Blog 7 - Second Interview Preparation

This is an example of the type of presentation we like to maintain. Clean and appetizing. 

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?  If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert? 

• My mentor is Virginia Bernal and thy work at Mi Lindo Apatzingan restaurant in Riverside. I believe that she is an expert in what she does, which is managing the restaurant. Mrs. Bernal did not attend college in order to do what she does, but what gives her the credibility of being a manager is that she has worked in the restaurant business for over 10 years and was always around food growing up. She eventually worked her way up to be manager which shows that she has improved since she began. 

2.  What five questions will you ask them about their background?

• Was business management your career choice? 
• Has your whole family been in the restaurant business or were you the first in this field?
• What have been some down falls you have had with the restaurant, and how did you fix them? 
• Is there any specific skills you needed to learn in order for you to maintain calm in certain situations? 
• Did you ever have a doubt that your business would fail? And if so, what were some routes you took in order for that not to happen? 

Blog 6 - Advisory Prep

1. What has worked well for you concerning senior project this year?  What has made it a positive experience for you?   

• Lots of things have worked really well for me such as shadowing with my mentor, going out to different occasions in order to get a better view of my senior topic.  I honestly feel comfortable showing up at my mentor's place because she has a well managed staff that will respect you and treat you in a way you would want to be treated and it makes you feel like you're at home. I feel the overall experience is a positive so far because I am able to work around things I feel comfortable with. 

2. What are you finding difficult concerning senior project?  How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you?  How might the senior team help?

• I do not find many things extremely difficult for me so far. One thing that I might have a concern with is getting a hold of different managers located in different areas that are actually willing to allow me to go in and interview/mentor with them. I can honestly say that my mentor is a very respectful, and helpful person because she told me she would make a few calls to see who would be able to help me. Another concern that I have is a simple problem which is my time skills. I need to learn how to space out my school work and outings I plan on going to with my mentor, but besides that I believe I haven't ran into a big problem. 

Blog 5 - Interview Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?

• I learned many things from this interview, but Mrs. Bernal really emphasized when she said "you need to make sure you feel a passion towards the business you're opening because if you feel no passion you will eventually want to give up". Given this quote, now I realize that you cant give it your 100%  unless you love what you are doing. I also learned that customer service is everything. If you have great service you will gain customers and make them go again and again and again, but if you have rude employees the customers won't return which will make you lose profit. So, in order to keep your business running, make sure you know how to manage a team. 

2. Did I get additional resources and contacts?  What is the most useful?  Why?

• I did get additional resources from my interviewee. She told me that I could honestly mentor any manager that has a good and growing business because they will give me certain clues on how they do what they do. I believe that if I am able to interview many more managers from different areas it will help me gain more knowledge on my senior project which will help me achieve my goal of getting a good score on this project. 

3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me? 

• My interviewee has lots of years of practice with being manager. Having managed this restaurant for around 5 years gives her enough credibility to know what helps the business run smoothly and what makes the business drop in its sales. She has been working in the restaurant business for over 10 years, but has worked her way up into becoming manager. That just shows she is doing something right. 

This is my mentor Mrs. Bernal as well as my interviewee. 

Blog 4 - House Advisory Prep

This is a catering party I was able to go to with my mentor. 

I hope to accomplish many things through my senior project (Restaurant Business Management), from learning how to manage a staff to learning how to maintain my profits high. An important thing I hope I can learn is to maintain a customer satisfied because once your customer feels comfortable they will feel welcomed, but if you don't treat them the way they should, you will gain bad publicity and your profit can drop. One way I hope I learn how to satisfy a customer is by attending catering parties to have a large crowd to communicate with and help me gainer people skills. Another thing I hope to accomplish is to choose what career I want to major in college. My senior topic will help me decide this because it will prove if I can manage to run business or if I am better off doing something else. So far with all the knowledge on business management I believe this is the path I will end up taking, but anything can change. My final wish I hope to accomplish is to graduate with decent grades and to hopefully do good on the senior project with the help of my friends and family.

Blog 3 - First Interview Preparation

Who do you plan to interview and why?

I plan to interview my main mentor Mrs. Bernal because I feel she has lots of experience in the business field and will help me get a better understatement of how to maintain a restaurant up and running. I also hope to interview other managers from fast food, sit down, fancy, and casual restaurants to compare the different methods used to keep their business running. 

Interview Questions

1. I plan on studying Restaurant Business Management. What can you tell me about it?
2. From your perspective, what can I study that would be significant to other people ?
3. Who else would you recommend I talk to? 
4. What kinds of places or activities do you recommend I do for the mentor ship component? 
5. What materials should I read in this field? Who else can I interview? 
6. What is the most important factor to know about opening a business?
7. Do you think location matters on how well your business will do?
8. How much dedication has to be put into owning a business? (are most of your days taken up with running errands, etc?)
9. How do you control or manage a situation where the customer is acting up in front of others?