How to Start, Run, & Grow a Successful Restaurant Business: A Lean Startup Guide

The question of "Why" is the most important one to answer before setting up any business - you need to believe in what you are doing, because it will take a large sum of money, and a lot of your time. "How To Start Run & Grow a Successful Restaurant Business" does a great job of explaining that your reason why needs to be something other than "money" - it will take quite a while for most restaurants to make much profit. I don't know much about restaurants, other than loving to eat, and visit them, but I do know the importance of doing the research before you go out and buy or build a place of your own. There are some great suggestions for alternative types of restaurant, finding the best location, and so on. There are great tips on writing a business plan (very important, especially if you need to get additional funding) that includes details of what your cash flow and profit are likely to be. It even includes suggestions for menus. It seems to me that while all the details will have to differ in your situation, you have no excuses for not covering everything if you follow the outline this book gives you. This book should be essential reading for everyone seeking funding for a restaurant, and for all those who end up on the TV shows that try and 'rescue' a place that was set up by people without doing the planning before jumping in. If you even only have a dream of owning a restaurant, read this book. It will either convince you that you can be a successful restaurateur, or advise you to stick to your day job.

This book offered main ways to understand and and develop your restaurant concept. There were detailed definitions and explanations of types of restaurants as well as ways to buy and lease your own business. There were also alternatives which were very helpful when considering lower cost ways to realize a restaurant dream. The author writes clearly and concisely and with a very easy to follow format. I obtained the digital format, which makes it easy to follow on my computer and take notes as well. If you're starting out, and want a great read to get you going on your dream, or simply want to know exactly what you need without fluff and filler, then this book may work for you!

I'm afraid that this book just didn't do it for me. The concepts are very elementary, and most of what you can learn can be discovered easily with reading a few articles on-line. The chapter on startup costs are very misleading, as so much depends on the type of restaurant you are building, how much a landlord might pay for tenant improvements, and the square footage involved, among a great many other things.I do advising for hundreds of businesses a year, so I am always seeking new perspectives, but this book didn't really give me any. I can also say that some of the information is very incomplete or in some cases just plain wrong.Here's an example, for context. One of the pieces of marketing advice is to "Use Social", which the author says is a must "Do or Die!", and then spends 3 short paragraphs on the topic, none of which is strategic or constructive. The advice is basically 'use Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram". If that's the level of advice you are looking for, then maybe this book will help you.My teeth are still grinding at the formatting, typos, grammar errors, and other issues throughout the book. I would recommend the author hire an editor to help out with at least that. I think I found an average of one error per page, which was distracting.If there's a pro here, the book is short. Even though it has ~220 pages, it is in LARGE font, double-spaced. It's a very easy read, I'll give it that.It's called a 'Lean Startup Guide', but the concepts of the Lean Startup are 100% ignored. I suspect the author isn't familiar with what that terminology means.Disappointing...

“How to Start, Run & Grow a Successful Restaurant Business” by author Tim Hoffman is a great guide for anyone even considering opening their own restaurant. There are tips throughout the book that will definitely save you money and headaches when entering the difficult foodservice world. Mr. Hoffman does a good job outlining the proper steps to take when making the significant time and financial commitment necessary to succeed.Opening a new restaurant or improving an already operating one will require hard work and fresh ideas; Why reinvent the wheel, (or the wok?). Be sure to have your eyes wide open when you begin your business. Read this book.

Doing research on starting a new hospitality business, ordered a few books to get me started, including this one - which after pursuing for ten minutes when straight into the trash. My favorite bit, the section on Fine Dining, the author made a point of how important it is to have champagne on the menu… as if someone might be shocked at his insistence on its importance (well there was the CA ban on it (oh wait, that’s foie gras)) … and then posted a Fine Dining menu, which must have come from a failed establishment circa 1982. Even in the typeface in this book is a joke. They change from chapter to chapter somehow. A hack job all around.

This was a really good book. My name is justin and I normally don't read books,but I'm currently going to school for culinary arts and I've been in the business since I was 16 and I'm 19. The reason I bought this book is to give me some insight on how to run my own restaurant one day and it helped me figure out what to do with my menu.Ps. Thanks Tim Hoffman

I have been considering entrpenuership in the form of a restraunt business on and off for years but honestly know next to nothing to even begin. This book was an excellent guide, very informative and I feel like I know what to expect. It really goes into detail and breaks down every facet of the industry for you in a way that you can understand. I was pleasantly surpised because I didnt expect it to be so in depth. Would definitly recommend to anyone opening or thinking about opening a restraunt business.

Covers basic topics - it's a good starter but no where close to giving you all the tips required to run a successful business.

Alright but filled with anecdotal stuff, a bit out of date at this point, and very much focused towards either higher end or franchise.