Book excerpt: Comprehensively covers opening and running a restaurant-revised and updated A successful restaurant is a dream business. It offers guests a fabulous experience, while the restaurateur gets an exciting workplace, creative license, and potentially nice profit margins. Of course, restaurant success does not arrive on a silver platter. It takes know-how, the right planning, and access to quality information. A one-stop guide to the business, The Restaurant: From Concept to Operation, Fifth Edition gives readers the knowledge they need to conceive, open, and run any type of restaurant, from fast-food franchise to upscale dining room. The book progresses logically, from choosing a good concept to finding a market, developing business and marketing plans, and securing financial backing. Topics covered include location selection, permits and legal issues, menu development, interior design, and employee hiring and training. Along the way, such all-important skills as turning first-time guests into regular patrons are also described. Special features of this Fifth Edition include: Increased focus on the independent restaurateur, with greater emphasis on restaurant business plans A new chapter on food production and sanitation Greater emphasis on restaurant business plans, including new exercises New Profiles, which describe a recently opened restaurant, begin Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 New coverage of restaurant concepts and use of technology in restaurants Expanded sections on back-of-the-house and control contents; franchising; and leasing and insurance This field-proven guide gives students, chefs, and entrepreneurs all of the skills and information they need to master every challenge and succeed in this highly competitive and rewarding industry.