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Hello chefs, you're listening to
chefs Pasa podcast. 

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On today's episode, we're going 
to talk about the critical path.

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You need to take when opening up
a restaurant. 

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Stay tuned. 
So before we begin I'm going to 

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give you an update which I don't
have a major update because I'm 

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actually recording this podcast 
earlier than I normally would 

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because I'm doing some traveling
going around doing some public 

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speaking events. 
And I'm not going to have time 

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to record. 
So I'm recording this 

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preemptively. 
But one thing I could tell you 

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that if you want to follow along
in the things that that I'm up 

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to, if you want to get some 
weekly, inspirational leadership

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tips, Chef mindset, weekly 
chefs. 

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A advice and links to the 
podcast and other things that I 

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have working signed up for the 
chef's, PSA newsletter. 

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You could go to Chef space, 
a.com scroll to the bottom of 

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the page and there's a 
newsletter sign up there. 

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It's a Weekly Newsletter that I 
send out. 

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It's a good way to keep in touch
with me. 

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If, for whatever reason, chefs, 
PSA gets banned on Instagram. 

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Obviously, you could find me 
here, and if I ever do get 

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banned on Instagram, for 
whatever reason, I'm sure I will

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let you know here on the podcast
anyway, today's episode is going

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to be about Go path to open it 
up a restaurant. 

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So I should probably say my 
experience with opening 

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restaurants, I've opened up. 
I think five restaurants 

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independent restaurants total 
not always as a chef partner. 

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Other times, it was as a 
consultant. 

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I've also opened up probably 20 
restaurants within a hotel group

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and as a corporate Chef 
traveling and and opening up 

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hotels. 
I've opened up hotels and I've 

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opened up restaurants within 
hotels and then, lastly, I would

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say that I've done only once in 
my career, but I have done a 

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merger and acquisition with a 
hotel group where we'd gone in 

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and rebranded a hotel and took 
over. 

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So I do have experience with 
openings. 

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However, I can't sit here and 
say I am the foremost authority 

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when it comes to openings, but I
have more experience than a lot 

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of people. 
Now, granted, if Michael Mina, 

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was doing a podcast on how to 
open up a restaurant, Grunts 

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then obviously you listen to 
that one but if you don't have 

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anywhere to start I've opened up
several. 

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Whether we're talking inside 
hotels or whether we're talking 

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out on the street, I could give 
you a good starting point and 

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really what this podcast is 
going to be about this, given 

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you a critical path. 
So, so I think the first thing 

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that everyone needs to get 
familiar with is the term 

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critical path. 
This is something that I'm going

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to use throughout this podcast 
and if you're not familiar with 

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it, here's what it is. 
Basically, in a nutshell, now 

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this isn't the official 
dictionary term but Whenever you

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have to complete something, 
there's an order of steps that 

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need to be taken to complete 
something from start to finish. 

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So starting with step one all 
the way through, you know, step 

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10 and a critical path. 
Is that sequence from one, two, 

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three, four, five, all the way 
up to 10 of the steps that you 

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need to take in order to 
complete the specific task. 

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So it's called a critical path 
because clearly these things on 

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the path are critical, they are 
critical to get to the next step

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in their critical for the 
completion of the project. 

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So This is this is just a simple
term and that's a that's a very 

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simple way to explain it, but 
that's what a critical path is. 

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And like, all things that need 
to be accomplished. 

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Whether you're writing a book, 
you're starting a podcast or 

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you're opening up a restaurant. 
You need to have a critical path

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to stay on track to stay 
organized and to know what you 

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need to do, step by step, by 
step in order to get there. 

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So that's what a critical path 
is. 

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Now when it comes to opening 
restaurants, granted, I don't 

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know where you live. 
And I know that my audience is 

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global but it's predominantly. 
In North America. 

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So the critical path that I'm 
going to give you is going to be

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geared towards the United States
in North America. 

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If you were opening up a 
restaurant in the u.s., what 

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would that look like? 
And first and foremost, I think 

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that what people need to 
understand is if you're want to 

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open up a restaurant, need to 
develop a business plan. 

