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Don’t be scared to do the hard yards when they ar
e needed How to open a restaurant? In my experience, usually failing at it first helps – you may as well get all the learning done and dusted and out of the way as soon as possible. The most important thing to do before anything else is to simply figure out exactly what you want from a restaurant, and what you are prepared to do to make that real. When you have that then you need to focus on how you communicate that in the right kind of language, and then how you can help persuade other people on board to help shape and add to it all. You have got to surround yourself with bloody amazing people that are way better than you could ever dream of being, give them direction, pay them fairly and motivate them, all while never standing on others’ toes, looking over shoulders or belittling them in any way. Don’t be scared to do the hard yards when they are needed as, if you don’t at that exact point in time, it will definitely bite you on the arse down the line. You need to undersell and overdeliver, and I really believe that you need to be a cook. Don’t even think about opening a restaurant if you can’t cook or if you think you might have a good idea but you don’t have a chef who you can trust with your life. The food and wine needs to always be the talking point. Always. Although, at the same time, never forget about lighting, temperature and music volume either. Finally, try to remember above all that opening and running restaurants is all about making people happy – you, your staff, your suppliers and your customers. Work with a smile on your face. Niall Davidson Chef and partner at Allta (see Gastro review on p60) allta.ie How to open a pub? Thanks to outdated Irish licensing laws, opening a pub in Dublin is hard. You need patience, perseverance, imagination and a plan. Some money helps too, although maybe not as much as you think. Begin the hunt early, be open-minded, be creative in your approach. Figure out where you want to fit into the local and wider pub context. Once you get the doors open, catch your breath and knuckle down. Running a seven day a week hospitality business is going to draw on every bit of your resourcefulness. There’s no sitting back. However, when you get it right, and people start to come - and come back with pals - that’s a great feeling. You need to really want to run a pub. The sexy bit is only 5-10% of the time if you are lucky. If you have doubts, read Setting the Table by Danny Meyer. It’s about his restaurants but all his well-articulated hospitality principals equally apply to pubs. If it resonates with you, if you feel excited at the end of the book, then open a pub. John Mahon Co-owner of Lucky’s and The Circular luckys.ie @thecirculardublin 26