My name is Kayla François and I major in Hospitality Management at City Tech. Hospitality

generally involves culinary. After my City Tech career is over I want to pursue starting and

owning my own restaurant. This career is best for me because I am a people person. I also want

to invest in something that I can pass down to my children in the future, and because of the

salary. There are so many jobs to obtain in the culinary industry but being my own boss while

doing what I love fits my criteria so well. For this essay I will be giving a culinary background,

and support it with evidence. Lastly, I will be giving some pointers on how to get started in this

specific area.

My major is Hospitality Management/BTech and I want to pursue a career in owning my own

restaurant. I will be giving you a little background information on these things. Hospitality

management is a major that will teach me a lot of the ins and outs of the culinary industry that I

need to know which includes “Food Sanitation and Safety Principles, Food and Beverage Cost

Control, Lodging Operations Management, and Hospitality Marketing” (page 162). One of the

more important things I can imagine I would need to know about is “Restaurant Management”

(page 165) because this is the job description I want to fit in. I know that when owning,

managing and maintaining a restaurant, it can be stressful and rewarding at the same time.

Another area that may become important is “Menu Planning and Design” (165). It’s important to

know what I am going to sell and how I want my restaurant to look. If I decide to do a five star

restaurant, I cannot serve hot dogs and French fries on a paper plate. My cuisine and design has

to mingle. “Choosing a location” (page 1) is equally important when starting a restaurant of my

own. I can’t sell pork and gelatin in a Muslim dominant area because my business will not do

well since they don’t eat that stuff. As you just read there are many things that go into this

career and that wasn’t even one-sixteenths of it! With this degree, the great benefit of starting

your own restaurant is that you’re free to choose any style you want whether it is fast food,

vegetarian, organic and even vegan! You can create an original restaurant without franchising or

you can decide to become a franchiser.

 

 

 

I have given you background information on culinary and my dream career, now I will get

into specifics for my reasons when deciding what career I wanted to pursue. My first reason for

my choice in owning a restaurant in the culinary field is because I am a people person. When

working in this industry, I will be constantly interacting with people whether it be supervisors,

employees, customers, or vendors. The list goes on and on so I have to enjoy talking to people

on a daily basis to create new ideas, accommodate them, and also helping them out. For

example, if I have a customer who cannot really see the menu well and all of my employees are

preoccupied, as a manager I have to step in to help this customer out by telling them what we

have to offer and help them figure out what they want to eat. While doing so, I have to be

patient and might have to repeat myself a couple of times. If I was not comfortable talking to

people on a daily basis then I do not think that I could pursue this career. A lot of

communication is involved in this career daily and consistently along with interaction.

My second reason for wanting to own a restaurant is because I want to be able to leave my

children something in the future. There are families who are fortunate enough to be born into

wealth, but I did not get that lucky. I want to be able to give my children something that could

last a lifetime. The start of my own restaurant can definitely keep money coming into my family

for generations to come as long as they are consistent. I am going to make sure I teach them

the ins and outs of owning and maintaining a restaurant so that they can carry that wisdom

down as the generations go by. I just want to make sure that my children always have

something going for them and that they always have a plan B to fall back on.

My third reason for wanting to own a restaurant is because of the salary. According to the

Bureau of LaborStatistics, “General and operations managers make about $72,000 a year”

(Bureau). That is a lot more than the average yearly income of a New Yorker. If I am making that

much money a year, I will be able to take care of my family, pay bills and live comfortably. I do

not want to struggle to make ends meet by living off of paycheck to paycheck.

Lastly, I want to be able to start saving up the money for my children’s education from when

they are young or even before they are born.

 

I have given you my reasons for wanting to get into the culinary field of owning my own

restaurant and your reasons may vary from mine or they may be similar. Now I want to give you

some preparation tips for starting and owning your own restaurant. According to professor

Cantagallo who used to own his own restaurant the first thing you will need is of course

“money; how much will I need to open? How much would I need to stay open for the year?”

(Cantagallo, par 3). These are some concerns that come into play when preparing to get your

restaurant on its feet. Money is definitely a big factor because you will have to constantly have

to pay rent, pay for maintenance, pay your vendors to restock your food, and so much more. In

order to keep money coming in you have to be very successful or else your business will shut

down faster than you think. Most times there are no room for mistakes, even little ones can

cause your business to end. Another tip that can be very helpful is “décor, layout and menu.

What does the colors, textures, and layout say about me? How many people can I fit in the

space and how much stuff such as equipment, and furniture can I fit into the space provided?

How would my existing kitchen equipment define what I can produce in the kitchen? How much

staff would I need to execute the menu?” (Cantagallo, par 3). You cannot have a country setting

for décor for a five star top chef quality restaurant. It just doesn’t match. You also cannot have

stay and eat style restaurant layout if you only have enough space for a kitchen, you would have

to do a take-out layout for your restaurant. As for the menu, you cannot serve things like pork

and gelatin in a Muslim dominant area, your business just would not do well. One more tip that

I will give you is marketing. “How could I build a buzz about the restaurant without spending

money on advertising?” (Cantagallo, par 3). Well you can always start on the Internet by creating

a website. Creating websites are free and you control what is advertised without anyone else’s

consent. You can also advertise on your own personal social accounts! Everyone is on social

websites so you’re guaranteed to pull in a couple of customers this way. Lastly, you can

advertise on yelp where people are always looking for places to go and reviews, yelp will help

you pull in plenty of customers! It’s all about being creative and cheap because at this point,

especially just starting out, every penny counts.

Remember that owning a restaurant isn’t easy to start but if you are persistent then it can be

very rewarding. This is also a time to get creative with themes, menus, and so much more.

Culinary alone plays a big part in the world because we eat daily, and it is just a part of who we

are. I can only imagine how much bigger culinary is going to get in the next few generations.

Cited Work

Cantagallo, Alejandro. Email to the author. 27. Nov. 2014. Email

Francois, Kayla. “City Tech Building.” Flickr. 2 Dec 2014. Web. 5 Dec 2014

Francois, Kayla. “Hospitality Management Information.” Flickr. 5 Dec 2014. Web. 5

Dec 2014

Francois, Kayla. “No Fast Food Restaurant.” Flickr. 5 Dec 2014. Web. 5 Dec 2014.

New York City Technology. College catalog 2014-2015. 2014. PDF. 15.

Oct.2014

United States. Dept. of Lab. Bureau of Labor Statistics.” General and

Operations Managers”. Bureau of Labor Statistics Dept. of Labor. May 2013. Web. 25 Nov.2014