Blog 14: Third Interview Preparation: How can a manager ensure a successful start-up restaurant?

*Time to listen and find some answers* *The gif is from the movie The Interview and James Franco is in the middle of an interview* *heh*

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?

I'm planning on Interviewing Enrique Kina, he is the owner of Pollos Kikiryki restaurant.

2.  Verify that you have called your interviewee to schedule an interview.  What is the date and time of the interview?

I still haven't set a date with the actual interviewee but I had asked one of my peers(who is the owners niece) if he would be okay with an interview and she said yes. Now I am planning on setting a date over the weekend.

3.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you find research resources that would help to answer the EQ.

What is the most important quality a start up restaurant must have in order to ensure success?

4.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you think about other useful activities you might do to help you answer the EQ (IC2, possible experts to talk to, etc).

Do you happen to know any other successful restaurant owners, any that might have helped you along your start up journey?

5.  Phrase two open-ended questions that help you to understand your interviewee's perspective on an aspect of your EQ. 

1. When did you know that you're restaurant was going to make it?

2. How did you get more and more people interested in your restaurant? Did you do self advertisement? Or did you just let your food do the talking?

3. How can a manager ensure a successful start-up restaurant?

Blog 13: 10 Hour Mentorship Check in

1. Where are you doing your mentorship?

I am doing my mentorship with my aunt, Karina Reel usually in her home office. At times we do go out to observe different possible locations for her specific restaurant start up or we talk to some people who can help her perfect her personal recipe. 

2. Who is your contact? What makes this person an expert? 

My contact would be Karina Reel she has has the appropriate degrees to have a start up with business administration and finance major. She has also previously had her own catering company in the past. 

3. How many hours have you done during the school year? 

I have done a total of twenty-five hours of mentorship during the school year.

4. Succinctly summarize what you did, how well you and your mentor work together, and how you plan to complete the remaining hours? 

My mentor and I sometimes  go out and do some investigation on different restaurants/fast food places and right down the "do' and dont's". I also sometimes organize my mentors papers and she asks me to take a look at her final business plan we actually went through a couple of names, which was funny because we were so set on "Yummies" in the beginning but with time that changed. My mentor and I have gotten very close over the days that we have been working together, it's fun and interesting to brainstorm with her. I plan on continuing my work with her by this summer she will hopefully have her business up. 

Blog 12- Holiday Project Update

*Getting back to school, time to put my grr face on*

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you do over the break with your senior project?

I actually continued to work on my independent component during my "me times" when I wasn't spending time with my family. I got to finish up the executive summary part of my business plan although technically that is something that is saved for last, I already had a general idea of what I wanted in a restaurant, so I can just change up some parts as I continue on completing my business plan. I also got to spend some more time with my mentor, we had some brief talks about my business plan. 

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

The most important thing I learned is that time and structure is everything. I had actually started off my business plan thinking I was just going write about a simple Italian restaurant but then I started thinking more about perhaps making it a bit more new, something more challenging and I started thinking about a vegan only restaurant, I started thinking about the different costs since vegetables and other vegan dietary substances do actually cost more than pastas. I also started thinking about how many people are actually interested in vegan food, I want to be able to reach a broader range of customers. How can I convince other perhaps non-vegans to give my restaurant a try? Hopefully this will be more of a challenge and so far I'm having fun with it. 

3.  Your third interview will be a 10 question interview related to possible answers for your EQ. Who do you plan to talk to and why?

I actually plan to talk to one of my friends uncles, she has two uncle's that own a Peruvian restaurant if I recall correctly, she offered to help me get an interview with them. I'm hoping since they are two restaurant owning people they can give me an honest report on what it is like for them to run their restaurant.