The Restaurant Manager's Handbook: How to Set Up, Operate, and Manage a Financially Successful Food Service Operation [Hardcover]

Douglas Robert Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 3, 2002

This title contains a book & CD-ROM. This comprehensive book will show you step-by-step how to set up, operate, and manage a financially successful food-service operation. The author has left no stone unturned in explaining the risky business of running a restaurant. Operators in the non-commercial segment as well as caterers, and really anyone in the food service industry will find this book very useful. The nineteen chapters cover the entire process of a restaurant start-up and ongoing management in an easy to understand way, pointing out methods to increase your chances of success, and showing how to avoid the many common mistakes that can doom a start-up.The companion CD-ROM contains all the forms demonstrated in the book for easy use in a PDF format. While providing detailed instruction and examples, the author leads you through finding a location that will bring success, learn how to draw up a winning business plan, how to buy and (sell) a restaurant, franchising, basic cost control systems, profitable menu planning, sample restaurant floor plans and diagrams, successful kitchen management, equipment layout and planning, food safety and HACCP, successful beverage management, learn how to set-up computer systems to save time and money, learn how to hire and keep a qualified professional staff, and brand new IRS tip reporting requirements. The author also helps readers learn how to manage and train employees, generate high profile public relations and publicity, learn low cost internal marketing ideas, low and no cost ways to satisfy customers and build sales, learn how to keep bringing customers back, accounting & bookkeeping procedures, auditing, successful budgeting and profit planning development, as well as thousands of great tips and useful guidelines. The extensive resource guide details over 7,000 suppliers to the industry, this directory could be a separate book on its own.

Editorial Reviews

Review

I'm going to recommend a wonderful source of information, everything a successful restaurant operation needs. "The Restaurant Managers Handbook". -- Food Industry News November 2002, Jim Contis Publisher

New edition of a reference for professionals and newcomers to the field, provides step by step advice. 19 Chapters, CDROM. -- Reference & Research Book News, Inc. Febuary 2003

The book focuses on how to setup, operate, and manage a financially successful foodservice operation. 600 pages, leatherette cover, CDROM. -- Restaurant Business Magazine, November 15, 2002

From the Publisher

May, 29 2003 - Winner Of the Prestigous Benjamin Franklin 2003 Book Award - The Restaurant Manager's Handbook, 3rd Edition, Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc. Named in honor of America's most cherished publisher/printer, the Benjamin Franklin Award recognizes excellence in independent publishing. Publications, grouped by genre are judged on editorial and design merit by top practitioners in each field.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 600 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Company (FL); 3rd edition (September 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0910627096
• ISBN-13: 978-0910627092
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 8.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #718,414 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Douglas R. Brown is a best selling author and publisher of computer software and books specific to the food service industry. His extensive background and years of service in the food service industry provides the practical insight into the business so desperately needed in the highly volatile food service industry.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book.. but lets be honest., September 22, 2010

By 

M. Jensen "jens02" (TUCSON, ARIZONA, US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Restaurant Manager's Handbook: How to Set Up, Operate, and Manage a Financially Successful Food Service Operation 4th Edition - With Companion CD-ROM (Hardcover)

After reading nearly all of this book I can tell you that this text is in fact helpful, however its the information quality that worries me. The 1000+ pages in this book provide the reader with a great breath of info, but with that said the depth of that information is about as deep as a shower. It has vision but lacks insight; has quantity but the discussion lacks quality.

While the book covers every relevant topic regarding restaurants, if fails to offer any insight into how a restauranteur thought process actually goes and lacks the critical thinking I was hoping for. In the end it is basically a series of lists. It can be summed up as a series of things a restauranteur can do for his business... with no thought really given as to whether or not a restauranteur should do them. Also this textbook is more boring than most you've probably read as it lacks: Q & A, relevant stories or examples, graphical data, and other common textbook features that make reading more interesting.

This post is not meant to come across as negative because this book is overall very helpful. However you should know before you purchase this book that: much of the information is obvious and common sensical, Atlantic-pub treats this book as an infomercial for a myriad of products it sells, it also tries to sell other company's products on page after page, and finally if you incorporated every one of the million suggestions in this book I suspect you'd end up either broke and or just plain annoyed with all the unnecessary additions to your business.

Summary: Helpful in that it covers all the topics that you need to know, but frustrating in that 90% of the time it is overly simplistic. Pros include: Quantity of topics covered, helpful forms, and case studies. Cons include: uninsightful, tons of advertisements, and more dry than any textbook I've read.

49 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hospitality News November 2002, November 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Restaurant Manager's Handbook: How to Set Up, Operate, and Manage a Financially Successful Food Service Operation (Hardcover)

This comprehensive and massive 600 page new book will show you step-by-step how to set up, operate, and manage a financially successful foodservice operation. The author has left no stone unturned in explaining the risky business of running a restaurant. Operators in the non-commercial segment as well as caterers, and really anyone in the food service industry will find this book very useful.The books nineteen chapters cover the entire process of a restaurant start-up and ongoing management in an easy to understand way, pointing out methods to increase your chances of success, and showing how to avoid the many common mistakes that can doom a start-up. The new companion CD rom contains all the forms demonstrated in the book for easy use in a PDF format.There are literally hundreds of innovative ways demonstrated to streamline your restaurant business. Learn new ways to make the kitchen, bars, dining room, and front office run smoother and increase performance. Shut down waste, reduce costs, and increase profits.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An All-Inclusive Easy to Use Handbook, July 21, 2008

By 

Angie Shultis - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Restaurant Manager's Handbook: How to Set Up, Operate, and Manage a Financially Successful Food Service Operation 4th Edition - With Companion CD-ROM (Hardcover)

The title may be a bit of an understatement - The Restaurant Manager's Handbook goes well beyond the basics of restaurant management, ultimately encompassing the entire scope of owning and running a full-service restaurant. In an industry where, as this book points out, a large percentage of ventures fail, a comprehensive resource like this can prove an invaluable tool for restaurant owners and managers, one that you'll return to again and again.
The Restaurant Manager's Handbook runs a full 1,057 pages, making it a reference tome that covers all the bases - from "pre-owing" business planning and research to active operation and management practices . The guide offers hard-line business advice, but presents it in a way that's easy to read and eminently accessible to the novice restaurateur .
Never written a business plan? It's in there. Don't know the first thing about effective public relations? It's in there. Need the lowdown on menu planning? Yep, that's in there too. Linen service. Music licensing. Kitchen layout. Food preparation safety. Employee relations. Planning to open a bar, not a restaurant? Don't let the title fool you - it's covered.
The guide also includes numerous valuable resources - from reproducible forms (for everything from food facility compliance checklists to acquisition and inventory to cook's lists, and more) to detailed lists of suppliers for everything from flatware to point of sale systems. And if you still need a little encouragement, check out the case studies of successful restaurant ventures with practical advice from those who've been there . . .