5 Qualities you need to have to own a restaurant/cafe/bakery/coffee shop etc

You're just going to have to trust me on this one. I know what I'm talking about.

1. Ability to read people:

You will use this skill to hire staff, work with staff, serve guests and deal with salespeople. You will absolutely need to use more than your intuition to know when people are genuine, when people are shady, when they are hurting and when they need your help. Every person you encounter through your business has baggage and something weighing on their shoulders and has walked a unique path. Are you ready to deal with 100 personalities, histories and issues every day? What do you do when tragedy, mental illness, disability, anger or a drug abuser walks through your door? 

2. Tolerance:

People will try to take advantage of your business, your good nature, your staff and your facilities. People will ALWAYS want something from you and offer very little in return. Staff will make mistakes. You need to know when to pick your battles and when to let things slide. You will need to remind yourself everyday that the world is not a perfect place and not everything will meet your needs or expectations. 

3. Foresight: 

You will need to have the right amount of stock, the right amount of staff and the right amount of guests to balance your business and keep the "train on the track". You will need to predict weather, market conditions, twists and turns of your local economy, trends and more.  Basically, you need to be able to see through the dark tunnel, around the curve and up the hill. Then, you need to plan accordingly. 

4. Marketing Savvy: 

You need to be well versed in social media. You need to know where, when and how to get the most bang for your advertising dollar. Who is your market? What will they buy and when? How can you most effectively talk to them? Are you prepared to talk to your guests through social media? What about when things go wrong? Or what if, you're a marketing genius and the town is a buzz for your new cookie store.... but then you can't provide or produce the cookies?  Then what? #fail

5. Stamina: 

I can not emphasize this one enough. Owning a service business of any kind is not 9-5pm or solely Monday through Friday anymore. Restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries etc have to be open when people need the product or service. In the case of a restaurant, it's day and night, 7 days-a-week and including holidays. As the owner/operator you will be on duty around the clock. Whether it's a 3AM security alarm,  forfeiting your days off to cover the absences of others, or sourcing equipment at 6AM on a Friday so you can function through a weekend.... it the kind of "normal" activities that go into operating a food service business.  A 60 hour work week... well, that's a slow, easy week. 

There are of course, several other qualities a successful restaurant owner should embody but these are my 5 non-negotiable traits. If you don't have these qualities in spades, find another dream job/career path. Seriously.

Sure, it's good if you know how to cook or read a recipe.... but trust me, owning a restaurant is not a glamourous 30 minute made-for-tv production of sipping wine and collecting herbs from the garden to stir into a pot of made-from-scratch spaghetti sauce using a recipe that your great-grandmother wrote in her diary during the Great Depression.  It's a serious business, requiring a serious, unwavering commitment to success. And in the year 2013... taxes, social media, employees, health regulations, telemarketers, salespeople and mopping the floor will all have more of your daily focus and energy than any recipe ever will. 

And if you don't know all of this (AND MORE) going into it, one day you will be sobbing on a couch telling your closest friends that you don't know what on earth happened.... all you ever wanted to do was bake your grandmother's cookies and serve tea and make people happy. 

And this is why you need a solid business plan. And a mirror. 

Seriously. 

So you want to own a restaurant?

I was driving home a babysitter the other day, and making small talk with the young lady I'd barely known two days. (Ok, let's stop for a second before I get a lecture for leaving my kids with a near stranger. Let me assure you that the young lady's references were rock solid. Most of my close friends are high school teachers. Believe me, that's invaluable when choosing a potential sitter. High school teachers KNOW the kids in their classes and give detailed references.)

Forgive the sidetrack. I'm actually going somewhere with this story.

So, in polite exchange, I ask the girl if she's taking any classes that she really likes or has she identified a direction for a her future career.

"Oh yes!" she gushes.  "I've been really excited to meet you. I know you own a restaurant and that's kind of like what I want to do, you know, for my career and stuff. "

Then came her barrage of questions. "What kind of recipes do you use? Where can I get some good knives? What does a good knife cost?  How much money do you make? How many staff do you have?" And she went on and on.

I was glad to answer questions, though already exhausted from my day. I do feel that it's important to inspire youth to consider Culinary Arts as a career path. So many of us, in the business, are exhausted though and our own enthusiasm has disappeared. It's a fairly short lived career for some. It's not something the body can keep up with 7 days a week for a decade or more. And if you do have the personal stamina, sometimes the finances and business circumstances force you out before your time.

I encouraged her to consider evening classes through the local college, to get a glimpse of what life could be like. I also suggested a part time job in a restaurant. I asked her what in particular did she see herself doing... front of the house manager, chef, pastry chef, restaurant designer, waitress, or what?

She replied, as only a dreamy eyed teen could... "Oh actually, I already know." She said. "I'm going to own a Bed and Breakfast, that is also a cafe and tea room. But we'll be kind of like a youth hostel too and I hope to make wedding cakes for people on the side and do gourmet dog biscuits."

"Wow. Good for you." I said. "Sounds great! Better work out a detailed business plan and start saving your money. That's going to be a lot of work."

Lucky for me, I had her safely at her house by that point. Goodnight, I told her and thanks again.

I have to admire people who dream big. That's the kind of things great stories are made of. Some people will do it, you know. Others have their dreams shattered all too young by other circumstances. Others still, will take a life path dictated by others and put their own dreams aside.  I'm glad that night I bit my tongue and did not let out the jaded beast within me - the beast that says "you're kidding yourself, kid. Life will eat you up and spit you out. There's no way you're going to do it all."

I don't want to be the one who tells people they can't, especially young people. There's a whole big world out there that people battle daily. Everyone overcomes something in an effort to be happy. If it's not drama, disease, natural disasters or peer bullying, the economics of life and the walls that surround you will get in your way. I wish people would help each other more. Say, "go for it, or let me help" rather than "you can't or you're kidding, right?"

Nothing today is handed to anyone on a silver platter. Well, except for high tea at the Empress. But I think at least we can support each other's dreams. Dreams still cost nothing. Dreams are still meant for everyone.