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You can have an outline of what 
your restaurant concept is going

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to look like who's the target 
market? 

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Who's your competition? 
What's your marketing strategy? 

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What is your structure? 
Look like, what type of Cuisine 

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are you going to serve? 
And are you proficient in? 

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Types of Cuisines. 
Do you have funding write? 

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All these things need to start 
going through your mind. 

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So the first thing is to develop
a business plan. 

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And there's resources online, 
you could Google business plans,

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or you could just honestly could
use aii these days to help you 

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create your business plan, but 
step one, you need to have a 

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business plan and then from 
business plan, that would be 

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step one in the critical path. 
The Next Step would be to raise 

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capital, and I think raising 
capital is something that I 

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think shocks a lot of people. 
If you've never opened up a 

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restaurant, how expensive Civ. 
This can be. 

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I know a lot of young chefs 
sometimes. 

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Go to culinary school in there. 
Like, why are you going to 

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culinary school is like I want 
to open up my own restaurant? 

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It's like, great. 
Do you know how much that costs 

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and do you have investors and do
you know how to get investors? 

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Like, it's not as simple as just
waving your magic wand and 

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walking into the bank and 
they're going to give you money,

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it doesn't work that way. 
So open it up. 

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A restaurant can be extremely 
expensive. 

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Now, here's a little side 
tangent. 

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Story years ago, I don't know, 
let's for the sake of 

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conversation, like, 15 years 
ago, someone had reached out to 

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me because Is it was hot shit as
a chef and I was on to come up 

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and they asked me if I wanted to
come in and they were a are 

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basically a real estate group 
and they wanted to talk to me 

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about opening up a restaurant. 
So I was super excited because 

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you know, it was I was a chef 
but I wasn't a chef owner so I 

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went in and I was like great. 
These people want to invest in 

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me and we sat down and they 
started talking to me about what

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kind of ideas. 
I had to open up restaurants and

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a lot of ideas that like I want 
to do this, then the other 

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they're like great location. 
And so, you know, I basically 

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had a business This plan or at 
least or at least a concept in 

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mind of what I wanted the 
restaurant to look like. 

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And I pretty much thought of 
everything except the finances 

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and then they said to me, they 
said great, how much money do 

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you have? 
I so hot. 

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I don't have any money and 
they're like, oh, you don't what

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do you mean? 
You don't have any money? 

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I was like, yeah, I don't have 
any money. 

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I thought that's why you guys 
were calling me. 

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That you guys have where the, 
where the money and the backers 

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are like, no, no, go get some 
money. 

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So we get started. 
So we get some loans going as 

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well. 
How much money do I need? 

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They're like, I don't know, can 
you raise like a hundred and 

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fifty thousand dollars? 
And I just like, Okay. 

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So I mean it was basically over 
at that point I think I had like

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a hundred dollars in the bank at
the time. 

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Like how am I going to raise a 
hundred fifty thousand dollars 

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when we have like a hundred 
dollars in the bank. 

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Anyway, long story short is, 
it's expensive to open 

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restaurants and I think a lot of
people don't realize how 

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expensive it can be. 
So I'll give you some ranges 

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when it comes to opening 
restaurants. 

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Now this is not exact but 
usually a small Independent 

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Restaurant like food truck or a 
cafe or something like that. 

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You probably looking at anywhere
on the low end. 

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Fifty thousand dollar initial 
startup cost to probably on the 

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higher end. 
Closer to 200,000, this is start

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up cost, right? 
So something a little bit more 

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midsize like a casual or a 
family dining restaurant. 

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You're looking anywhere from two
hundred thousand to about half a

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mil and maybe up to a Mill and 
then if you want something more 

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upscale it's usually over a 
million dollars, right? 

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So usually something that's 
going to be more upscale is 

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going to be over a million 
dollars. 

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Bigger restaurants, obviously 
require more so you could be 

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looking at 5 million. 
All the restaurants anywhere 

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from 1 million to five million 
dollars. 

