askchapo

I've quasi-explored this and there are a few obstacles and barriers to entry when specifically trying to establish a progressive dinery.

1. The best way to not be a mini-tyrant is to perform most day to day operations yourself. However...

2. Americans want variety like no other. 31 flavors? Make it 32. 35 would be better. More dining options will require more labor and source materials, and create a huge potential for waste.

3. Most restaurants exist on thin margins of profit and usually flourish solely based on capacity. However, there are some styles of food that buck this trend (Italian and bbq are good examples because the source products are cheap; it's all about the prep).

4. Retail storefronts are a ripoff. You will always be swimming upstream paying rent.

Conclusion: in order to sustain and not be a tyrannical jerk my only suggestion is to open a roadside hot dog, bbq, or pizza stand and have 0 employees.

Make it a co-op after it is established. Joint ownership by the workers.

to get by

If you want to make enough money to get by and spend all day cooking then don't open a restaurant

You're highly unlikely to become anything close to wealthy by owning a restaurant in the US. It's one of the hardest businesses to even make survive, let alone succeed.

There is no ethical production under capitalism. What you can do is try to limit the harms of capitalism in your working life (while fighting for revolution the rest of the time). Just want to point this out because you'll never be able to make business under capitalism ethical in itself and it's very un-fun to have an unrealizable goal.

Anyways, all attempts to be less capitalist under capitalism have bourgeois elements, as you noted. You're basically ensuring that the people who do the work also have ownership and control, as that's the most you can do at the scale of one business. Every member of a worker co-op, under capitalism, has bourgeois elements. You're all owners, and the moment there is any difference in ownership and pay you've got exploitation knocking at your door. Also, at the end of the day, you've gotta get capital somewhere and so even worker co-ops are usually actually owned by a bank - they're running on business loans.

With all of that said, it's still a better way to work and for the people who work there to live. It's similarly good to having a union.

I would suggest you look into worker-owned co-ops, ask people who have them locally, get a sense for how you get capital and build a coherent business plan. You'll probably want to start solo and expect that this will be a learning experience. The idea of a food truck is a good one. You can also experiment with having a stall at events like a farmer's market. The most important part of running a restaurant is actually making good food that you can sell to make a profit. Are you ready for the speed and budget of a commercial kitchen? Do you have any killer recipes? Have you checked with other people to make sure they like them?

I'm basically describing all the steps of making a typical capitalist business (e.g. market research) because it's inescapable even for worker owned co-ops. Behold, the bourgeois nature of organizing production under capitalism.

food truck (don't feed the landlords), no employees. exploiting yourself is the only way to go, imo.