As I mentioned in class I'm leaning in the direction of having a combination of several small projects that work together to make a full project. Here are some of my ideas so far:
1) Interview as many restaurateurs (both in and outside of Boone) as I can and find out their story (why they got into the business, how they got into the business, unexpected obstacles, etc...). In addition to putting together a write-up for each one I might be able to put together some sort of reflection paper on what I learned from their stories.
2) Put on a full dinner party. Charge between $10-$20 a person and have a full dinner with appetizers, main course, desserts, drinks, etc... Probably wouldn't want to do more than 12 people although it depends on where I'm doing it.
3) Put together a paper that encompasses everything I've learned while perhaps incorporating my own journey into it. I'm not sure if it's my love for Hunter Thompson or my hatred for most academic writing, but if I were to end up putting together a paper I couldn't imagine separating myself from it.
In regards to influences.... they're everywhere! Number one is obviously my passion for both cooking and eating. It was a huge part of my upbringing and I still eat food almost every day... Other than that I'd have to say two of my biggest influences are Mike Nelson (owns the restaurant I work at now) and Bill Norman (started several restaurants and is a family friend). I've always loved food but was weary of getting into the restaurant business. Growing up I enjoyed arguing all the time so my mother told me I'd make a great lawyer. I told her "you show me a happy lawyer and maybe I'll consider it." Mike and Bill are living proof that you can not only run a restaurant (and well I might add) but you can have a life and be happy at the same time. Seeing that this is possible is probably my biggest influence. Now with less detail here are a few more influences: Anthony Bourdain, Richard Carp, work experience, dining experiences, Pony & Eya Morell (Pasta Wench), Mom & Dad, my own hunger, the farm to table movement, and finally community/people in general.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Who am I and why am I here?
I'm Andrew and I'm here to prepare myself to become a restaurant owner. I tried taking a couple business courses but I just didn't really get much out of them. Then somehow I ended up in a class with Richard Carp. Then for some reason I decided to keep taking classes with him. It hurt but it hurt good. From Richard I gained humility and a new awareness of the world around me. I could go on for quite some time about all of that but as I'm pretty sure everyone in here is familiar with Richard on some level I'll just say he put a better head on my shoulders. While it has been my goal to open up a restaurant I understood that I could end up doing any number of things in my life. With so many possibilities (some known, many not) it seemed like my best bet in college was to prepare myself for anything. Well, I got through 3 straight years of Carp, I'm alive, and I fear nothing!
Getting back on track.... The way I see it, there are three separate components to running a successful restaurant. First, you have to be able to cook food that someone else wants to eat. This is the one I've studied the least through school however my research in Joe's Cuba class was on cuisine so I did a good bit of cooking for that. Next it is imperative to have business sense. Minoring in Entrepreneurship forced me to put together a couple business plans (very useful exercise). Additionally I took a couple other classes in Accounting and Management to try to round off my business skills. Finally, and probably what I've focused on most in my time here in Boone, any successful restaurant needs to embed itself within the community that its located in. So many times restaurants try to open that have a great menu, great management, great location, but they still fail. The problem often is that the owner is so caught up with his/her vision that they forget to take into account the actual people that they hope to have come into their restaurant. Rather than give the people what they want, they try to tell people what they want. That rarely works. Point is, it's important to know the community and to become a part of that community.
With all of this said, I've got to be honest, school has almost been a supplement to my real-life and work experience. Having worked in the food industry for nearly a decade and having many family members and close friends in the industry, I've picked up most of my knowledge for how to make this sort of thing happen outside of the classroom. That being said, school has helped me with two things I think are imperative to running any business: creativity and the ability to think on my feet. *Abrupt ending*
Getting back on track.... The way I see it, there are three separate components to running a successful restaurant. First, you have to be able to cook food that someone else wants to eat. This is the one I've studied the least through school however my research in Joe's Cuba class was on cuisine so I did a good bit of cooking for that. Next it is imperative to have business sense. Minoring in Entrepreneurship forced me to put together a couple business plans (very useful exercise). Additionally I took a couple other classes in Accounting and Management to try to round off my business skills. Finally, and probably what I've focused on most in my time here in Boone, any successful restaurant needs to embed itself within the community that its located in. So many times restaurants try to open that have a great menu, great management, great location, but they still fail. The problem often is that the owner is so caught up with his/her vision that they forget to take into account the actual people that they hope to have come into their restaurant. Rather than give the people what they want, they try to tell people what they want. That rarely works. Point is, it's important to know the community and to become a part of that community.
With all of this said, I've got to be honest, school has almost been a supplement to my real-life and work experience. Having worked in the food industry for nearly a decade and having many family members and close friends in the industry, I've picked up most of my knowledge for how to make this sort of thing happen outside of the classroom. That being said, school has helped me with two things I think are imperative to running any business: creativity and the ability to think on my feet. *Abrupt ending*
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