Restaurant Owners Uncorked: Twenty Owners Share Their Recipes for Success Paperback – February 28, 2011

Over all this was a good book with some good insights from owners or various types of restaurants. It was a good read however I did have two problems with the book which is why it's only getting 4 stars.Issue # 1: Hello Cupcake on page 204 lacked a lot of in depth information that the rest of the chapters had. The common question asked to all of the other owners, why is the failure rate so high, got a poor response. The fact that Hello Cupcake has only been in business since 2008 and the book was written 2010 and published in 2011 was a poor choice for a business doing well over the long haul. It may have been better if the author would've explained the need or reason, such as doing it purpose to document a new busines that's just getting going. Even by itself it may have beeen ok but when placed next to restaurant owners that have been doing this for decades it felt out of place.Issue # 2: A large majority of the chapters touched on the fact that the owners use Schedulefly, a web based software that is run by the author and his partners. Constantly seeing talk of Schedulefly made me wonder if the criteria for being included in the book was simply using Schedulefly as a customer. This probably was not the case but it's not the best thing to think of when reading. When some of the owners talked about Schedulefly it felt as though their responses were solicited rather than them genuinely liking the product so much they felt the need to mention it.This is a still a good book and with some updates could be a great book. There's a lot of good information however it may or may not apply to your restaurant depending on your regional location. Most of the insights in the book are accurate.BillOwner - Lammon's Family Restaurant***UPDATE: After getting a personal reply from the author and understanding the comments abotu Schedulefly were not solicited in anyway I decided to re-read the chapter on Hello Cupcake. While I still feel the chapter is lacking, after reading it again I feel it's lacking more because of how the author decided to respond rather than thow the author wrote it as he generally asked the same questions of all the restaurant owners. Thus I'm bumping this up to 5 stars. With that understanding you will enjoy this book and I highly recommend it.

I have 40 years experience in hospitality, but still found this book to be inspiring, idea provoking, relevant and easy to read. Well done to Wil Brawley and well worthwhile to read.

If you are considering opening a restaurant, then I would highly recommend this book.The interviews are often very entertaining, and in each you will find nuggets of wisdom to help you plan your venture. Many themes are repeated by different owners, which helps to hammer the point and highlight the more important ones.This is not a step-by-step guide to opening a restaurant. It will only give you advice on things to consider and things to avoid.I had only two complaints with it. The first is the seeming plugging for the restaurant management software that the author is involved in (though I can't fault him for it if he genuinely considers it a helpful resource, it's just my preference not to have advertising thrown in). The second was the bulleting of what the author considered to be the key points of each interview. While I understand why he did that, I am one that by reading those it threw me off and caused me to forget some of the other points I had gathered on my own (thankfully though, there is always rereading).If you just want to know what a lot of people have had to go through to open a restaurant, you will also find this an enjoyable read.

As someone who's been in the industry for a bit but just about to open their first spot, this book is absolutely amazing. It's not something written by some consultant who was indispensable to the growth of Applebee's or a professor who's done a study of 300 restaurants but hasn't opened one himself.This book talks to a wide variety of owners, in a wide variety of market-types, and comes away with so many great things to keep in mind as you delve in to the world of restaurant-opening and operating. You get candid conversations with owners about how they succeeded and what exactly they screwed up (and you can avoid it yourself).The book is done in interview form so it's not an author's interpretation of what they thought was the owner's most important information. To the contrary, the weakest part of the book is when the author does a few short "key points" at the end of each interview to give you the takeaways. Take those or leave 'em, you'll probably get something different than he did.If you have a restaurant book library, this needs to be in it. If you only read 3 books before you open a restaurant (please read at least 3), then this needs to be one of those 3.

Fantastic, easy to read insight into the world of restaurants and the hospitality industry. Indeed it is a great guide or lesson in how to manage growth and change in an area that was foreign to many of the people interviewed until they entered the industry. The underlying theme of running a business, as distinct from cooking or serving customers is constant. It may be your passion but it is first and foremost a business. The treatment of fellow workers is a major skill. Incentives, fairness and consideration of staff as people with lives and needs is paramount. I've seen the outcomes of the opposite approach and was inspired by these employers. Training and advancement are other important facets of having staff. I'm sure it's all harder than it appears in this boo but it is certainly a great starting point. I'm not even in this industry but the skills would apply to anything, including life. Top book; ten out of ten!