Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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 . . .

This book has everything that you might possibly need whether you plan on opening a restaurant or already have one. If you are new to the business then it might just be your bible for a long while. If you already are in it, then the info is good, although some of it is a bit simplistic. Overall it will help guide you and it will not lead you astray.

The first edition was an invaluable reference. This edition packs in every critical piece the first edition had, plus tons more information. This book has the relevant information needed to be successful in the restaurant industry. What is truly unique is that ALL of the information you need is all in one source, plus a companion CD rom of forms and charts. The book even expands into development of websites, email marketing and other "new" management and promotional campains. Clearly - money well spent - if there is a better resource out there, I have yet to find it, and this new edition is unprecendented in the wealth, detail and useability of the information.

We are opening a coffee and tea house at the end of this year. I do know alot about being in business, but the restaurant industry is a whole different issue. Know matter what you THINK you know, trust me there is a whole lot more to learn. This book has it all. It's like going back to school and having the best teacher in the world. Douglas Brown has obviously been in the trenches. From costing to the great forms contained in it, I can't say enough good things about this book. If you are going to buy one book (I bought dozens before I finally coughed up the bucks for it)this is the one you should own, read, study and love!

Doug Brown's Handbook is a must-have for all restaurant managers and prospective owners. I wish I'd had this when I first started out, but you can be sure it will be required reading for all my managers!

Ordering directly from his Atlantic Publishing Group is the way to go - it arrived quickly and in perfect condition.

Thanks, Doug.

Now in a completely revised and thoroughly updated third edition, The Restaurant Manager's Handbook: How To Set Up, Operate And Manage A Financially Successful Food Service Operation by Douglas Robert Brown is a solid, no-nonsense, all-encompassing curriculum to teaching oneself the basics of the restaurant business. An exhaustive compendium of step-by-step instructions, advice, checklists, legal issues, as well as encompassing an extensive listing of state restaurant associations (and so much more!) fill the pages of this "must-have" reference for anyone with a serious and dedicated interest in the dynamics of food service oriented small business ownership. A companion CD-ROM with printable versions of all the handy and useful sample forms is included.

This book offers information on starting a restaurant from the ground up. If you have just the idea of starting a restaurant, this book will take you by the hand and guide you through every step of making your idea a reality. My family owned a restaurant and I can not imagine any knowledge I gained from that experience that was not covered in this handbook. The writer goes into great detail about how important it is to pick the right location for your restaurant and match your restaurant's theme to your target market. It covers the all important factor of cleanliness and how it could make or break the success of your business. There are several worksheets in the handbook that would serve as great templates to use in real life work situations, everything from budgeting to how to write an efficient business plan.

Advertising for a small business can be very expensive, but there many great tips in the reading that will help spread the word about your establishment that are absolutely free. There is a section that will give you great ideas on hiring and keeping the best staff available. There is also advice for those who want to open a franchise, instead of going it alone. The instructions on writing a menu should be very helpful in attracting customers into your establishment. There are strategies on forecasting expenses to insure you get the maximum benefit from your cash flow. The author provides great design guidelines to set up your dinning room in order to appeal to your customers. This book would be a great resource for any restaurant owner and would serve anyone in restaurant management well.

A great resource, very comprehensive but the many, many typos make it slightly annoying to read. Several on the same page is really inexcusable. Also it feels slightly out of date, however, the information is timeless. A good buy for sure if you can lift it!