Opening a restaurant is not rocket science but a few simple mistakes especially in the early stages can mean success or failure. Deciding to become a restaurant owner is always risky business. Opening up is the easy part. Keeping the doors open and the seats filled is where it gets tricky. There is a whole smorgasbord of things to consider before blindly rushing forward.

If you do not own the building where you plan to open your business, you will have to enter into a lease arrangement with the landlord. Typically these leases require a long term commitment, which means that you had better investigate thoroughly the feasibility of that location. If you select a bad location and try to get out early, you could be faced with law suits or stiff penalties.

The initial capital expenditures for building lease, leasehold improvements, outfitting the kitchen, seating, lighting, flooring and all other pre-opening costs can easily reach $200,000 or more. And if you pour all your money into the wrong location, that money is as good as gone. You cant take the leasehold improvements with you. On the other hand, the owner of a mobile food business has a substantially lower initial investment with a much smaller risk factor. If things do not work out at one location, he can hook up his concession trailer and bring his business to customers at a different location. And take his entire investment along with him.

In the initial 6-12 months or longer, be prepared to spend long hours and weekends away from your friends and family. If you are fortunate enough to make it, it will be due to a combination of hard work and dumb luck. If, on the other hand, your efforts prove futile, be prepared for the inevitable, specifically, you ending up as another statistic in the food industry, without friends, family or savings to fall back on.

Staffing a restaurant and keeping it staffed will be one of the most difficult and time consuming tasks the new restaurant owner will face. Unless you have a large family and friends to tap from, you will be constantly hiring, training and firing both full-time and part-time employees.

Managing a restaurant staff is a difficult task. It can be one headache after another. Employers find that many restaurant employees are unreliable and uncooperative. The restaurant business is plagued with staff turnovers. To add insult to injury your good employees are often wooed away by your competitors.

There are a number of other factors to take into consideration which will be covered in detail in subsequent articles. The list includes city ordinances and Health Department rules and regulations; advertising and marketing; menu selections; working capital reserves; inventory control; waste; bookkeeping; incorporation; income taxes, payroll and more. Running a successful restaurant is not a one-man job. You need a team of professional dedicated people and even then it never runs smoothly.

Opening a restaurant in the best of times is difficult. A weak economy certainly doesnt help. Before you dive in head first, do your homework and weigh all your options. One journalist jokingly commented that, If your restaurant is failing at least you dont have to worry about competition. On the other hand, if you are successful, that too may be short-lived as competitors move into your area, to capitalize on your new found wealth, with bigger and fancier restaurants to steal your customers away.

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Opening a Restaurant Is Not Something to Be Undertaken By the Feint Hearted

Exercise burns fat. Excess weight causes a cycling effect. You become more fatigued with more weight and less apt to exercise or do other things that will help maintain a lower weight. Even eating moderately without exercise will result in increased weight. It doesn’t have to be a 3-hour stint at the gym to become healthier. You can lose weight without that huge block of time at the gym. Gradually increase the exercise and you’ll find yourself breaking that negative cycle.

Eating well balanced meals are the key to maintaining your health as a diabetic. Combine this with a daily exercise regime to use more calories than you take in. “Give me meat and potatoes!” used to be my motto. Then the doctor told me my triglycerides were up and if I didn’t start eating better I’d end up with diabetes. Talk about a scare! That caused me to start eating on a smaller plate, taking smaller portions and eating more vegetables. Eating fewer calories than you use (i.e. eat 1200 calories - use 1400 calories) is the key to gradual weight loss and a healthier body.

There are two schools of thought about vegetables. One supports the benefit of more enzymes in raw vegetables. The other raves about the extra flavor you can add even though you lose some of the beneficial enzymes in the cooking process. Raw fruits and vegetables provide more enzymes and fewer calories. Those vegetables that provide extra fiber in your diet also help you feel full without eating a lot of extra calories.

Don’t feel like a “health nut” if you consider squeezing your own juice. That’s a stereotype given to people who generally put health above all else in life. Well, let’s face it. If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, you SHOULD be taking better care of your health and squeezing your own juice is one way to do that. Using a blender and avoiding adding extra sugar will give you juices that have a lot of good enzymes, lower sugar content and are better for you. You might even try guava or red grapes. They make a tasty juice as well as controlling your blood sugar level.

High carbohydrates, fat and sugar content are the bad parts of this society’s eating habit. So many fast food restaurants have popped up that make meals quick (i.e. frying) and sweet (soda, shakes and even little sweet pies) it is difficult to find ways to eat away from home and maintain a healthy diet for the diabetic. No one said you couldnt have ANY of those things, but you MUST balance the things you eat.

A lot of vegetables are rich in fiber that helps clean fats and blood glucose from your body. This helps you lower blood sugar levels. A lot of people eat salads (frequently) to maintain their diabetic diets. The real confusing part of this plan is that salad dressings many times contain mayonnaise and sugars to improve flavor. While the flavor is improved, the sugar level of the salad skyrockets to concerning levels. The main thing to consider here is either low calorie salad dresings or moderation. Moderation can be used as a control factor.

