If you love food, love people, and love to serve, there’s no doubt you’ve had a dream or two about opening your own restaurant. Maybe you’ve even looked into what it would take. How much it would cost. And once you’re up and running, you’ve got to keep your restaurant going strong, bring in repeat customers, create the right kind of buzz, keep a close eye on quality, hire great staff, and keep the vendors paid.
The hours are long, the challenges are never-ending, and profit margins on food are tight. Without a liquor license or other revenue stream, failure is always knocking at the door.
Certainly, the restaurant business is not for the faint of heart.
Take the story of Scott Kirmil, owner of not one but six (at last count) restaurants. Like most restaurant owners, the first few years of the journey were a test of Scott’s and his wife’s fortitude.
For the first couple of years Diego’s was open, Kirmil continued to bartend in Boston to supplement the money he and his wife were losing on the restaurant. One weekend, after his wife had told him their bank account was in the negative, he earned $2,400 in tips in three hours while bartending.
“I came back and slapped [the cash] down on the table and was like, ‘Booyah!’” Kirmil recalls. “She threw it in the account, and she’s like, ‘Ok,’ but she had this weird look on her face. I was like, ‘What?’ ‘It’s still going to be negative $100 because payroll went through today.’”
Like we said, the restaurant business is definitely not for the faint of heart.
But “faint of heart” is the last thing anyone would say about Scott Kirmil.
So how did this punk rock drummer turn Diego’s around and continue to grow his portfolio? We love this story! Read more here…