Here are the featured articles and editorial content in the November 2007 issue of Restaurant Startup & Growth magazine.

RestaurantOwner.com members have access to these articles in the RS&G Archive department on RestaurantOwner.com.

FEATURES

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Raising Money for Your Startup and Dealing With Investors
By Joe Erickson
Restaurateurs often mistakenly believe that experience and a good business plan will be sufficient to get a bank loan. While many restaurateurs open their first businesses with savings accounts, home equity loans, borrowing from relatives, and “maxing out” their credit cards, others find private investors to purchase shares in the enterprise, a route that has many advantages but is fraught with perils related to control of the business and staying on the right side of securities law. The author explains the upsides and downsides of raising money through investors and how to maximize the former.

The Road to Recovery
A Three-Step Process to Prevent Losing a Guest Over a Bad Meal
By Wendy Gillett
Service “hiccups” can be excused, but a bad meal, well, is just bad. The author has found that you can recover from a “bad” meal with a three-step process that your staff can learn and put to use even after one lineup. When “applied as directed” these steps can help you turn around even the most unacceptable meal into a positive experience for the guest and your business.

Survey Says...
10 Objectives of a Successful Guest Survey
By Emily Durham
If we could succeed based on a good attitude and philosophy toward our customers, we would all be rich. To retain your customers, however, you must know your customers. What do they like most about our operation? What do they like most about our competitors? How can we make our customers happier? In this article, the author covers the basics of creating and executing a useful guest survey.

DEPARTMENTS

Opening Remarks
by Barry K. Shuster
Cure for the Common Chrometophobia – To cope with deep-seated fear of money, see a psychologist. If you are, however, just a little squeamish over the green stuff, a little education might just be what the doctor ordered.

Insights
by Patricia Luebke
Stopping store-product pests, succession planning, the importance of co-worker support and other interesting and useful tidbits in our monthly appetizer of useful information.

Equipment Notes
by Mark Vasto
Clean Machine: Selecting a Ware Washer for Your Startup – Studies of restaurant customers show that clean glasses, dishes and utensils are the most important gauge of the overall cleanliness of a restaurant’s kitchen. What used to be three sinks, a few floor pads and a hard-working, minimum-wage employee with a hose, has turned into a billion-dollar industry of washing pots, pans, dishes and glasses at restaurants. Here is an overview of the gear on the market and what you need to consider when investing in a ware washer.

Restaurant Economics
by Dave Pavesic, Ph.D.
Give Me a Break: How Meal Breaks Can Reduce Payroll Expense – Wage-and-hour laws don’t require you to give your employees “free” meals. In fact, under federal law and the laws of most states, you can elect not to provide meals or breaks at all. That said, in this article, the author makes a strong case why most restaurants, regardless of menus and check averages, should have a meal break policy for their employees.

Chef Training
by Chef Michael Tsonton
Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire: The Trials and Tribulations of Going From Chef to Chef/Owner – What happens when a comfortable chef decides to step out from the back, and place his or her name on the front door? Everything changes. Everything. And the hardest part in all of the chaos is just finding time to cook. The author, a chef/owner himself, explains why making the jump to owner is “a real wakeup” call for most chefs.

What Our Readers are Building, Buying and Remodeling
by Diane Lambdin Meyer
This month we visit Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where one operator comes up with an innovative solution to meet new fire and even more stringent hurricane codes.

RecipeMapping
by Joe Erickson
RecipeMapping is a three-step process that allows you to add new items to the menu consistently, methodically and profitably. This month, we help you offer your guests Crispy Asian Chicken and Seared Garlic Shrimp without losing your way or your shirt.

Points of Origin
by Doug Turner
A bird's-eye view of both the number and the geographic distribution of the nation's new restaurants.

New Products and Services
A description of useful gear and services for your restaurant, and how they can benefit your operations.

Showtime
by Gene Gentrup
Your best ideas might be waiting for you at trade shows staged across the country.

Last Seating
by Chef J. Arthur Gordon
Your Show Must Go On – To paraphrase the immortal bard, all the restaurant’s a stage, and you and your staff are merely players. You have your opening lineup and closing procedures. And you, in a single shift, play many, many parts.

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