I hope others with experience in this area can chime in. In the meantime, as far as laws and resources are concerned, you can check out these two articles for more information on the restaurant industry: Operating a Restaurant Within the Law: Part 1 and Part 2

You bring up a subject near and dear to my heart! Aside from having about five years of restaurant operations experience and having built well over 500 QSR's and Quick Casual restaurants over the course of my career, I now teach the independent businessperson how to go about building restaurants and retail stores (primarily from a real estate & constructor perspective). I think what you will find is that for the independent businessperson and many franchisees, real estate development is more of a leap of faith than an organized process. Unfortunately, all too many people leave the site selectionup to a real estate broker rather than driving the process themselves (which is a huge mistake). Although there are tons of hard working brokers and salespeople out there, at the end of the day, it's not their business. Besides, studies have shown, where you place a restaurant is as important as how you run it...it's all too easy to be one hundred feet from success. Of course, larger companies these days tend to have more sophisticated means at their disposal, but that doesn't guarantee them good results every time... but that's a story for another day. As I have always instructed those around me; a business plan should always be your first step. Then, only after taking the time to realistically identifying your targeted customer, should you create a Market Development Plan to uncover as many strong locations within your targeted market as possible (identifying more than one site puts you in a better negotiating posture when speaking with the landlord). The next step would be to create a preliminary construction budget based on the physical condition of the space(s) that you're looking at. Construction costs can vary greatly from one site to the next so keeping them under control can bring you a lot closer to turning a profit faster. Obviously there's a lot that goes into identifying the right location... Responsible site selection, lease negotiations and construction are both an art form and a science...all that being said, you'd be surprised how many times folks just throw a dart at a map. I hope that helps and feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions... Regards, Tony O

LocationIsland-Do you still need responses? If so, send me a quick email, I'm happy to help and I work with a number of different restaurants either with their email marketing or providing a wine list for them. Everything from a Denny's style family diner, to upscale restaurants in San Francisco charging $25+ per plate. It's a difficult time in the industry and frankly most of them are just trying to survive until the economy improves. Many of them are really starting to market to clients directly for the first time as their locations have been the only source of business for most.

Great information Tony O - is there a specialised insurance offering you'd recommend for restaurant business owners? The food service industry has a lot of potential for liability claims I'd think.

You're absolutely right...there are certain issues that effect restaurants that most dry-goods retailers usually don't have to be concerned with (dram shop liability and food safety comes quickly to mind). But quite honestly, the topic of insurance is way outside my area of expertise. However, I always suggest to the businesspeople that I come across, whether they're just starting out or have been part of a fifth-generation family business, that they seek out local talented professionals to help them with their specific business needs. While we're on the topic, If there are any Risk Management professionals out there that write and would like to have some articles published about insurance and the small businessperson, feel free to reach out to me.

Mark, Absolutely. As you know, these are extraordinarily hardtimes for the independent businessperson and if they are going to be the onesto help get this country back on track they need as much help as possible, especiallyfrom those people that have the expertise. Many of the writers for Location Islandare unemployed development professionals themselves that are looking for waysto give their resumes and careers a boost. It's kind of a win-win proposition; theunemployed get recognition for their knowledge while the new business owner hasaccess to opinions, ideas and advice from people that used to build for the bigboys. I’d welcome an opportunity to speak with anyone having the experiencesthat could help a business just starting out. Location Islandcan’t get this country out of it economic woes, but if my group can help just onefamily business STAY in business, it’s all worth while.