• CASE STUDIES. This industry has such a high failure rate, we recommend that you study each of these stories very carefully.

• TRADE ASSOCIATIONS & PUBLICATIONS. Learn more from the following:
  • Council of Independent Restaurants Association
  • International Hotel & Restaurant Association
  • International Association of Culinary Professionals
  • James Beard Foundation
  • National Restaurant Association
    
    
  • Your State's Restaurant Association: Every state has their own state association, such as the Texas Restaurant Association and there are even many regional restaurant associations. At the very least, go to your local Chamber of Commerce, and become friends with the other restaurant owners in town. Hope Lancarte (Joe T's) was given the highest honors by her local group, the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.
    
  • Look up your local chamber: click here.

• 24-hour, seven-days-a-week: Katz Deli, Austin

• Fast Food services and franchising:
  • Auntie Anne's Pretzels, Gap, Pennsylvania and the world
  • Del's Lemonade, Rhode Island and the world

• Family business - multi-generational:
  • Joe T. Garcia's, Fort Worth (five generations)
  • Mama Dips, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
  • Mo's Chowder, Oregon (three generations)

• High-end cuisine: French Laundry, Napa Valley

• Rural high-end restaurant: Sustaining a restaurant 150 miles from a major population center. Robinhood Free Meetinghouse, Georgetown, Maine

• Transformation of a community:
  • Mickey Finn's Brew Pub, Libertyville, Illinois
  • Mo's Chowder, Newport, Oregon

• Niche marketing: Wahoo's Fish Tacos and their "Boarding Tribe" throughout California and Colorado.
  

Business Basics: Review answers to the question, "Should I buy a franchise?"