So You Want to Open a Restaurant

Dear Pros,

You've got Kat this week. Sometimes, after an exceptional restaurant meal, I'll allow myself a little digestif in the form of a fantasy. What would it be like to open a place of my own? Obviously I wouldn't be doing the cooking (I'm a very solid home cook, but I'm not gonna kid myself that I could possibly keep up with the pace of a professional kitchen), but I can go hog wild on envisioning the vibes.

I'm usually thinking about an elegant-cozy-quirky neighborhood ethos like Marco Canora's Hearth in Manhattan's East Village, or 2025 F&W Best New Chef Telly Justice's HAGS just a few blocks away. Or I'm pining for some of my favorite shuttered places like 1996 F&W Best New Chef Scott Bryan's Indigo (where I had my 27th birthday dinner, and left feeling high as a kite from a rabbit entrée and a few sips of a port that was older than I was at the time) and Gabrielle Hamilton's Prune (which had a tongue and gremolata omelet with a side of bone marrow on the brunch menu that was so mindbendingly special, it inspired one of my tattoos). What magic would it be to spend my working hours marinating in one of those finely-tuned, self-contained worlds, bringing bliss to everyone who walks in the door?

And then I snap back to reality. Y'all are the experts here and I'm so grateful to enjoy the fruits of your labor, but I'm friends with enough restaurant workers and owners to know that I'm not cut out for the job.

This was driven home for me this week as I perused the Food & Wine archives and ran across a 1995 quiz by Jim Lark, called "So You Want to Own a Restaurant." By that point, the former attorney and real estate developer and his wife, Mary, a renowned potter, had owned their West Bloomfield, Michigan, venture, The Lark, for 14 years, and he drew on his "painful and humorous" experience as a fledgling restaurateur to share some hard-won truths for people who might be considering that path.

The 35 questions included multiple-choice queries such as:

If I have to fire someone, it bothers me:
A. A lot
B. Very little

On the average, I sleep:
A. Less than 7 hours a day
B. More than 7 hours a day

I assume my restaurant will be in the black after:
A. A few weeks
B. A few months
C. A year or two

If I invested in a restaurant, I would:
A. Cut back on present activities to devote part of my time to the restaurant
B. Maintain present activities and manage the restaurant as an investment
C. Devote full time to the restaurant

I received a 77 out of a possible 110. Jim and Mary remained at the helm of The Lark ("Michigan's most-awarded restaurant," according to the Detroit Free Press) until 2015 when they turned 85 and 77, respectively, and put the restaurant up for sale, so I assume his assessment of the everyday reality was accurate.

So Pros, what I'd love to know from you: What do you wish someone had told you when you were opening your first restaurant? Even if you have previously been in the industry as a chef or hospitality worker, was there a secret struggle to ownership that you wish had been revealed to you earlier? If you were writing this quiz yourself, what would the questions be?

I'd love to hear from you via email or DM, or heck — walk up to me at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen (industry-only Trade passes just went on sale this week) and tell me yourself. This kind of shared knowledge and solidarity is what's kept the flame of restaurant life alive for all these decades, and it's a pleasure and a privilege to get to help you all keep it blazing.

Your fan,
Kat