Becoming a Restaurateur

Masters at Work

by Patric Kuh

Becoming a Restaurateur takes readers behind the scenes of one of America’s trendiest new restaurants, revealing how Lien Ta and chef Jonathan Whitener of LA’s Here’s Looking at You managed to beat the odds. With valuable information about what daily life for a professional is like, this is an entertaining, practical guide to what makes a master restaurateur, from writing the business plan to opening night and beyond.

Genres: Nonfiction

129 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 7, 2019

About the author

Patric Kuh is a Paris-trained chef who has worked in preeminent restaurants in France, New York, and California. He has written for Gourmet, Esquire, and Salon.com and is the author of a novel, An Available Man. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was OK. I liked that it was a quick read. Even for me. i liked the appendix with book recommendations and even a Youtube show.
Reading this book made me that about whether I want to own and run a restaurant. I have not been a restaurant for years. I like the idea of making food and serving it to people. I think I would rather own a food cart that would sell only a few items.
I recently saw on TV news show a story about a 93 year old man who got tired of being retired so he started a show that sells cupcakes. And now he wants to star an ice cream shop. I think something like that is what I would rather do than run a restaurant.
Maybe I could own a doughnut shop or a coffee cart or a pizza by the slice cart. That sounds more interesting to me than owing a restaurant.

[Sandy Cho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Opened my eyes to the hidden world of managing a restaurant and how much work and details it takes for one to get a restaurant started, manage it, and make it successful. Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys visiting restaurants - you’ll start to appreciate it more and understand the art behind it all

[Tram-Anh Huynh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never worked in the restaurant industry and found all the considerations for a future restauranteur interesting. I liked that the journalist interviewed the owners of a specific successful restaurant (Here's Looking at You) instead of outlining a general how-to.

[Thomas Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as Masters at Work title on becoming a somm but well worth reading if you eat out a lot and wish to know more on restaurant life. The number one fact I found was that the price of a glass of wine is the same as the wholesale price of a bottle of that wine — wow!

[Halee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved this. Slow at first, but by half way I was loving in. Super intimate, inside look at the life of a restaurant owner. Learned something and was inspired too!! Win-win.

[Tim Schannauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick good read. For anybody interested in what it takes to start and operate a restaurant.
“There is so much work to be done”

[Harry Brake · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never even knew this Masters at Work series existed! What is a huge asset is this is a series that has journalists that shadow professionals in the you experience many aspects of details that let you in on what it takes to experience a particular profession.

I loved the resources also provided at the end of the novel, and loved the in depth interviews with, in this case, restaurant owners, cooks, chefs, and more. Form the financials to schedules, to what you need to have as a mentality if thinking of this profession, great insight.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice book, mostly about Here's Looking at You in Koreatown, and somewhat about Rossoblu, in the Fashion District of Downtown Los Angeles. I've been to both places, and I'm a regular (you might almost say "family) at Rossoblu. I learned quite a bit about how things work in high-profile restaurants in LA, and it made me think I should go back to Here's Looking at You, which I haven't been to. It also covered All Day Baby, a Here's Looking at You project in Echo Park, and ot piqued my interest about that as well.