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So now when you think about that
that changes everything where 

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you can raise that money, do you
have investors right? 

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So looking for investors is a 
part of the process and it's 

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something that I think a lot of 
chefs don't think about until 

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later in their career. 
So if you're the chef of an 

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independent restaurant or 
wherever you're the chef of, you

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should start making 
relationships with your regular 

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Diners, right? 
Because you never know, maybe 

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they're doctors, maybe their 
lawyers, maybe their investors, 

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right? 
People that have money. 

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That may want to invest in you 
later. 

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On also talking with the 
restaurant owner, sometimes 

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restaurant groups will give you 
a part ownership if you are the 

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chef. 
So, something to think about 

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that's that's usually a shorter 
way to find the the funds behind

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it if you don't have funds. 
But the fact of the matter is, 

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it's going to cost a lot of 
money. 

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You got to go to the bank, you 
got to get loans, Etc. 

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So there are options, you know, 
you go everywhere from your 

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personal savings, right? 
So that's, that's always in your

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best interest. 
If you have money, other people 

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other people's money as always, 
better than your own money. 

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My opinion, you get bank loans, 
low interest rate loans, Etc. 

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They may require some sort of 
collateral. 

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Obviously, you need to have good
credit, there are SBA Loans, 

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there's crowdfunding which is 
good, but again, do you have a 

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large enough Network where you 
could get crowdfunding? 

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Which, you know, when you think 
of your raising a million 

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dollars? 
It's gonna be very difficult to 

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crowdfund a million dollars. 
I think, unless you have a 

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really good story behind it, so 
think about all those things I 

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think. 
Raising Capital might be one of 

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the most difficult parts of 
opening up a restaurant. 

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So anyway you go to if you're in
the u.s. you can go to I think 

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sba.gov if you're looking at 
funding and stuff like that. 

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So now once you have funding and
you have a business plan, you 

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need to start looking at 
locations, right? 

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And location is probably one of 
the most critical factors when 

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it comes to open up any 
restaurant. 

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If you're in the right location,
it could be a game-changer, 

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right? 
So you want Prime real estate? 

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That's obviously more expensive,
but you I want to make sure that

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your concept aligns in the style
of food that you have is going 

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to align with the location in 
which your restaurant is. 

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So if you have a high-end 
restaurant, going to be a 

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high-end neighborhood, if you're
in a, maybe you have a food 

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truck, maybe you want to be in a
food truck Park. 

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So make sure that your food and 
your restaurant concept makes 

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sense for the area that you're 
trying to put it in location. 

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Is a huge thing. 
When I was young, I used to 

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think. 
Oh, that space is open and be 

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like a terrible locations. 
Like I could do great food there

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in retrospect would be like, why
would I try and do really 

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interesting food in In, you 
know, in a strip mall, right? 

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It doesn't always work because 
there might not be the crowd to 

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support their. 
So you need to search research, 

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the location, the demographics 
of the area and all that. 

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The next thing is you need to 
figure out what type of legal 

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structure or licensing. 
You're going to have, you need 

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to you to decide what's best for
you. 

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Are you a sole proprietorship? 
Are you a partnership? 

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Are you an LLC or a corporation?
All these things matter you need

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to obtain not just the correct 
legal structure, but you also 

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need to obtain The correct 
licenses that you need. 

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So, let's stick with legal 
structure and by the way, a lot 

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of the things that you could do 
now is like there's a lot of 

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this can be done online like on 
ink file or LegalZoom stuff like

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that. 
You could you could establish 

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your LLC or your partnership. 
They could give you a lot of the

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documents that you need, maybe 
not everything. 

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But Inc file is a good place to 
start. 

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If you're looking for an LLC, 
they don't sponsor the show. 

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I need to make sure I say that 
I've just used them in the past 

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and that's that's why I bring 
them up. 

