Jody Pennette - Starting and Running a Restaurant

No one likes a know-it-all. Most of us realize theres no such thinghow could there be? The world is far too complicated for someone to understand everything there is to know. So when you come across a know-it-all, you smile to yourself as they ramble on because you know better.

You understand that the quest for knowledge is a never-ending one, and youre okay with that. You have no desire to know everything, just the next thing. You know what you dont know, youre confident enough to admit it, and youre motivated to do something about it.

At Idiots Guides, we, too, know what we dont know, and we make it our business to find out. We find really smart people who are experts in their fields and then we roll up our sleeves and get to work, asking lots of questions and thinking long and hard about how best to pass along their knowledge to you in the easiest, most-accessible way possible.

After all, thats our promiseto make whatever you want to learn As Easy as It Gets. That means giving you a well-organized design that seamlessly and effortlessly guides you from page to page, topic to topic. It means controlling the pace youre asked to absorb new information not too much at once but just what you need to know right now. It means giving you a clear progression from easy to more difficult. It means giving you more instructional steps wherever necessary to really explain the details. And it means giving you fewer words and more illustrations wherever its better to show rather than tell.

So here you are, at the start of something new. The next chapter in your quest. It can be an intimidating place to be, but youve been here before and so have we. Clear your mind and turn the page. By the end of this book, you wont be a know-it-all, but your world will be a little less complicated than it was before. And well be sure your journey is as easy as it gets.

Mike Sanders
Publisher, Idiots Guides

ALPHA BOOKS

Published by Penguin Random House LLC

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001-283813-September2015

Copyright 2015 by Penguin Random House LLC

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IDIOTS GUIDES and Design are trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC

eISBN: 9781615648535
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2015933124

17 16 15 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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Printed in the United States of America

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Publisher:Mike Sanders

Associate Publisher:Billy Fields

Acquisitions Editor:Janette Lynn

Development Editor:John Etchison

Cover Designer:Laura Merriman

Book Designer:William Thomas

Indexer:Tonya Heard

Layout:Ayanna Lacey, Brian Massey

Proofreader:Claudia Bell

PRODUCTION, LONDON:

Digital Producer:Alex Valizadeh

Senior Digital Producer:Miguel Cunha

DIGITAL OPERATIONS, DELHI:

Head of Digital Operations:Manjari Hooda

Producer:Rahul Kumar

Assistant Editor:Etika Kapil

DTP Designer:Manish Bhatt

Operations Assistant:Tauhid Nasir

To my grandparents who taught me that sharing dinner with family is about so much more than good food.
Jody Pennette

Introduction

If theres one thing we want this book to do, its to help readers realize the left-brain/right-brain qualities of owning and managing a restaurant. Yes, a restaurant needs to be a creative enterprisebut, it also must be managed as a business. This book will teach you how to balance these two aspects to build a successfuland fun!restaurant.

Jody began his career managing restaurants, and then moved on to owning them. This grounded him in the hard work thats required, and the fragile nature of success in this industry. In the restaurant business, death comes from a thousand little cuts, not one massive blow. In this book, well show you how to stack up enough positives to be financially successful, and to get the most enjoyment from the work it takes to get there. Youll learn to distill creative thinking into an experience that is executed by an ensemble of fun peers. Restaurants are families, which helps balance the hard work and hours required to enjoy sustainable success. Building a strong, close team is essential.