I poured my blood, sweat and life savings into my restaurant. It ruined my life.
&gt; In 2011, I applied to operate a booth at the Toronto Underground Food Market [...] my fingers cramping so severely from peeling 100 pounds of potatoes that I almost called 911. [...] I lost money<p>So his first experience was extremely painful, almost landed you in the emergency room, and you lost money on it.  What valuable lessons he learned going forward?<p>&gt; I didn’t care.<p>None.<p>&gt; Eighty per cent of first-time restaurateurs fail. I knew this. Opening a restaurant was the least sensible, dumbest thing I could do. My wife, Dorothy, a daycare worker, was coasting toward the end of a maternity leave, and we had two kids to feed.<p>It&#x27;s so rare to see people <i>brag</i> about being reckless, irresonsible, and wasteful of resources they cannot afford to waste.<p>&gt; “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked. “I don’t think you know what you’re getting yourself into.”<p>Friends who knew what they were talking about tried to warn him off.<p>&gt; My shifts consisted of a few leisurely hours chopping veg and prepping salad dressings.<p>Any opportunity for experience is to be strictly avoided.  &quot;The law says I need to know how a restaurant works?  I know better!&quot;<p>&gt; My role was largely symbolic anyway<p>No it wasn&#x27;t.<p>&gt; As it turns out, no one invests in first-time restaurateurs, no matter how mind-blowing they think their cooking is.<p>Man, I wonder why?  More to the point, it&#x27;s clear he never did.<p>&gt; I realized it was far from the downtown foodie scene [...] Admittedly, I had an ulterior motive: the place was a 10-minute walk from my house and close to the girls’ school<p>He purposefully chose a bad location, knowing it was a bad location, because it was convenient for him.<p>...I&#x27;ve got to stop reading, this is actually enraging me.  It&#x27;s so <i>dumb</i>, and he seems so <i>proud</i>.