What are your opinions on opening a restaurant?

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Hi everyone. I've been unemployed all my life and receive disability benefits. Working with other people is something I'm pretty bad at because I usually offend other people very easily and thus quickly make enemies and communication breaks down.

But that's why I'm considering opening my own restaurant. Over the past few months I've developed an obsession about food, I now almost always try something new whenever I can and know quite a lot of cooking styles and recipes now. The only trouble is I don't actually know how to cook much myself. But I would like to be the manager if possible because I would eventually like to build a large chain of restaurants too.

How would I be best to learn? And do you think there is a market for this kind of vegetarian restaurant in the UK?

My plan is:

- A few meals cooked in the French style. One of baby potatoes, mushrooms, carrots and green beans cooked in a cream and white wine sauce. One that somehow incorporates the braising style of cooking. One that is a salad with a yogurt dressing and some lightly baked walnuts.

- A few meals cooked in the Indian style. Except a little different. Boiled brown rice, no naan bread, no creamy extras, low in sugar, a tomato-based mildly spicy sauce with lentils and appropriate vegetables.

- A few meals cooked in the Italian style. Pasta, tomato sauce, herbs, finely chopped veg and creamy cheeses on top.

- A few meals cooked in the German style. Vegetable burgers made of compressed lentils and chili, with tomato, lettuce and a seeded bun - served with around 8 small butter-fried french fries. A fried breakfast with fried tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, green beans and egg all fried in olive oil. Served with toasted Vollkornbrot (wholegrain) bread with melted Wensleydale cheese on top.

- A Portuguese wrap with piri-piri sauce, chili mayonnaise and baked veg and cheese.

The average meal price would be £5-6. The restaurant would also be open late at night selling alcoholic drinks and a limited menu of inexpensive, simple dishes like cheese on toast, a bowl of marinated olives, fried assorted nuts with a fried egg, and spicy rice with soy sauce.

There would be a TV screen in the corner of the restaurant screwed up high on the wall. It would play classic films from 1999 backwards, predominantly of the comedy genre. All waiters and cashiers would wear simple, elegant uniforms of branded T-shirts and aprons and would get to choose which lower body garments and footwear they wear. Coffees and teas would be available at all opening hours too. Staff would be encouraged to never demonstrate impatience with customers or rush them out of the restaurant, even if not eating or drinking, so long as there were enough vacant tables for all customers. Staff would be encouraged to engage in informal banter and dialogue with customers so long as retaining a professional attitude.

I think as a manager you would not only have to deal with your subordinates (waitstaff) but also any customers with a complaint who demanded to speak to the manager. If you have social problems that might not be good. In your visits to restaurants you may have occasionally seen your fellow diners complain to the manager. Would you be ready to deal with them?

I also understand opening a restaurant is very expensive and has a good chance of failing - You could easily lose all the money you put into it. It's a lot of work - if your disability is physical (including low energy) you might have a problem there.

Maybe you could start with some other type of self-employment, depending on your skills. It's great that you want to start your own business.

Sorry if I'm offending you by raining on your parade, but I'm afraid you might be aiming too high. Also, here in the U.S. the economy is down. I've heard its like that most everywhere - people may not be eating out as much as they used to nowadays.

Can you try to get a job in the restaurant industry and watch, biding your time until the economy is better? A dishwasher, if you want to avoid customer contact - since you don't know how to cook. How about getting some education in either cooking or managing a restaurant, while you wait? (If you don't have the money for that, I think a student loan may be easier to come by than a business start-up loan, and paying it back would help show you're a good credit risk for when you do go for a start-up loan.)

Owning a restaurant=hell. Most NT people can't take the stress and long hours, let alone AS people. There are many easier ways to make money that won't make you go bankrupt if you don't succeed in the first year.

I would recommend against opening a restaurant. The failure rate of restaurants is ~90% in the first year.

In addition it is an extremely extroverted career choice. Unless you enjoy people and socializing, it would quickly become unbearable.

go for it dont let anyone disuede u if thats what u wanna do. lifes a learning experience, for me i believe its all about making mistakes falling on my face, and picking my self up and being all the better for the expierence. it sounds like u are into healththy cooking behaviors to a degree ive worked as a organic and natural food kitchen manager heres a secret ,soups, stews ,and bisques they have a unparraleled 700 to 1000 % mark up keep 3catagories veagen- vegetairian- one with meat all organic . ispecialized in international products like bogata potato an chicken, portagi sasage and kale ,german potato hungarian goulashsoup ,burgandy mushroom stew on 3 self service soup wells imade lakewinds organic and natural foods 280thosand my last year there ican tell your very conceptualy organized be the boss delegate find the right people idont believe inluk opertunity favors those with an open mind oomogi

The Rules:

1. Don't let anyone dissuade you from what you want to do.

2. Be prepared to spent a minimum of 16 hours each day that your restaurant is open physically at the restaurant. and a minimum of 8 hours per week away from the restaurant attending to the books, payroll, planning, et cetera.

3. Trust no one to meet the standards you've set. Start with the highest-quality ingredients, kitchen appliances and equipment, cutlery and service, and professional help; and never lower your standards.

4. Trust no one to fulfill your dreams for you. Communicate your dreams in specific terms to all those who work for you, and without resorting to superlatives or "pep talk" language. Tell them exactly the kind of attitude and behavior you expect from them, and that you will tolerate nothing less, and then immediately fire (sack, dismiss, discharge, get rid of ...) the first three people who fail to meet those standards.

5. Develop a no-nonsense, no-compromise attitude to quality and customer service. If this means you acquire a reputation for being a harsh and demanding employer, keep reminding yourself that's it's the customers who pay your bills (not snotty employees), and that satisfied customers come back and pay those bills again.

6. Never go into business with a relative, especially one who must take a subordinate role to you. All relatives will think that they have a "special relationship" with you and that the rules you lay down do not apply to them.

7. Never give away free meals, unless it's to settle a grievance that a customer has with one of your employees, and even then, make an example of that employee. Again, your business serves the customers, it does not serve the hired help, because it's the customers who pay the bills.

8. Everything you do must be done to all legal standards of business, health, and labor management; so hire a lawyer and an accountant, and make them earn your patronage. Just make sure that they operate legally, and that they are not relatives.

Thanks for the replies. Fnord, I appreciate your advice. I think you're right that a no nonsense approach is essential to making a business that is a dream a reality. Before there is fun there has to be hard work.

I am determined if I have a restaurant to make it absolutely of the best quality. With organic ingredients, good cooking methods and no compromises on standards. Thank you for reminding me that ultimately a business has to be built on discipline.

Although it seems a big challenge I think I am far more happy to try to open a restaurant than I would be trying to carve a career for myself of working under other people's rules. As far as I'm concerned, I'm more intelligent than most people and therefore it's logical that I should be in a position of leadership.

But I must plan it well before I begin.

With the way the economy is, I don't think it's a good idea to open hardly any business right now.

Also, franchises are usually a rip off. If you were considering one.

If it's something you want to do, then go for it.

Although you might wait until the economy recovers first.

i used to work as a casual kitchenhand, a few hours here, 3 days there etc, and i worked at a wide variety of places from the pub snack bar (a 1 person operation) to major international hotel kitchens, so i got a really good look at the industry. maybe you should try something similar. also you need to do a food handling and hygiene type course.

I love your menu ideas, it sounds exactly like this great veg restaurant/take away i used to live near. i'm not vegetarian but it was great food reasonably priced and i used to buy a takeway once a week or so.