Perhaps the single most important counsel I give to clients wanting to open a restaurant is to know their values: to be absolutely clear on why they are entering this industry, what they hope to give, and what they hope to gain.

Like most people on the restaurant side, it’s easy for me to fall into the landlord-as-villain mindset. Restaurant operators will climb over each other to secure completely unaffordable leases and then cry foul when the monthly P&L draws gasps of despair.

I’ve made this recipe as achievable as possible, but it’s not dumbed down at all - this makes a fantastic loaf, and it’s my go-to recipe at home.

If you're fairly new to making your own bread, I would only ask that you give yourself a little time to practice. Don’t expect perfection first time around.

Here’s the recipe I use for my sourdough starter. It’s so simple and it works! I’ve also included a load of notes below to help answer some questions you might have, and I’ll be posting more bread content very soon…

There are so many things to consider when opening a restaurant, any attempt to cover them all would make for a very, very long article. 

That said, some are more important than others. 

Like most British people I used to look on in admiration when I saw someone making a polite but firm complaint about their meal.

An American friend of mine manages to flag the waiter, have them take away and replace the offending item with barely an interruption to the flow of our conversation.

If you're going vegan, or just trying to limit the amount of meat in your diet, you'll definitely want some interesting new recipes in your repertoire. 

You might not know what a checkback is, but there’s a good chance you hate it all the same.

Restaurant kitchens have changed a lot in recent years, but they remain a subculture with rules and norms that just couldn't exist in most modern workplaces. 

I want people to get a sense of what it's actually like to be a part of a tough kitchen brigade, so I called up one of the year’s most talked about restaurants and asked to come in and work for them for a shift or two. The owner had a reputation for hostility, bordering on madness, so I knew at the very least it wouldn’t be a boring day.