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However, if Inc file wants to 
sponsor the show feel free to 

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reach out to me. 
What are some of the differences

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if LLC versus partnership? 
So an LLC is basically a limited

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00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:57,600
liability company. 
That gives you limited liability

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protection. 
That's it in a nutshell, then 

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there's a partnership which is 
pretty easy to establish, but 

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partners are personally 
responsible and liable for the 

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business debt. 
And again, this all depends on 

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your local city, or your local 
government. 

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So this is something that you 
need to look at, but while we're

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on the subject of Licensing, 
right? 

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So it's not just your LLC. 
The and things like that, you 

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have to obtain other license and
permit. 

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So you also need to look at your
general business license, your 

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food service licence, your 
liquor license, your sales, tax 

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permit, all these things need to
be factored into your critical 

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path, so make sure that you have
a checklist and you've gone 

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through those. 
And, you know, you could look up

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your State's requirements as 
needed. 

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The next step in the critical 
path is going to be the lease or

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purchase agreement. 
So you need a negotiator sign 

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the lease or purchase agreement 
for the location that you 

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00:11:45,900 --> 00:11:49,200
choose. 
And there's some Current 

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options. 
So obviously, if you're leasing 

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a place, it's lower upfront 
cost, there's flexibility to 

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relocate but a lot of times when
you're leasing you don't have 

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Equity or in. 
You also don't have control over

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the property if you purchase the
building outright or maybe it's 

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a new build, you have much more 
control. 

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There are some tax benefits but 
it's a higher upfront cost. 

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And also you have the 
responsibility of maintenance 

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for the building. 
And everything that goes with 

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that. 
So maybe you're looking at this.

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Also from a real estate 
investment aspect, right? 

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So something to think about 
because your restaurant, like I 

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think if you've ever watched the
movie about the McDonald's guy, 

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he I can't remember a crock, 
right? 

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So I think it was called the 
founder and he shows how he 

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basically turned all the 
McDonald's into. 

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00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:39,100
It was a real estate business, 
more than it was a fast food 

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business. 
So maybe that's an option for 

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you. 
Think about the, the real estate

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because sometimes restaurant, 
That profitable but maybe as a 

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real estate deal, it's more 
profitable. 

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Maybe the bank is more likely to
give you a loan. 

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00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:52,700
I don't know that something that
you would need to work out, but 

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00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:55,600
those are, those are different 
things that you need to consider

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the other things that you need 
to consider again, assuming that

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you're leasing the space or what
are the different types of rent.

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00:13:01,100 --> 00:13:03,600
So there's fixed rent, which is 
basically a set amount. 

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Everything's realistically, 
predictable. 

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You're not going to have much 
fluctuations without at least 

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being notified or some sort of 
Renegotiation on the contract. 

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00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:16,300
And there's also something 
called a percentage rent which I

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00:13:16,300 --> 00:13:18,900
think is good, so it's basically
a rent. 

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00:13:19,700 --> 00:13:22,800
It's basically your rent plus a 
percentage of sales but 

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00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:25,700
sometimes it's just a percent of
sales if they really want you in

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the location. 
But the downside to that is 

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sometimes it could potentially 
be higher if you didn't really 

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00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:36,400
read the fine print. 
So you're going to need to get 

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00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:38,800
some advice on this. 
Obviously, I don't know the type

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of restaurant that you're 
thinking about and there's a lot

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00:13:40,700 --> 00:13:44,000
of nuance in this, but those are
just some examples of the 

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00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,400
different types of rent. 
So fixed rent or a percentage 

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00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:50,300
rent to something that you want 
to look at next thing that 

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00:13:50,300 --> 00:13:52,400
you're going to want to look at 
on the critical path is going to

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00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:54,400
be the design and the 
renovation. 

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00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:57,600
So the plan, the layout, the 
design of your restaurant, you 

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00:13:57,600 --> 00:13:59,200
have to consider all the 
factors, right? 

