Starting, Owning and Marketing A Restaurant Blog|Starting and Owning a Restaurant - Construction, Planning, Marketing, Opening and Managing a New Restaurant

In the previous post I mentioned I wanted to get the project moving. However, timing was against me. I was leaving for the Florida keys, the architect was leaving today for a week. The contractor was to call for a meeting yesterday - he didn’t. The attorney was supposed to get language for the lease to the landlord last Wednesday - he didn’t get it done until Friday. Typical, but each day counts.

The architect needs a rough sketch of locations for special electrical connections to incorporate into his drawings for the permit process. He has the list and location of the equipment from previous sketches, but I need to confirm there are no other locations that haven’t been included for the electrical needs.

The goal today will be to intervene with the attorney and landlord to see exactly where they stand. In addition, the contractor and I must get the meeting scheduled at the location. Some fresh ideas came from my brief stint visiting restaurants while traveling last week and I need to discuss those with the contractor. Of course, one of the subjects will be his failure to contact me yesterday. Previously he was almost an hour late to a meeting. This is not a way to start a relationship. I will not chase him around to do his job!

And as usual, my staff and family all have ideas they want to interject into the project that I have to consider. You will find that starting a restaurant becomes a focal point of conversation from everyone around you. You need to keep the building process from diverting attention from other important tasks with existing operations, family attention (like grand kids) and other business requirements. You are juggling a dozen different tasks and demands. That is part of the challenge!

Today’s to do list for the new restaurant:

• Complete lease document wording
• Do electrical drawing
• Contact contractor for meeting
• Get my son up to speed with the project in order to use him for various tasks
• Get alternative hood builder to give quote
• Contact accountant to start shell corporation for new restaurant, if everything is ok on lease wording

We will see what gets transferred to tomorrow’s list!