While the pancreas produces insulin to regulate the sugar level in the blood, one of it’s main purposes is to produce enzymes to help with digestion. Over time, it loses the ability to function properly in most people. Then come the problems associated with diabetes. Our job at that point is to help the body digest foods and regulate sugar levels. We may add acidophilus to help digestion. Then we regulate the diet to reduce the need for insulin production.

Four of the fat-fighting compounds you can always count on are calcium, fiber, omega-3s and vitamin D. Calcium is found in dairy products. When considering dairy keep in mind it’s best to use fat-free or soy milk products. Whole grains, fruits and vegetables are high in fiber. Walnuts, flax seed and fish contain a lot of omega-3s while vitamin D is found not only in dairy products, but also in eggs and fish like tuna, salmon and sardines.

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Doc Told Me I’m Diabetic - Bummer - Now What?

Layered Salad A perfect salad to bring to a party. 10 slices bacon, sautéed until crisp, and crumbled 1 medium head iceberg lettuce, shredded 2 large tomatoes, sliced 1 large red onion, thinly...

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Crock Pot Pulled Pork Fajitas 1 (2-1/2 lb.) pork boneless loin roast, trimmed of fat 1 medium onion, thinly sliced 2 cups barbecue sauce 3/4 cup Old El Paso® Thick 'n Chunky salsa 1 TB chili...

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Crispy Onion Chicken

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 can (6 ounces) cheddar or original French-fried onions, crushed

In a shallow bowl, combine the butter, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic salt and pepper. Dip chicken in the butter mixture, then coat with onions. Place in a greased 9-in. square baking pan. Top with any remaining onions; drizzle with any remaining butter mixture. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until chicken juices run clear. Yield: 4 servings

Ezen az ízkombináción még én is meghökkentem, amikor megpillantottam az ízek bibliájában. Kedvet kaptam az épp szezonban lévő kaliforniai paprikára, s emiatt azt nézegettem, hogy mivel lehetne illetve mivel ajánlott párosítani. A paprikához ajánlott hozzávalók listájában ugyan sehol sem szerepelt a ribizli, de a lista alján a következő tippet találtam: kaliforniai paprika, bazsalikom, ribizli, fokhagyma, fenyőmag, sherry ecet. Ez mind így együtt! Ez mind így együtt???


Kicsit eltöprengtem rajta, hogy mit milyen formában varázsoljak a tányérra, no meg hogy milyen arányokban fog ez az ízkombináció egyáltalán működni. Végül ezt a frissítő előételt / főétel előtti könnyítő fogást találtam ki, melynél a bazsalikommal díszített sárga kaliforniai paprikából készült és egy kevés ecettel ízesített sorbet úszik a ribizlitengerben, néhány szem ribizlivel és pörkölt fenyőmaggal övezve. A fokhagymára olyan ötletem támadt, hogy habzó vajban apró kis ropogós kockákat sütöttem belőle és a paprikafagyiba kavartam bele - amolyan hagyományos fagyik díszeként ismert cukordarabkákat utánozva. Az ízek tényleg nagyon jól harmonizáltak, úgyhogy a (közel)jövőben más formában ismét meg fogom valósítani ;) (recept)

    All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2009 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First

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Any diet that requires you to go low carbohydrate and use only low carbohydrate vegetables is telling you that you need to hunt for vegetables that are low in carbohydrates. You need to use these vegetables in stead of your regular vegetables. There are many great tasting meals that you can make with low carb vegetables.

They can be used in your various diet recipes or used for salads. They are great by themselves as healthy snacks and you can also blend them for a nutritious drink. The many websites that offer recipes for low carb cooking and meals might have some recipes that will let you use your low carb vegetables.

How about turning out a magnificent meal using only low carb foods. You can give a great side dish full of low carbohydrate vegetables that have been transformed into a tasty salad. This salad can be garnished with many interesting foods that are also low carbohydrate but taste great by themselves as well.

For example, you could make a salad from low carb vegetables that include boneless beef, top sirloin steak, fresh lemon juice, gourmet salad greens, medium plum tomatoes, ranch or blue cheese dressing. You can make a seasoning for this salad from dried oregano, garlic cloves and pepper.

As you can now see, there are many ways that you can combine your low carb vegetables with other foods to make superb meals for you and others to eat. The main thing to remember is not to put foods like a heavy French dressing on your low carb vegetables. This will turn your nutritious low carb vegetables into something heavy.

There are times|instances| in your low carb cooking when you can make use of only one of the low carb vegetables to give you a fantastic dish that looks mouth-watering. This type of low carb recipe will call for only a low carb vegetable like an aubergine. This vegetable is very versatile and you can use it in very many ways.

When you decide to eat low carb vegetables in this way, you take your cooking experience into another realm of gourmet food. The many low carb recipes that you can find on the Internet, will let you make great dishes with your low carb vegetables. After all, low carbohydrate just means eating other types of vegetables and showing your taste buds low carb meals.

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Vegetables with Low Carbs

Just in time for the July 4th BBQ’s…  This recipe goes great on chicken.

1/2 cup Chunky-style Prego sauce
1/2 cup Del Monte Ketchup
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Vinegar
1/8 teaspoon Dry mustard
1 teaspoon Chili powder
Combine thoroughly and refrigerate, tightly covered, to use within 90 days or freeze to thaw and use within 1 year.