64
Answers
Updated
Matthew L.’s Answer
Hi Nayeli. Great question!
I would agree with what both Ann and David said. As luck would have it, I just set up my own restaurant so I can tell you a lot about how long each step takes and some idea of what it will cost.
I'll build off David's list which is excellent and add a few things of my own.
- Even before you get a business license, you should set up a "corporate entity". This is a company that is separate from you as an individual. This protects your personal assets (house, car, bank accounts) if you get sued or go bankrupt. A "limited liability company" or LLC is the easiest to set up and is the simplest for tax purposes, in most states. You can do it yourself or have your attorney or accountant do it. If you do it, you can do it on line. Takes about 30 minutes and costs about $105 in California, less in other states. Set up your corporate entity first. Legal Zoom is also low cost nad good to help you set it up. You will need the company already set up for later to do items.
- you would need a business license - 1 hour, prices vary by city but probably $100 or so (you may need to show your LLC paperwork)
- you would need a bank account for "Nayeli's restaurant" - that's different from a personal account. - This took me 2 hours to set up and is free, but you will need to deposit some money to get the accounts set up so plan on depositing $500. You may also need to order checks. Another $25 to $50.
- you might need a tax id from the Federal government - Also called an "EIN" (basically a social security number for your business) this is free and only takes 10 minutes on-line but you need your LLC to be set up first. If you set up a corporate entity, you will need an EIN.
- you need business liability insurance and business property insurance - 1 - 5 hours. Cost will vary a lot by location and your coverage. You probably will have to pay for the first 3 months up front so in my case it was about $750. Depending on your state, you will need several kinds of insurance: structure insurance (to insure the physical building, in not covered by the landlord), liability insurance (in case someone is injured on the property), and workers comp (insurance to protect your workers in case they are injured on the job).
- you need a business phone number - 1 hour to set up. You will likely have to pay a set up fee here too so, depending on your area, plan on at least $100
- you need to rent space and probably have a minimum one-year lease. - The lease will likely be much longer. Landlords for restaurants like longer leases because it's hard to get a new restaurant into spaces that are vacant. Mine was 5 years with 3 automatic renewals of 5 years each (so 20 years total if it went well). Longer leases can be good because you can lock in a lower rental. This gives both you and the landlord predictability. This part is hard. It took me 6 weeks (my landlord is very inexperienced and she was very hard to deal with). I probably spent 30 hours negotiating a lease. No cost to negotiate other than time, but you will have to pay something to move in. Depending on the landlord, it could be first and last month's rent and a security deposit. Your rent should never be more than 10% of your gross sales per month which is hard to know. But if your restaurant is going to make $20,000 per month, you should not be paying more than $2,000 a month in rent. You can have a lawyer do the negotiation but it will cost more. And watch out for "triple net". That means in addition to the base rent you have to pay insurance on the building (or your share), common area rental (if any), maintenance costs, and taxes.
- you probably need a tax accountant - You will. Plan on spending at least 10 hours vetting accountants. Talk to at least 3, but 5 is better. Get one that specializes in restaurants. Ask other restaurant owners who they use. Depending on location and how complicated the taxes are, it might cost $1,000-$2,000 per year.
- you will need written agreements with food suppliers to ensure adequate food to prepare - You can often get most of your food from one or two suppliers (like Sysco or Gordon Foods). But you will have to deal directly with some vendors like Coke. 10 hours and you may have to put some deposits down. The suppliers provide all these agreements to you, usually for electronic signature. You can't really negotiate them or alter them. You just sign.
- you will need a line of credit from the bank, so you can purchase supplies and food prior to selling them. - this is nice to have. But my bank turned me down for this even though I have excellent credit, I was buying a franchise, the restaurant was in operation for 10 years, was doing $850,000 a year in sales, and I had a ton of my personal money in that same bank. "Restaurants are too risky" they said. So don't count on this. You likely will need to use your own money along with friends and family.
- you will need to hire several employee to ensure the store is always open - Yes, probably at least 10 if you will be open 7 days a week. This will take a ton of time, especially now because it's VERY hard to staff restaurants. Plan on at least 50+ hours to run ads (Indeed, Zip Recruiter are best for restaurant help--I received a lot of great applicants), respond to applicants, interview the good ones and hire them. Plan on spending at least $500 on ads. You may also have to pay signing bonuses to get good employees (maybe $250 for counter staff/wait staff to $2500 for an assistant manager)
- you will need an appropriate software accounting system to track payments, inventory, and salaries - You can audition others, but I use Quickbooks in all my businesses. It's good, links to your bank, is on-line and pretty cheap. About $100 a month. You can also pay more for payroll and tax support, which will mean less time for your accountant to spend at the end of the year. Plan on 20 hours to learn the software, install it and get it all set up.
