Pepe Stepensky
Editor’s Note: This is the 26th edition of a regular column on www.elrestaurante.com. Pepe Stepensky, a veteran restaurateur and a long-time member of the el Restaurante Advisory Panel, is offering his advice to any el Restaurante reader with a question. When he does not have a specific question to answer, he will write about the steps to opening and running a restaurant. Click here to email him a question.
By Pepe Stepensky
After more than 40 years in the restaurant business, people occasionally ask me a question that sounds simple but is surprisingly difficult to answer: “Pepe, knowing everything you know today, would you open another restaurant?”
My first reaction is to laugh. My second is to ask, “Do I get to keep everything I’ve learned, or do I have to make all those mistakes again?”
Believe me, I’ve made plenty. When I started, I believed that serving good food, treating customers well, and working hard would guarantee success. I wasn’t entirely wrong. But I was missing about 90 percent of the equation.
Nobody tells you that owning a restaurant means becoming an expert in plumbing, refrigeration, labor laws, insurance, accounting, marketing, and employee drama. Sometimes all before breakfast. And just when everything seems under control, the air conditioning breaks on the hottest day of the year.
The Business Has Changed
Forty years ago, running a restaurant wasn’t easy, but today’s challenges are different. Food costs fluctuate, wages and insurance keep increasing, and landlords sometimes seem convinced we’re all sitting on gold mines.
Meanwhile, customers want bigger portions, lower prices, faster service, and better quality. Preferably all at once. And who can blame them? They’re facing the same economic pressures.
Technology has added another dimension. Online ordering, delivery apps, social media, and review platforms have transformed the industry. One unhappy customer can share a bad experience with thousands of people before the manager even knows what happened.
Restaurants have become more complicated, expensive, and unforgiving.
Being Busy Doesn’t Mean Making Money
One of my biggest lessons is that a packed restaurant isn’t necessarily a profitable restaurant. I’ve seen busy establishments barely surviving while smaller operations with simpler menus generate excellent profits.
Revenue is exciting. Profit pays the bills.
An owner can spend an entire day serving customers, supervising employees, and solving problems, only to discover at month’s end that everyone got paid except the owner. And believe me, landlords don’t accept enthusiasm as payment.
Four Restaurants, One Owner
Owning one restaurant is challenging. Owning four takes things to another level. No matter how dedicated you are, you cannot be in four places at the same time.
One location may be running smoothly while another has a refrigerator breakdown, another is short-staffed, and a fourth has an unhappy customer. Naturally, everything happens simultaneously.
That’s why having managers you trust isn’t a luxury. It’s essential. You need people who understand your philosophy, care about the business, make good decisions, and know when to handle problems themselves.
I’ve learned something important: if you don’t trust your managers, you don’t own four restaurants. You own four headaches. And if every decision requires your approval, you haven’t built a business. You’ve created four jobs for yourself.
People Make the Difference
Over the years, I’ve worked with extraordinary employees who treated the business like their own. I’ve also encountered people capable of turning an ordinary Tuesday into a three-act theatrical production.
Managing employees requires patience, consistency, and difficult decisions. Being liked isn’t the same as being respected.
But employees remember more than their paychecks. They remember how you treated them.
My Most Important Business Partner
Restaurant ownership comes with sacrifices. Holidays, birthdays, family celebrations, and vacations don’t stop emergencies from happening. But I’ve been fortunate in one very important way: I’ve worked hand in hand with my wife throughout this journey. That has made an enormous difference.
We’re in the same boat. We understand the pressures, frustrations, responsibilities, and rewards. When something goes wrong, I don’t need to explain why I’m worried. She already understands because she’s experiencing it too.
We’ve celebrated successes, faced disappointments, and supported each other through difficult decisions.
Do we always agree? Of course not. We’re married! But having someone beside you who shares your goals and understands your challenges makes everything easier. I honestly don’t know how I could have done it without her.
Would I Do It Again?
Would I open another restaurant today, knowing the financial risks, rising costs, regulations, and endless responsibilities? Probably not. At least not the same way.
I’d think smaller, negotiate leases more carefully, simplify operations, and focus on building a business that doesn’t require my constant presence. Most importantly, I’d ask myself:
“Am I creating a business that gives me a life, or one that takes over my life?”
But would I change my decision to enter this industry? Absolutely not.
Restaurants have given me friendships, experiences, unforgettable characters, valuable lessons, and enough stories to fill several books. Some of my greatest disappointments came from this business. So did some of my proudest moments.
And there’s still something special about watching a customer take that first bite, smile, and return.
You can’t put a price on that. Well, actually, you can. That’s what the menu is for.
So, would I open another restaurant today?
My head says no. My heart says maybe. And my wife would probably say, “Are you out of your mind? Haven’t we had enough fun already?”
After all these years, I’ve learned she’s usually worth listening to.
Until next time, Ask Pepe.