Entrepreneur Paper Interview
Panino Restaurant
The entrepreneur that I interviewed was Lydia Patterson. In 1989, Lydia and her husband, Lou, decided to start planning to open up a new Italian restaurant in Virginia. The restaurant industry, especially in the Washington DC area is very competitive. It is highly competitive with respect to price, value and promotions, service, location, and food quality. There are a substantial number of restaurant operations that compete for customer traffic, some of which have significantly greater resources to aggressively market to consumers, which could result in losing market share. Consumers are highly focused on value and if other restaurants are able to promote and deliver a higher degree of value, guest traffic levels may suffer, impacting revenues. When Lou and Lydia decided to take the risk and enter the restaurant industry, they knew that they would be taking the previously stated risks. To conduct my research, I went to the current restaurants that the Patterson family opened, met with the owner whom in which I interviewed with, spoke with a customer, and researched opening a restaurant business. I also looked into why certain restaurant businesses fail. The remainder of the report discusses the opportunities that Lydia saw before opening the restaurants as well as her influences, the steps that she took in order to start the business as well as the set backs that occurred throughout the way. Lydia knew that she had to hire a staff in order to help her succeed in achieving her dreams of opening her own business; this will also be discussed later on in the report. In order for a business to grow, an entrepreneur needs to have future plans and a growth strategy. Lydia did all of this throughout her current venture and she is continuously trying to improve her business. Lydia met her husband, Lou, at the Culinary Institute of America. Both husband and wife knew how to cook very well and always dreamed of opening up a restaurant
The entrepreneur that I interviewed was Lydia Patterson. In 1989, Lydia and her husband, Lou, decided to start planning to open up a new Italian restaurant in Virginia. The restaurant industry, especially in the Washington DC area is very competitive. It is highly competitive with respect to price, value and promotions, service, location, and food quality. There are a substantial number of restaurant operations that compete for customer traffic, some of which have significantly greater resources to aggressively market to consumers, which could result in losing market share. Consumers are highly focused on value and if other restaurants are able to promote and deliver a higher degree of value, guest traffic levels may suffer, impacting revenues. When Lou and Lydia decided to take the risk and enter the restaurant industry, they knew that they would be taking the previously stated risks. To conduct my research, I went to the current restaurants that the Patterson family opened, met with the owner whom in which I interviewed with, spoke with a customer, and researched opening a restaurant business. I also looked into why certain restaurant businesses fail. The remainder of the report discusses the opportunities that Lydia saw before opening the restaurants as well as her influences, the steps that she took in order to start the business as well as the set backs that occurred throughout the way. Lydia knew that she had to hire a staff in order to help her succeed in achieving her dreams of opening her own business; this will also be discussed later on in the report. In order for a business to grow, an entrepreneur needs to have future plans and a growth strategy. Lydia did all of this throughout her current venture and she is continuously trying to improve her business. Lydia met her husband, Lou, at the Culinary Institute of America. Both husband and wife knew how to cook very well and always dreamed of opening up a restaurant