- you will need to buy appropriate shelving and other furniture for the restaurant - If you are buying an existing restaurant, you may get all this. If you are starting from scratch, this will take time. At least 50+ hours and, depending on what you need and type of restaurant, $25,000+
- you will need professional assistance in creating ads for the restaurant - Yes, 10+ hours and $500.
- you will need to advertise in multiple media to announce your restaurant - Yes, if you do it yourself, 10+ hours. Listings should be free. Paid ads will cost money.
- you will need legal advice on managing the restaurant - Good idea. It will take time to screen and interview lawyers. Here too, find one that specializes in restaurants. Interview at least 3 and 5 is better. Pick the one you like. Maybe 5 hours, $2500
- you will need sufficient cash for initial obligations, and enough in savings to handle all costs for the first few months until the restaurant begins to stabilize with costs and revenues. - This is the big wild card. If you are starting completely from scratch, this could cost a lot if you need tables, chairs, cooking equipment, cash registers, prep tables, refrigerators, smokers, ovens, fryers, etc. This can take hundreds of hours and cost $25,000 to $100,000+. What I would recommend is buying an existing restaurant. So many have gone out of business during the Lockdowns that you can get them for free or almost free if they are no longer operating. Banks have repossessed a lot of restaurant equipment too, so right now you could buy all the slightly used equipment, tables, chairs and dishes you need for $10,000 to $25,000.
Couple other things to keep in mind:
- Grub Hub/Uber Eats - If you want to deliver food, you need to register for these - 2 hours
- Sales Tax License - You probably need to get one from the state since you have to charge sales tax in most states (you will also need this for your food suppliers) - 2 hours
- Point of Sale Equipment - You will need a cash register and computer system (Apple pay or Square) to track inventory and take credit cards. This is hard to set up and will cost money. Maybe $2500 and 25 hours to get your menu items input and hooked up to your bank accounts. This will also help manage inventory for you which is very important.
- Computers - You likely will need additional computers for internet, wifi, and to run your Quickbooks and other software. Get a computer guy to handle this. $2500.
- Waste Disposal - Restaurants generate a TON of waste and trash. You will need a regular dumpster for paper, garbage, discarded food, and probably a separate one for grease collection if you fry - 3 hours and you may need to put up a deposit. About $1000 per month.
- Utilities - You will have to get gas, electric, water, sewage switched over to your name. Plan on 5 hours You will have to put up a deposit possibly, $300 each in my case.
- DIY Upgrades to your space - You likely will have some painting, decorating and other things to get the place just right. If you DIY it this is more time and money YOU have to spend.
- Menu - If you are starting your own restaurant from scratch, you have to come up with all the food items on your menu. This means you need to decide what to offer, how much everything will cost, what portion sizes, and how you will train the staff to make the food and make it consistently each time for each guest. Plan on at least 100 hours. You'll need to test the recipes and customize them for a restaurant environment.
- Polices and Procedures Manual and Employee Handbook - These are two crucial pieces of equipment you must have. The Policies an Procedures manual will tell your employees in great detail how the restaurant runs. Opening procedures, closing procedures, sanitization and food handling procedures, what each position is and who does what. The Employee Handbook is the rules for employees, their rights and responsibilities, complaint procedures, hiring, firing, pay, raises, ground for termination, etc. You can buy premade ones but you need to customize both of these to fit your business. 50+ hours. If you have a lawyer who specializes in this type of business, he or she can likely help draft these.
If you are starting your own, plan on having at least 1 to 1 1/2 years of money in the bank to live on. It likely will be that long before you can pay yourself a salary. The restaurant business is hard.
With all that in mind, you can save a TON of time by buying an existing franchise restaurant (which is what I did). Think McDonalds, Subway, Popeye's Fried Chicken, Little Caesars, etc. These are all franchises and the corporate organization ("franchisor") already has everything down to a science. The advantage of this is most of the above is already taken care of for you: the menu is done, the equipment is there, the clientele are there, the cash registers are there. They get all the food suppliers lined up. They help with advertising and social media, usually. You can basically walk in and start running your restaurant. You can probably take a salary right away. It's also very easy to start more restaurants this way once you get the hang of it with the first one.
