hi my name is Chris I have been lucky enough to own a couple of restaurant's in the past. some advice first of all if you have no experience in the business other then as a customer. then you might want to surround yourself with a proven GM. Also right now food cost is on the rise. this is cutting profit margins in a large way. I mean you can only charge so much for the food. also there is the problem with DUI'S right now. no matter what type of restaurant you intend to run. it is a good idea to have a van driver to bring people to your restaurant. also believe it or not no matter how nice the restaurant is, delivery can be a big profit for you. the problem with DUI arrests right now stops people from drinking more which is where you will make your biggest profit since food cost is so high. trust me a van driver getting paid 8 or 9 dollars an hour and bringing people to your restaurant for free will go a long way. also please remember that you will have to pay someone well enough to watch your money when you are not there. to keep it simple a bottle of absolute costs you around 20 bucks, you get approximately 22 shots out of the bottle this accounts for spillage and over pouring by your bartender each shot costs you about 91 cents. if you are charging an average of 4 or 5 dollars per shot then the bottle is actually worth at 4 dollars a shot 88 dollars. also all drinks that are complimentary should be put on a comp check and rung in. I mean your bartender is going to give away drinks weather you let him or not lol. so better to let him know what he or she is allowed to do ahead of time. I used to tell them that I would trust their judgment as long as they asked me first and allowed to extent the curiously myself. I always thought it looked better if the owner wanted to buy the customer a drink rather then just the bartender. also please keep a dummy bottle behind the bar. the dummy bottle is a bottle that is filled with water like absolute or a non alcoholic wine. customers are going to want to buy you a drink constantly. just tell them politely that it is nice of them to offer but it is your place and you do not like to charge your customers for your own drinks. tell them that you will be glad to have a drink with them though and have your bartender either pour you a shot from the absolute bottle that has water in it or the non alcoholic wine. otherwise you might find yourself a bit buzzed by the end of the night lol. always remember location, location, location. this is so, so important. the best case scenario Wawa always scouts out their locations for a year or two before they actually ever open. there is another big one that has killed many restaurants make sure you check what kind of construction work to the streets or the sidewalks is going to be going on within the next year. most of these things are decided at least a year in advance. I have seen restaurants open before and two months later the sidewalks were torn up in front of the restaurant and they lost all their money. well sorry if this long winded. I can only tell you one thing this is a business where you will have to be at it from about 8 or 9 in the morning until anywhere from 2 to 4 in the morning. you have to really love this business to be in it and if you have never been in it before, well you are in for a rude awakening. all in all it can be fun but it is without a doubt the toughest businesses to be in. more restaurants fail in the united states then any other kind of business. you might want to just open a bartending school up, low in big return

I have had a lot of experience in the food and bar business many years while young. Watch the Food Channel. I think a bar with only French food will not do well. How about a French Fusion ? See I gave you a cool name. Do something different and serve international foods that cater to a bar like tapas and others. Be different from others near you. If other dining places are close by you want simple and tasty and nothing complicated. You need to cater to the public with good food and service. I hope I helped and wish you the best.

Better take a few business courses and a restaurant management course or two. One of the hardest businesses to make a success of is a restaurant. The failure rate of new restaurants is extremely high.

An estimated 57% to 59% of new restaurants fail in first 3 years. About 80% fail within 5 years. Know why? People get into the business because they love wine, food etc but don't have a clue how to keep costs down, how to market their business, they failed to do proper market research on the location and how to manage kitchen/front of house staff. Passion is a good start. You better have a lot more to back it up.

Start researching now http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/7338... and learn how to avoid the pitfalls.

http://www.hvs.com/article/3153/why-new-...

I am considering opening a French restaurant and wine bar in the Northern New Jersey area. I have no experience in the business, but I am passionate about wine, food, and French culture, and have excellent people skills. I would just like to hear some owners opinions on whether owning a restaurant is a fulfilling enterprise.