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00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:01,500
The efficiency of the kitchen, 
the location of your dining 

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00:14:01,500 --> 00:14:05,200
room, the ambience FF and E, 
which is Furniture fixtures and 

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00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:07,700
equipment, the types of Ovens 
that you're going to use or do 

300
00:14:07,700 --> 00:14:11,100
you have a mixer all these 
things matter and they all cost 

301
00:14:11,100 --> 00:14:12,600
money. 
So And your I'm sure you're 

302
00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:14,900
working off some Capital that 
you're that, you have, you have 

303
00:14:14,900 --> 00:14:16,800
a budget. 
So is that's that's the 

304
00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:20,000
difference between like you 
know, the off-brand oven and the

305
00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,200
Heston oven, right? 
So these are things that you 

306
00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:24,400
have to consider. 
You have to factor in all the 

307
00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:28,100
costs that are going with it. 
So not just the design, right? 

308
00:14:28,100 --> 00:14:30,700
And you have to hire designers, 
something that you need to think

309
00:14:30,700 --> 00:14:32,400
about. 
You have to think about things 

310
00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:36,100
like being compliant. 
If again, if you're in the 

311
00:14:36,300 --> 00:14:39,400
United States, the Ada, the 
American with Disabilities Act, 

312
00:14:39,700 --> 00:14:42,400
you have to consider that you 
might have to hire a actor to 

313
00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:45,400
complete the renovations that 
complies with local building 

314
00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:46,600
codes. 
So these are things that you 

315
00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:50,400
have to consider next, you have 
all the equipment and supplies 

316
00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:53,600
that go into the restaurant. 
So, this is everything, right? 

317
00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:55,600
This is your kitchen, appliances
is your blenders, your 

318
00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:58,700
robo-coupes, your sous, vide 
machines, all of that, your 

319
00:14:58,700 --> 00:15:01,400
circulators are cryovac, your 
Ovens. 

320
00:15:02,300 --> 00:15:07,900
That also includes the furniture
chairs tables, POS systems, all 

321
00:15:07,900 --> 00:15:11,100
of that has to be throughout 
through, including maybe even 

322
00:15:11,100 --> 00:15:13,600
opening inventory. 
So maybe you have, maybe you're 

323
00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:16,500
going for a very expensive wine 
list and you need to curate a 

324
00:15:16,500 --> 00:15:21,600
very, you know, wine spectator 
award-winning list which is 

325
00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:23,400
going to be 100 Grand, or 
something like that. 

326
00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:26,500
These are all things that you 
have to consider all the other 

327
00:15:26,500 --> 00:15:29,100
supplies, the small Wares pots, 
pans Etc, right? 

328
00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:31,900
That has to be, you have to have
a very good budget. 

329
00:15:31,900 --> 00:15:33,700
When you're doing that, you have
to think everything through. 

330
00:15:33,900 --> 00:15:35,800
You have to work with someone. 
It's a good idea to work with 

331
00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:37,700
someone. 
So a lot of these big companies 

332
00:15:37,700 --> 00:15:40,100
like again, I don't work with 
any of them. 

333
00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:41,500
At least they're not sponsoring 
me. 

334
00:15:42,100 --> 00:15:44,300
But companies like Trimark, if 
you're in the United States or 

335
00:15:44,300 --> 00:15:46,600
washer strong, you know, they 
could, they could help you 

336
00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:49,100
curate that if you, if you could
go work with them, the Edward 

337
00:15:49,100 --> 00:15:50,900
Don's of the world, they're good
at that. 

338
00:15:51,100 --> 00:15:53,500
And also, another thing to point
out is, you could also lease 

339
00:15:53,500 --> 00:15:56,000
versus purchase equipment. 
So, again, some of the pros and 

340
00:15:56,000 --> 00:16:00,100
cons is leasing would be lower 
upfront costs and it's easier to

341
00:16:00,108 --> 00:16:02,900
upgrade your equipment, you 
don't own it sometimes they work

342
00:16:02,900 --> 00:16:06,500
in deals where you know the 
repair is less or you could 

343
00:16:06,500 --> 00:16:10,500
purchase it again. 
There's potential tax deductions

344
00:16:10,500 --> 00:16:13,500
when you purchase it but again 
it's Higher upfront, cost, and 

345
00:16:13,500 --> 00:16:15,800
then the maintenance 
responsibilities depending on 

346
00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:18,300
warranties etcetera, things that
you have to think about. 

