Thread: What is the formula for a good restaurant......

Originally Posted by Ausfree

However,...............being an ex-smallbusiness owner in the retail photographic trade the advice I can give is, be prepared for long hours and even when you are home, your mind will be on the business. You mentioned 50/70 hours in your current job was part of the reason you are getting the irrits, be prepared for more hours as a self employed person.
My 02c worth anyway.

Thanks for the input. I think people have a different attitude to putting in the hours when they work for themselves. I am a little resentfull at being asked to work extensive hours for an employer when the typical reward is a pat on the pack or often alcohol (this is very typical in the consulting world....take the team out for beers and food, put the Amex card behind the bar....get them to let their hair down...) When you are investing in your own venture, and your own future, then it becomes lifestyle rather than work. Ultimately you are aiming to reach that "critical mass" stage, when you can afford (and trust) someone to be left in charge whilst you take a break, but that could take 2, 3....4 years. However you 'live your dream' in the start-up phase (and hopefully a lot longer) so in my book, putting in the hours for my own venture is not so much of an issue.

What are everyon's view on the following;

1. Mixed menu's? Is it possible to serve dishes of mixed ethnic origins on the same menu? Do people take the view that you should pick a theme and stick to it or do mixed menu's work?. My personal view is that I am distrusting of the "token curry" on a non-Asian menu as I feel it could be a compromised dish.

2. Themed restaurants versus a generic style? Are themes polarising therefore potentially limiting the take up? Does a particuler theme have a limited lifespan in one particular location? Is it possible to successfully re-theme occaisionally to re-invigorate interest?

Noted your comments above Clubagreenie, thanks, but there are 'Themes', and there are 'Themes' i.e. Hooters might be a big no-no to many, wheras a Mexican Tapas bar is a theme....., but Autralasian is more generic (I think....?)

What about 'cook your own' dishes?

Buying your raw steaks and throwing them on the BBQ grill to cook yourself seems a bit 'old hat' and a little distracting to the dining out experience, but I quite enjoy the 'cook at the table' routine with a Nabe pan or hotpot (does anyone do Fondue's anymore....)

And mixed price menu's.............

I love the idea of a childrens menu with cheap, simple meals for two reasons; a) I am a bit of a cheap-skate and like to keep costs down when dining out, and b) kids often don't eat much, and their short attention span means that they are up and gone to the play area (if there is one) after 15 minutes leaving half the food uneaten.

But does having premium priced dishes alongside budget dishes give the impression of price gouging....can/should a restaurant produce budget dishes and premium dishes on one menu?

Originally Posted by isuzurover

You don't mention where you are located?

Sydney Upper North shore, but that is a big area and actual location is yet to be establised. The Berowra Waters Inn and Peates Bite have been particular favourites of mine over the years, however my ambitions are a little less at the moment.

Originally Posted by bigdog

Sydney Upper North shore, but that is a big area and actual location is yet to be establised. The Berowra Waters Inn and Peates Bite have been particular favourites of mine over the years, however my ambitions are a little less at the moment.

I went through something similar a few years back, spent months and months and lots of energy coming up with ideas, but in the end getting the start up capital together became all too hard.

My view is that the location does determine a fair number of factors in what your place will be like. Just opening a place that has your view of how the world should be will in no way be a guarantee of success. Round down your location first. Where works from a personal perspective, getting to and from the place every day for you, and your customers. Getting produce there, availability of staff, what kind of demographic lives in that area.

Ultimately though, what most people want is value rather than a fine dining experience.

Service Service Service!!!

A few weeks ago I was in Brisbane for some Management meetings and they were paying for the dinners for the 4 nights and we went to 4 different places for dinner. First place food was ok but the wait staff were very good, knew their menus what drinks they had in the fridge etc. The next night went to another place great food, but would never go back there again. The staff were the worst, didn't know anything and it wasn't just our table as our group took up 4 tables with 6 at each table. The worst thing was one of the guys had a coke in a glass, the glass had a large crack in it so he asked for another one the waiter just poured the coke from the cracked glass into a new one there could have been small bits of glass in the bottom of that glass, we just all sat there in shock at what we saw.

So train your staff on what to do, what you have on the menu, and drinks in the fridge. Good service comes from well trained staff.

A couple of things I dont like are:
1. When it is so noisy you have to yell to make yourself heard across the table
2. There is only crap cheap fried stuff for the children meals