Each and every year, countless numbers of individuals act on their life-long dreams and decide to open a restaurant. Many of these aspiring restaurateurs are engaging in this activity for the first time, and unfortunately they are at a greater risk for making mistakes that could unnecessarily doom their fledgling business from the start. Many of these mistakes, however, are avoidable. The shelves are full of books about restaurants. Some offer advice on operations and menu planning. Some contain inspiring photographs of interior and exterior spaces. Others share the details behind one concept or individual’s success story. But comprehensive information available on the restaurant development process is limited. The establishment of a new restaurant concept is full of emotion, surprise, frustration, risk, and satisfaction that simply cannot be conveyed in a textbook format. The Restaurant Dream? is based on a true account of one team’s efforts to develop a restaurant concept from the ground up. All aspects of the development process, from initial ideation through design, construction, opening, and the first months of operations, are covered. It is written in the form of a story, which interweaves educational material with real-life events and the unexpected twists and turns that seemed to exist around almost every corner. From elation to deception and camaraderie to lawsuits, this book shows that the surreal components of opening a restaurant are not uncommon – they are just not frequently shared. The Restaurant Dream? shares strategies, logic, successes, and failures so that the aspiring restaurateur may learn from this effort and improve their own likelihood for success.