“Hey, have you ever thought of opening your own restaurant?”
When The Aimless Cook YouTube channel was in full swing, I often heard this question. At the time, I had no intention of starting my own restaurant. In fact, I thought it was a foolish idea that I’d never give the thought of entertaining. Yet now, here I am in the year 2020 with a small restaurant that we’ve been running for 7 years. We’ve had the honour of being mentioned or featured consistently in local magazines, websites, radio, and even had an appearance on television. Other restaurant owners have asked me how we get so much media love, and I just say, it’s just a matter of keeping things interesting and relevant. I’m not going to make this all about how successful you can be in the restaurant industry if you put your mind to it. I’m not your guru. In fact, if there was any advice I would give you about opening your own restaurant, it would be simply, “don’t”.
I’ve written at length about our story before. The decision I made to quit a very lucrative and secure career to start a food business wasn’t an easy one to say the least. There were many people I talked to about making the leap into entrepreneurship, as well as many conversations rationalizing this decision with my wife. There were a lot of factors to consider which kept me up many a late night.
But here we are, 7 years later. We have seen success in my eyes, in the ways that I consider being a success. Money? Hell, no. If you want to be rich, do something else.