Shaquille O'Neil owns 155 Five Guys burger joints. Each one pays him about $125,000 (or more) per year. Do the math. But do your homework too. There are good franchises and bad ones most don't make that much. Five Guys is expensive to buy as well. You can walk in and buy an existing franchise of another company right now for $10,000 or less. Plan on another $30,000 to buy food, hire and train staff, and get thing up and running. The downside is you have to pay a franchise fee and percentage of your earnings but it may make financial sense if it's a good franchise. But the franchisor or takes care of all that other stuff for you. Mine is (Texas barbecue restaurant).
You likely will also have to do some corporate training to learn the system. This may be free or cost a few thousand dollars and may take 1 to 3 weeks.
In answer to the second part of your questions, it's totally worth it if you really like cooking and like to make people happy. This is what many people were born to do. It's also great being your own boss if you are wired for that. Get a job in a franchise you like and admire. See if you like it.
There are a number of websites that list restaurants for sale. You can get a lot of information from these. My favorite is called BizBuySell. Check it out. Thousands of listings.
This is a LOT of information and may seem overwhelming. Just break it into small bites and don't give up. Hope this helps. Good luck!
Decide what type of restaurant to open. Get a job in a franchise restaurant and see if you like it. Create a business plan for your restaurant. Use that to get financing from a bank or friends and family or a partner.
Research the area of the city where you want to open up. Look for restaurants that recently closed. Especially franchises.
Make lists of all the things you need to do and prioritize them by time (create LLC first, buy food last) and keep hammering away at the list.
Find an attorney and a CPA who specialize in restaurants. Open your bank accounts. Sign the lease and all the supplier agreements. Create Policies and Procedures Manual & Employee Handbook
Finalize your menu. Hire and train your great staff. Open the doors.
I would agree with what both Ann and David said. As luck would have it, I just set up my own restaurant so I can tell you a lot about how long each step takes and some idea of what it will cost.
I'll build off David's list which is excellent and add a few things of my own.
- Even before you get a business license, you should set up a "corporate entity". This is a company that is separate from you as an individual. This protects your personal assets (house, car, bank accounts) if you get sued or go bankrupt. A "limited liability company" or LLC is the easiest to set up and is the simplest for tax purposes, in most states. You can do it yourself or have your attorney or accountant do it. If you do it, you can do it on line. Takes about 30 minutes and costs about $105 in California, less in other states. Set up your corporate entity first. Legal Zoom is also low cost nad good to help you set it up. You will need the company already set up for later to do items.
- you would need a business license - 1 hour, prices vary by city but probably $100 or so (you may need to show your LLC paperwork)
- you would need a bank account for "Nayeli's restaurant" - that's different from a personal account. - This took me 2 hours to set up and is free, but you will need to deposit some money to get the accounts set up so plan on depositing $500. You may also need to order checks. Another $25 to $50.
- you might need a tax id from the Federal government - Also called an "EIN" (basically a social security number for your business) this is free and only takes 10 minutes on-line but you need your LLC to be set up first. If you set up a corporate entity, you will need an EIN.
- you need business liability insurance and business property insurance - 1 - 5 hours. Cost will vary a lot by location and your coverage. You probably will have to pay for the first 3 months up front so in my case it was about $750. Depending on your state, you will need several kinds of insurance: structure insurance (to insure the physical building, in not covered by the landlord), liability insurance (in case someone is injured on the property), and workers comp (insurance to protect your workers in case they are injured on the job).
- you need a business phone number - 1 hour to set up. You will likely have to pay a set up fee here too so, depending on your area, plan on at least $100
- you need to rent space and probably have a minimum one-year lease. - The lease will likely be much longer. Landlords for restaurants like longer leases because it's hard to get a new restaurant into spaces that are vacant. Mine was 5 years with 3 automatic renewals of 5 years each (so 20 years total if it went well). Longer leases can be good because you can lock in a lower rental. This gives both you and the landlord predictability. This part is hard. It took me 6 weeks (my landlord is very inexperienced and she was very hard to deal with). I probably spent 30 hours negotiating a lease. No cost to negotiate other than time, but you will have to pay something to move in. Depending on the landlord, it could be first and last month's rent and a security deposit. Your rent should never be more than 10% of your gross sales per month which is hard to know. But if your restaurant is going to make $20,000 per month, you should not be paying more than $2,000 a month in rent. You can have a lawyer do the negotiation but it will cost more. And watch out for "triple net". That means in addition to the base rent you have to pay insurance on the building (or your share), common area rental (if any), maintenance costs, and taxes.
