Restaurant Idea -- Getting a Manager Question???

[erik_ut]

Hi all,

I'm new to the site but wanted to post a question and get some opinions.

My business partner and I both have decent full time jobs (he is employed gainfully and I have my own consulting firm at this point) where we'd like to maintain our full time jobs for the time being.

We have a great restaurant idea that'd like to puruse. During the initial phases, I think we could do this while maintaining our existing jobs, but I believe we when actually go to start the restaurant, we'd need some kind of manager to handle the store. However, I don't know if either of us would trust anyone enough (or be able to find someone as willing and dedicated as us) to handle the store during the day the and all the operations necessary, such as hiring, training, and scheduling staff, managing purchasing and supplies, tending to the register, filling in when necessary, dealing with customer issues, etc. We don't have any experience in the restaurant industry either, which is a negative.

If my consulting business wasn't flourishing, I'd quit and manage the store when necessary, but I'm not sure if that is realistic at this point. Does anyone have any ideas or thoughts on not running the restaurant yourself? We think it would NOT be a franchise so we would have a steep learning curve and would need someone to handle everything with knowledge and skill.

Thanks all,
Erik

[jeremylorino]

The first thing that jumps into my mind is bring in someone from family even though I'm not too excited about going into business with family.

My next best idea would be to hire a consulting company to begin hiring some of your staff then manage that process. You will begin to trust some of your staff and be able to end the contract with the consulting company.

It's a lot harder to trust employees and get accurate information and track records on them, but you can do just that with businesses. This is why businesses outsource.