Recipe for running restaurant? Hard work, perseverance

Here's a recipe for building a successful restaurant: Take equal parts of determination, motivation, sacrifice, opportunity and passion. Mix in a business plan and add a dash of research. Cut in more cash and time than you think you'll need. Season liberally with marketing, salesmanship and a large dollop of diplomacy. Let it simmer while you add your own unique flavors to make it truly a success and stir it constantly so it doesn't boil over.

Simply put, the restaurant business is about more than food.

"You're selling a service, selling a social situation, selling yourself and your staff," said Dennis "Doc" Cain, owner of Port Cape Girardeau for the past 17 years. "A lot of different elements have to come together. I truly enjoy entertaining people who are in our restaurant. They're here because they want to have a good time."

It's also about ambiance. Andy Baranovic who owns the Sidewalk Sandwich Co. restaurant encourages local artists to hang their works in his restaurant. Frequently musicians entertain in the early evening. Customers might be drawn in by the atmosphere, but they return for the food.

"It takes a lot of research," Baranovic said. "What kind of food to serve, how to present it, location, how many people are driving by, and do you have a product people crave."

One of the challenges of running a restaurant is maintaining quality, Cain said.

"We set out to do the same thing every day of the week, and I must tell you every day is different," he said. "It adds to the overall stress level to get the job done right.

"You have to want to be in this industry," he said.

Baranovic agrees.

"Make sure you really, really, really want to do it," he said. "Think about how much of a burning desire you have to make something succeed, no matter what it takes."

Restaurants are notorious for being difficult businesses. They require licenses and inspections that other businesses don't require. Customers can be fickle.

"It's not an easy business," Cain said, adding that it's no more difficult to start a restaurant than any other new endeavor. "There are a lot of things certainly worse than being in the restaurant business and being your own boss."

Baranovic said he found out the hard way that running a restaurant can mean spending long hours there and tending to unexpected problems. Sidewalk Sandwich Co. is the first restaurant he has owned, although he has cooked and served in other restaurants. He says he learns something new everyday.

While he picked up information on the Internet, and in a book titled "Small Business for Dummies," most of his learning came on the job. He has had to learn about tax laws and what to do when an employee calls in sick.

"The hardest thing was I didn't know what to expect the first year -- how much food to buy, what if I run out, or do I throw food away."

He was unprepared for dealing with bureaucracy when he was getting the building ready to open, he said.

"Meeting the building requirements was the hardest thing," he said. "I would never et the same inspector twice. The new inspector would find something that would need to be done. It was a constant struggle to appease everybody."

Cain and Baranovic stay in the restaurant business because it's where they want to be. Anyone contemplating opening a business would be well advised to develop a business plan and stick to it, Cain said. Baranovic says he makes sure he doesn't get burned out by building in vacation time twice a year.

It takes dedication, passion, and it takes someone to come in and make all your work worthwhile.

"You have to remember the customer pays the bills," said Cain.