347
00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:20,600
Next thing is going to be the 
hiring and the training of 

348
00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:21,700
staff. 
So you have to recruit. 

349
00:16:21,700 --> 00:16:23,400
How are you going to crude? 
All these people right? 

350
00:16:23,700 --> 00:16:27,900
Usually usually your recruiting 
from other restaurants or people

351
00:16:28,300 --> 00:16:30,600
that maybe you've worked with in
the past, you're calling 

352
00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:32,400
everyone up. 
But open up a restaurant is not 

353
00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:34,000
easy. 
You think and I'm telling you 

354
00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,500
I've opened up a lot of places. 
You think everyone's going to go

355
00:16:36,500 --> 00:16:39,100
with you when you go to the new 
place, not always the case. 

356
00:16:39,300 --> 00:16:42,100
Let's say I've worked at a place
that had 20 Cooks, I'm I'd only 

357
00:16:42,100 --> 00:16:44,800
get four, and I thought the rest
would surely come, but, you 

358
00:16:44,808 --> 00:16:46,200
know, a lot of people are set in
their ways. 

359
00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:49,200
They may concern amount of money
and openings are difficult, and 

360
00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:53,200
I will talk about once you're 
open and what to look for in the

361
00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:54,900
next podcast. 
So I want to kind of make this a

362
00:16:54,908 --> 00:16:58,000
little bit of a series. 
So this is like part 1. 

363
00:16:58,100 --> 00:17:00,400
The critical path to open up a 
restaurant and then part two 

364
00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:02,400
will be. 
Okay, now you're open shit has 

365
00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:03,400
hit the fan. 
What do you do? 

366
00:17:03,500 --> 00:17:05,900
So anyway, let's stick with part
one, right? 

367
00:17:05,900 --> 00:17:08,800
So you need to get the staff, 
you have to include the 

368
00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,700
recruitment or you can have job 
fairs where you can. 

369
00:17:11,900 --> 00:17:15,800
Advertise, make sure you have a 
good organizational chart. 

370
00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:18,800
So you know what the 
responsibilities are. 

371
00:17:19,500 --> 00:17:21,099
You have to think about 
everything that you're going to 

372
00:17:21,099 --> 00:17:26,000
need from bar staff to service 
staff, to culinary staff, to 

373
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:28,800
stewarding, team Etc. 
You have to think about all the 

374
00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:31,500
Sops that you need to create 
employee handbooks, right? 

375
00:17:31,500 --> 00:17:33,800
What are the rules of the game? 
And I've talked about this on 

376
00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:36,600
another podcast, think about, 
when you're opening something 

377
00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:40,000
you're developing a culture from
Ground Zero, which sometimes is 

378
00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,300
better, because there's no bad 
habits to Begin with, but you 

379
00:17:43,300 --> 00:17:45,300
need to have a plan and you need
to be able to execute it. 

380
00:17:45,300 --> 00:17:47,800
So if you're starting from zero,
you have to have something to 

381
00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:50,300
give them. 
If not, people will make it up 

382
00:17:50,300 --> 00:17:53,200
as they go. 
And then as we move on after 

383
00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:54,400
that you have the health 
inspection. 

384
00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:57,400
So in order to open you're going
to need some sort of health 

385
00:17:57,400 --> 00:17:59,100
inspection, you're going to 
schedule it and you're going to 

386
00:17:59,100 --> 00:18:01,600
pass it. 
I know many times the health 

387
00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:03,700
inspector in the openings that 
I've done. 