- you probably need a tax accountant - You will. Plan on spending at least 10 hours vetting accountants. Talk to at least 3, but 5 is better. Get one that specializes in restaurants. Ask other restaurant owners who they use. Depending on location and how complicated the taxes are, it might cost $1,000-$2,000 per year.
- you will need written agreements with food suppliers to ensure adequate food to prepare - You can often get most of your food from one or two suppliers (like Sysco or Gordon Foods). But you will have to deal directly with some vendors like Coke. 10 hours and you may have to put some deposits down. The suppliers provide all these agreements to you, usually for electronic signature. You can't really negotiate them or alter them. You just sign.
- you will need a line of credit from the bank, so you can purchase supplies and food prior to selling them. - this is nice to have. But my bank turned me down for this even though I have excellent credit, I was buying a franchise, the restaurant was in operation for 10 years, was doing $850,000 a year in sales, and I had a ton of my personal money in that same bank. "Restaurants are too risky" they said. So don't count on this. You likely will need to use your own money along with friends and family.
- you will need to hire several employee to ensure the store is always open - Yes, probably at least 10 if you will be open 7 days a week. This will take a ton of time, especially now because it's VERY hard to staff restaurants. Plan on at least 50+ hours to run ads (Indeed, Zip Recruiter are best for restaurant help--I received a lot of great applicants), respond to applicants, interview the good ones and hire them. Plan on spending at least $500 on ads. You may also have to pay signing bonuses to get good employees (maybe $250 for counter staff/wait staff to $2500 for an assistant manager)
- you will need an appropriate software accounting system to track payments, inventory, and salaries - You can audition others, but I use Quickbooks in all my businesses. It's good, links to your bank, is on-line and pretty cheap. About $100 a month. You can also pay more for payroll and tax support, which will mean less time for your accountant to spend at the end of the year. Plan on 20 hours to learn the software, install it and get it all set up.
- you will need to buy appropriate shelving and other furniture for the restaurant - If you are buying an existing restaurant, you may get all this. If you are starting from scratch, this will take time. At least 50+ hours and, depending on what you need and type of restaurant, $25,000+
- you will need professional assistance in creating ads for the restaurant - Yes, 10+ hours and $500.
- you will need to advertise in multiple media to announce your restaurant - Yes, if you do it yourself, 10+ hours. Listings should be free. Paid ads will cost money.
- you will need legal advice on managing the restaurant - Good idea. It will take time to screen and interview lawyers. Here too, find one that specializes in restaurants. Interview at least 3 and 5 is better. Pick the one you like. Maybe 5 hours, $2500
- you will need sufficient cash for initial obligations, and enough in savings to handle all costs for the first few months until the restaurant begins to stabilize with costs and revenues. - This is the big wild card. If you are starting completely from scratch, this could cost a lot if you need tables, chairs, cooking equipment, cash registers, prep tables, refrigerators, smokers, ovens, fryers, etc. This can take hundreds of hours and cost $25,000 to $100,000+. What I would recommend is buying an existing restaurant. So many have gone out of business during the Lockdowns that you can get them for free or almost free if they are no longer operating. Banks have repossessed a lot of restaurant equipment too, so right now you could buy all the slightly used equipment, tables, chairs and dishes you need for $10,000 to $25,000.
Couple other things to keep in mind:
- Grub Hub/Uber Eats - If you want to deliver food, you need to register for these - 2 hours
- Sales Tax License - You probably need to get one from the state since you have to charge sales tax in most states (you will also need this for your food suppliers) - 2 hours
- Point of Sale Equipment - You will need a cash register and computer system (Apple pay or Square) to track inventory and take credit cards. This is hard to set up and will cost money. Maybe $2500 and 25 hours to get your menu items input and hooked up to your bank accounts. This will also help manage inventory for you which is very important.
