Recipe for a Signature Restaurant

Opening a restaurant can take well into a year, so plan, push and still be patient. "Budget a loss for the first few months," recommends Zagor. "You need a controlled opening so you're almost planning for a loss."

You will also need to plan for equipment breaking down. "A fan exhaust hood breaking down could be about $600, which could potentially eat up a week's worth of profits," says Tiampo. "General maintenance on a facility that turns over so many people every night is a lot of work. Getting the door open every day is a challenge."

So How Much Will You Need

Depending on where you're located, prices will vary. We're not talking just city to city; we're talking neighborhood to neighborhood. But experts recommend that you have about $100,000 to $500,000 in the bank in the event no one sits down to eat. This should pay for opening costs as well as give you a little breathing room to establish yourself. And most of the capital will come from friends and family.

Suarez had to mine his network of contacts because, despite his two-and-a-half years at successful restaurant operator BR Guest, he was still too much of a risk for a bank to loan him the needed capital.

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