Sally, your best friend from childhood, is a fourth-year student at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). Whenever you hooked up, you two spent the entire time planning the “dream restaurant.” It was always an inspiration and, ultimately, what lead her to go to a culinary school. You would always tease her that she did not need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to operate a food truck. You were always intrigued by the hospitality industry and ended up at ERAU’s flight school. Sally would always tease you back by saying you did not need to learn to fly the plane to be a flight attendant. But she knew you were a wiz at business and felt comfortable with you managing the business end of the venture. “Just think,” Sally said. “Opening a high-end white-tablecloth restaurant with a fancy name, live entertainment with outdoor tables on a balmy cool-breeze night by a Florida beach – wouldn’t that be amazing?!”
Sally said,”After performing some preliminary research, it’s now or never!” You both have been pooling resources for some time. You have stockpiled a ton of money from your inventions, investments, and network marketing operations. Sally, too, has accumulated her share of funds from the lucrative government catering contracts.
After discussing her notes, you suggested that she research the requirements for starting up the business, and you would complete those functions. You both realized that by investing in these activities early, there would be substantial cost savings. Sally agreed that it was best if she concentrated on the development of the back of the house functions in the kitchen design and restaurant layout. Sally has been experimenting with new food preparation technologies. Her goal is to create a menu that appeals to high-end customers who like to experiment with original exotic flavors and culinary delights. She has been in the experimental cooking labs at school learning cutting edge food preparation technics. You agreed that with her experience running her multi-million dollar catering business, it would be best if she will take the lead in providing direction for the design and management style of the food and beverage aspects backroom side of the company. As a student at the CIA, she has had multiple courses on restaurant management.
Fortunately, you are enrolled in a business law course this semester covering the essentials of legal theory and business operations that should be helpful. The course design provides a hands-on use of authentic legal and business-planning tools and documentation required to start and operate a business. The course is going to provide a wealth of information.
Sally agreed to handle and provide various issues that need documentation. As a lifelong friend of Sally, you remember one important thing; she always has many questions. Sally expects deadlines to be met on time and to perfection. You always tease Sally that it’s like having a professor around all the time; all you want to do is assign a grade to everything! So you have developed the habit of reading all the support material you can find and performing research that you can use to document everything using a standard legal format that demonstrates that you have good sources or documentation for your work. She expects that you will read your course textbook. You must perform outside research, and review all references provided as resources to assist you in constructing your work product critical to building a sound business plan and completing all of the requirements for a legally recognized company.
