Upstart Guide Owning & Managing a Restaurant (ISBN 093689489X)

EXCELLENT -- FOR ANY RESTAURANT START-UP:
After reading a friend's copy, and seeing how useful this book is, I had to buy my own copy. I read it again and still refer to it for ideas. It covers the entire process of a restaurant start-up in an easy to understand way, pointing out ways to increase your chances of success and showing how to avoid many common mistakes that can doom a start-up. While showing you how to go about it, and giving examples, the author leads you through a winning business plan, menu planning, service system development, equipment layout and planning, cost controls, ways to satisfy customers and build sales, personnel planning and management, as well as a lot of common sense tips and useful guidelines. I believe this is a valuable book for anyone, who is starting-up a restaurant, to read. Good Luck.

I bought it because I want all the help I can get.:
I've been told that 80% of new businesses fail within their first five years. I can't afford to take that chance. That's why I'm getting all the help I can get to succeed in the restaurant business. And this book is helping me a lot. Every time I flip a page and see something I didn't even think of, or spot a costly mistake I would have made, I'm glad I bought it. It's easy to read, easy to understand, and covers every phase of the business from planning to the grand opening. Good examples and checklists. I give it five stars.

Good book for getting a basic vision of the whole business:
I'm satisfied with this book. Although I couldn't find an answer for many questions I had, it's a great book for getting the panorama of the business. It covers all of the aspects relevant to the business, but sometimes lacks going deeper to the matter. Sure, you can't expect to learn how to open a restaurant just by reading this book. Final word: recommended!

Great Starter book:
A very thorough starter book on owning and managing a restaurant. I definitely recommend reading this at least twice for newbies. The sample business plans and financial statements proved really useful for me. I will be rereading my copy soon.

Good guide.:
Good information but seems like a warning of all the things that could go wrong. I felt discourage after reading this. I know that there can be stumbling blocks in any venture, but the negative outlook made me wonder how many food service businesses fail because they didn't heed the warnings. Read it and take the advice with the weight of a consultant then jump into your new venture.