388
00:18:03,700 --> 00:18:05,900
They come they say okay this is 
good but you need to correct 

389
00:18:05,900 --> 00:18:08,800
these 10 things and I'll come 
back and then I correct the 10 

390
00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:11,700
and they're like, okay you've 
corrected 10 but I found some 

391
00:18:11,900 --> 00:18:14,800
Once you need to correct these 
or you didn't correct that one 

392
00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:17,800
up to standard. 
So the health inspections 

393
00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:22,100
sometimes, can they could be a 
little bit of a delayed. 

394
00:18:22,100 --> 00:18:24,400
They're constantly pushing back 
and finding new and new things. 

395
00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:27,700
And it's like, I know one and 
this was years ago. 

396
00:18:27,700 --> 00:18:31,200
So like I said, the internet 
wasn't what it is, today wasn't 

397
00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:32,700
as powerful. 
But, you know, we were looking 

398
00:18:32,700 --> 00:18:35,600
at Sushi and they're like, okay,
do you have a hassle plan? 

399
00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:39,000
For a sushi bar is like, nope. 
Like then you need to make when 

400
00:18:39,008 --> 00:18:40,800
I was like, well, where do I 
start to, like, I don't know. 

401
00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:42,200
You need to figure that out. 
Like shit. 

402
00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,000
I've never wrote a hassle plan 
for a sushi bar and I didn't 

403
00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:47,200
have any friends that had one 
for me. 

404
00:18:47,300 --> 00:18:50,900
So I had to, I had to create 
that same thing with a lot of 

405
00:18:50,900 --> 00:18:55,200
places, you might need a hassle 
plan for cryovac and, and 

406
00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:57,500
cooking sous vide, and using 
numbers, and immersion 

407
00:18:57,500 --> 00:18:59,500
circulators. 
So, you need to think about 

408
00:18:59,500 --> 00:19:01,200
that, if those are things that 
you're going to do, our cooking 

409
00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:03,600
chill, right? 
So a lot of a lot of places will

410
00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:06,000
cook and chill. 
So what I mean by that is like, 

411
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:09,600
let's say you are cooking 
something and then reheating it 

412
00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:11,300
later. 
A braised has a good example of 

413
00:19:11,300 --> 00:19:12,600
a cooking show. 
Will you break something? 

414
00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:14,500
It cools down, and then you 
reheat it, you do to make sure 

415
00:19:14,500 --> 00:19:16,600
you have a, has a plan for all 
that because when the health 

416
00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:18,900
inspector comes and asks you 
that and you say, yeah, we're 

417
00:19:18,900 --> 00:19:20,700
doing that. 
They say, okay, great, I need a 

418
00:19:20,700 --> 00:19:24,500
hassle plan for and that just 
slows down everything to go with

419
00:19:24,500 --> 00:19:26,400
it, right? 
You obviously want to check with

420
00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:30,800
your local Health Department for
inspections and licenses Etc. 

421
00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:33,400
So having a good relationship 
with your local Health 

422
00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:35,000
Inspectors. 
Going to be key when you're 

423
00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:38,600
opening up a restaurant. 
Anyway, moving on. 

424
00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:39,700
We're going to talk about 
marketing. 

425
00:19:39,700 --> 00:19:41,900
So now you're in the final 
preparations. 

426
00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:45,300
You're getting ready, it's time 
to Market your restaurant. 

427
00:19:45,700 --> 00:19:47,800
You everyone's in place, you 
have a concept. 

428
00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:51,600
The next thing you're going to 
do is like, well, you need to 

429
00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:54,600
spend money on marketing and 
that is the reality because you 

430
00:19:54,608 --> 00:19:57,000
need to have hype behind with 
what you're doing. 

431
00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,600
So hiring the best marketing 
firms, especially if you're 

432
00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:02,300
going to like play in the world 
of trying to get a James Beard 

433
00:20:02,300 --> 00:20:04,900
award or Food & Wine, best new 
chef and things like that. 

434
00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:09,300
A lot of that you need a good 
marketing team to get your name 

435
00:20:09,300 --> 00:20:10,300
out there. 
If not, you're not going to get 

436
00:20:10,300 --> 00:20:11,700
discovered by these 
organizations. 

