What happened when I opened a restaurant in Portland
Philly is similar to Portland in that there&#x27;s a huge restaurant scene here. Yeah, there&#x27;s a lot of failure, but some people seem to &quot;make it&quot; not just once but multiple times as chef-owners who operate 2 or more restaurants. Yes, if you look at overall failure rate for new restaurants it is very high and it is sad to see first time owners fail, but there are some who enjoy serial success (who also fail sometimes, but can afford it).<p>The ones which I know personally who are successful all had LONG histories of working under-the-wing of a master, literally starting as a line cook and progressing to sous-chef. Along the way they get savvy to the business, make an enormous set of connections and learn their market intimately. When they break out, they start very small and later take calculated risks to expand as they&#x27;re able to survive failures.<p>Other ways people have found success is by starting as food trucks or as catering services or as suppliers (eg bakery, patisserie) to restaurants.