Restaurant Success by the Numbers, Second Edition: A Money-Guy's Guide to Opening the Next New Hot Spot

I was somewhat skeptical about this book. I have been reading restaurant start-up books in researching whether I might write one myself. After reading this book I concluded that there would be little need as this book covers the "bases" so well. Very impressed!! i founded On The border Cafes, Texas Land and Cattle steakhouse, Border Stop, and a couple of others, all in Dallas. I never managed a restaurant ( I don't think I would have been successful) and came from a background of engineering and law. But the creativity, innovation and satisfaction of seeing people enjoy way outweighed anything else. This book really hits the essentials in far greater detail than I expected. I will give it to those wanting to open a restaurant and seeking advise ( and often money). I would take a different twist on some of the things the author covers. He stresses the ESP-essential selling proposition many times. I would put a different, broader twist-one must develop a Unique Customer Experience, more like a successful play where all of the elements contribute to a Unique Customer Experience centered around the food and focused on consistency. the UCEx must be achieved for every customer, every visit. Not easy. One must understand that a restaurant operation is a mix of Flows and systems - this from engineering. Each player must understand his system, its importance and focus on measuring it and improving it. The right people take much satisfaction in providing the UCEx. Our opening motto was"Be the Best, Have Fun and make a lot of Money". To me that is the essence of restaurant success. So while I might have a little different perception, this book is an excellent reading for those considering a restaurant and perhaps more importantly, for those in the business currently. This book took a lot of work. It is exceptional.

Just received and read the book. I think this is a great book, some of the information gets repetitive but I like that about it. Why? Because the author drives home some points by bringing them up again. You sort of follow the journey through some of the mistakes and good fortune he has had. I highly recommend the book for anyone thinking about starting a food service business of any kind. The biggest thing that I took away from this book is that (as someone that does not own a restaurant) I may be caught up in the allure of owning a restaurant more than the work and expense my dream will entail. I am a hard worker and succeed when I put my mind to it. Hopefully I get past the self doubt, open my dream place and look back at this review and laugh at myself. This book lays out the cost side in a very realistic way. A lot of small business owners (other than restaurants too) could really benefit from this knowledge.

As a data-driven kind of person, I found this book insightful. Why would you pay $8 for a burger? Depends on the ingredients, the area, the clientele... how the price of steak per ounce increases due to yield (64oz of usable steak from 80oz). Written by a CPA who also started a restaurant, Roger Fields gives tips on how to organize your business and how to avoid pitfalls that most startups fall into.

A fascinating sneak peak into how to run a restaurant, all from how to build your the menu, to how to design your space, lighting, hiring and much more. Some great rules of thumb to follow and good tips for conducting the rights research and business plan before starting up.

I am in the process of buying a restaurant. Looking for useful information on how to run one and make it profitable, I came upon this title. It is very, very good. It has a lot of facts and figures, and I love the fact that it has REFERENCES to several journals and trade publications so that you not only can supplement the Information, but also verify it and validate it. Easy to read, it had just about everything I needed and some things I did not know I needed. Not a definitive book, you still have to look for more inormation, but a great place to start. Written in an easy language, it helps guide you through the how's and why's of the restaurant business. Not a chef book, a business book, it concentrates on giving you a starting point and good tips (no pun intended) on how to setup and run such diverse businesses as a fast food truck to a sit down luxury dining restaurant. Of course, it does so by going deep in the common areas and lightly on the specific and specialized in the particular areas. All in all a highly useful book. Highly recommended.

If you're thinking about opening a restaurant, this is a great resource to read to shape your thinking and planning. Roger goes into great detail about all the ins-and-outs of the restaurant business and provides some perspective about the many considerations someone must make before opening a restaurant. As Roger repeatedly addresses, opening a restaurant is too broad of a topic to give exact numbers for your situation, but he will give you a good sense of what you might (or might not) need and walk you through how to run the numbers for your idea. The tone throughout the book is zealous and continually references the author's two profitable restaurant ventures in NYC and other success stories in NYC and San Francisco. It would have been nice to hear stories of failure and why they happen or learn how restaurants outside of major urban centers thrive. Overall, it's a very informative, entertaining, and helpful book that you should read if you're an aspiring restaurant owner.

This is the first book I purchased when researching whether I wanted to open the restaurant I've conceived in my mind for a number of years. This guy really covers about as much as you can cover in three hundred pages. I've been a CPA, myself, for 25 years and I've owned more than a dozen businesses besides my CPA firm during those years. I learned several things that are specific to the restaurant business and I KNOW that if you have never owned your own business before this will be an invaluable tool. He gives you the good, bad and the ugly. He doesn't try to sway you toward opening a restaurant, nor does he advise against it. He just tells you many of the pitfalls of poor planning and poor management that could cost you tons of money in the short and long-term. I highly recommend this book if you are even thinking of opening a restaurant of any concept!

This book does an excellent job at covering the basics. It shows the reader what a P&L looks like and how to navigate basic numbers, but I wouldn't say it exactly shows an in depth analysis of numbers from real life examples like the book advertises. Nonetheless, a very good book for making individuals who haven't been exposed to the business before. It posed questions that I had never thought about it and it provided great references for what fiscal targets would be.

The book is no doubt very helpful but the paper quality is poor. Anyhow good for the price .

Great book , interesting in the subject and for consulting. I like that the company send me another copy because the first one package got lost.

A great read for beginners

Excellent reading.! If you want to open a business in the US

This book is amazing and I'm a head chef but I'm still learning about costing and running a business, the book is a must read and it's eazy to understand. Thank you Roger you are a blessing for us.