437
00:20:11,700 --> 00:20:16,700
So having a marketing agency, 
think of them as an advocate for

438
00:20:16,700 --> 00:20:18,500
you, and your restaurant, there 
are going to go out there and 

439
00:20:18,500 --> 00:20:23,000
speak on your behalf to those 
other organizations about why 

440
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,800
they should take a look at you. 
So whether it's putting you in a

441
00:20:25,808 --> 00:20:28,500
magazine, whether it's, again, 
like I said, Bon Appetit, or 

442
00:20:28,500 --> 00:20:31,500
something like that, or the 
Esquire best new restaurants in 

443
00:20:31,500 --> 00:20:33,400
America. 
Whatever the case, maybe they 

444
00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:36,200
need to look at that, right? 
And you Don't have those 

445
00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:38,200
contacts. 
The reason your pain a marketing

446
00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:42,100
firm isn't necessarily for them 
to do all this for you. 

447
00:20:42,100 --> 00:20:44,000
It's because of who's in there 
Rolodex? 

448
00:20:44,300 --> 00:20:47,900
It's because they could just 
pick up the phone and call 

449
00:20:47,900 --> 00:20:51,600
someone that works at Food and 
Wine and you can't, that's why 

450
00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:54,900
you need marketing firms and the
best marketing firms, you know, 

451
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:56,700
that's what they do. 
And they're great at, they have 

452
00:20:56,700 --> 00:21:00,900
a Rolodex and when, when a lot 
of these companies are coming to

453
00:21:00,900 --> 00:21:02,500
a city. 
So when I say companies, I mean 

454
00:21:02,500 --> 00:21:08,300
like Magazines and people food 
writers and people that nominate

455
00:21:08,300 --> 00:21:10,700
people for awards when they 
arrive in cities, a lot of 

456
00:21:10,700 --> 00:21:12,900
times, what they do is they 
reach out to the marketing firm 

457
00:21:12,900 --> 00:21:16,100
that they know and are familiar 
with and say, where should we go

458
00:21:16,100 --> 00:21:17,600
eat? 
And they say, go eat here. 

459
00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:19,500
Here here, which are usually 
their clients. 

460
00:21:19,700 --> 00:21:21,700
So if you want to be in the 
conversation, you want to make 

461
00:21:21,700 --> 00:21:24,100
sure that you have a good 
marketing firm on retainer. 

462
00:21:24,500 --> 00:21:27,300
And then, of course, make sure 
you have an Instagram page. 

463
00:21:27,300 --> 00:21:30,200
Social media, you're showing the
behind the scenes of the 

464
00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:34,000
opening, the build up the the 
the different iterations of The 

465
00:21:34,008 --> 00:21:37,500
dishes that you're working on 
and then, you know, time to 

466
00:21:37,500 --> 00:21:40,300
launch. 
So that is an oversimplified 

467
00:21:40,300 --> 00:21:43,800
version of a critical path that 
you would need to open up a 

468
00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:46,700
restaurant. 
So there will be a part two of 

469
00:21:46,700 --> 00:21:48,400
this. 
Part two will be once you're 

470
00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:50,200
open. 
Oh shit, what do you do? 

471
00:21:50,300 --> 00:21:51,800
So anyway I hope you enjoyed 
this episode. 

472
00:21:52,300 --> 00:21:55,000
Thank you very much if you want 
to support the show make sure 

473
00:21:55,008 --> 00:21:58,000
you leave five stars, go to 
chefs PS a.com you can find 

474
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:00,200
everything that I'm doing there.
All the books that are written 

475
00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:01,900
kitchen Art of War. 
Culinary leadership 

476
00:22:01,900 --> 00:22:03,800
fundamentals. 
How not to be the biggest idiot 

477
00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:05,900
in the The kitchen line. 
Cook survival manual. 

478
00:22:06,700 --> 00:22:08,800
Thank you. 
All see you next week and hit 

479
00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:09,700
the porno music.
