The Effects of Your Restaurant on Your Family

It's common for a person to place more emphasis on the opening of a restaurant than the effects of the restaurant on the people involved. By "people", I mean your family. Adding a restaurant to your family is similar to adding a child to your family. It will not only affect you, but it will drastically affect everyone in your immediate family and everyone that you know.

How in the world can such an important issue go unnoticed by so many? It's a mystery to me, but something that everyone thinking of opening a restaurant should give serious thought to.

Once the restaurant is open, here is what will happen. You will be focused on something besides your family. You will be busy. You will be tired. You will become an entirely different person with different interest in life. If you do not open with enough working capital you will also be poor which will bring even more stress to you and your family.

Wow! Why would anyone in their right mind want to open a restaurant?

While many may think that an unsuccessful restaurant is solely the result of low to no working capital, I offer this. The effect of your new restaurant changes your family and your lifestyle. The net result is a tremendous amount of stress which you and your family are not accustomed to.

In the beginning your family members may agree that they can withstand the temporary changes but in most cases, the changes are not temporary. Suddenly the family is on their own.

If the wife operates the restaurant the home front drastically changes. Now there is on one to wash the clothes, cook the meals, clean the house or keep order in the family. Your home is not a home anymore; it is only a place to sleep.

If the husband operates the restaurant the remainder of the family find that they are alone. Daddy is never around anymore and neither is my husband.

While all of these problems swirl around the household additional stress is placed on the person who is operating the restaurant. When that happens it could begin to effect the operation of the restaurant and the sales and profits of the restaurant could begin to drop. Then more stress is created until finally... Well, you understand what finally really means.

Planning the effects of the restaurant on your family before you open is critical to your success. Once the restaurant is open it as though an uncontrollable whirlwind comes rambling through your life. Lines of communication must be open before and after your restaurant is open. The key word is planning, planning, planning. Even then success is not guaranteed only more manageable.