- Computers - You likely will need additional computers for internet, wifi, and to run your Quickbooks and other software. Get a computer guy to handle this. $2500.
- Waste Disposal - Restaurants generate a TON of waste and trash. You will need a regular dumpster for paper, garbage, discarded food, and probably a separate one for grease collection if you fry - 3 hours and you may need to put up a deposit. About $1000 per month.
- Utilities - You will have to get gas, electric, water, sewage switched over to your name. Plan on 5 hours You will have to put up a deposit possibly, $300 each in my case.
- DIY Upgrades to your space - You likely will have some painting, decorating and other things to get the place just right. If you DIY it this is more time and money YOU have to spend.
- Menu - If you are starting your own restaurant from scratch, you have to come up with all the food items on your menu. This means you need to decide what to offer, how much everything will cost, what portion sizes, and how you will train the staff to make the food and make it consistently each time for each guest. Plan on at least 100 hours. You'll need to test the recipes and customize them for a restaurant environment.
- Polices and Procedures Manual and Employee Handbook - These are two crucial pieces of equipment you must have. The Policies an Procedures manual will tell your employees in great detail how the restaurant runs. Opening procedures, closing procedures, sanitization and food handling procedures, what each position is and who does what. The Employee Handbook is the rules for employees, their rights and responsibilities, complaint procedures, hiring, firing, pay, raises, ground for termination, etc. You can buy premade ones but you need to customize both of these to fit your business. 50+ hours. If you have a lawyer who specializes in this type of business, he or she can likely help draft these.
If you are starting your own, plan on having at least 1 to 1 1/2 years of money in the bank to live on. It likely will be that long before you can pay yourself a salary. The restaurant business is hard.
With all that in mind, you can save a TON of time by buying an existing franchise restaurant (which is what I did). Think McDonalds, Subway, Popeye's Fried Chicken, Little Caesars, etc. These are all franchises and the corporate organization ("franchisor") already has everything down to a science. The advantage of this is most of the above is already taken care of for you: the menu is done, the equipment is there, the clientele are there, the cash registers are there. They get all the food suppliers lined up. They help with advertising and social media, usually. You can basically walk in and start running your restaurant. You can probably take a salary right away. It's also very easy to start more restaurants this way once you get the hang of it with the first one.
Shaquille O'Neil owns 155 Five Guys burger joints. Each one pays him about $125,000 (or more) per year. Do the math. But do your homework too. There are good franchises and bad ones most don't make that much. Five Guys is expensive to buy as well. You can walk in and buy an existing franchise of another company right now for $10,000 or less. Plan on another $30,000 to buy food, hire and train staff, and get thing up and running. The downside is you have to pay a franchise fee and percentage of your earnings but it may make financial sense if it's a good franchise. But the franchisor or takes care of all that other stuff for you. Mine is (Texas barbecue restaurant).
You likely will also have to do some corporate training to learn the system. This may be free or cost a few thousand dollars and may take 1 to 3 weeks.
In answer to the second part of your questions, it's totally worth it if you really like cooking and like to make people happy. This is what many people were born to do. It's also great being your own boss if you are wired for that. Get a job in a franchise you like and admire. See if you like it.
There are a number of websites that list restaurants for sale. You can get a lot of information from these. My favorite is called BizBuySell. Check it out. Thousands of listings.
This is a LOT of information and may seem overwhelming. Just break it into small bites and don't give up. Hope this helps. Good luck!
Matthew L. recommends the following next steps:
Updated
Ann’s Answer
Nayeli,
As David pointed out, there’s a lot involved. Consider working in the industry at an establishment you respect. Larger entities offer training and you can learn various aspects of the restaurant business while they pay you. It’s an excellent way to learn, save your money, and plan what you’d like your restaurant to be. There’s so many variables for a restaurant to succeed and giving yourself the opportunity to learn without the stress of holding up a business at the same time is smart. Then you’ll be able to plan and execute a successful restaurant. Wishing you the best!
As David pointed out, there’s a lot involved. Consider working in the industry at an establishment you respect. Larger entities offer training and you can learn various aspects of the restaurant business while they pay you. It’s an excellent way to learn, save your money, and plan what you’d like your restaurant to be. There’s so many variables for a restaurant to succeed and giving yourself the opportunity to learn without the stress of holding up a business at the same time is smart. Then you’ll be able to plan and execute a successful restaurant. Wishing you the best!