How to Open a Restaurant: What Jorge Canales Learned on the Road From Waiter to Owner of Piedra Luna

Jorge started out selling roasted chickens with a friend in middle school and, at 13 or 14, went to work at a café. Then he went through a bar, a nightclub and several restaurants: he worked the door, poured drinks, bussed tables, waited tables, and became a manager and director of operations. Today he is the owner of Piedra Luna, a restaurant that is already a landmark in Toluca.

His story shows what almost never gets talked about when opening a restaurant: the years of learning, the fear of managing your friends, the financial plan and the loneliness of the owner. These are the problems he faced and what he learned from each one.

The problems he faced

1.Starting at the bottom and hanging in there

At the bar where he wanted to be a waiter, they put him at the door first, with a very low salary and almost no benefits. His first year-end bonus was only about US$20. Then he moved to the bar, the register and bussing tables, which was among the hardest, and even cleaning bathrooms. Over time he understood that work did not demean him and that there he learned how a restaurant is organized and the mistakes of each position.

2.Going from salesperson to manager without knowing how to lead

When his boss left the bar, the owner offered him the manager job along with two other coworkers. Jorge hesitated: he had never managed people and was afraid of losing his friends, because the manager is usually "the bad guy in the story". He did not know how to give orders to some 35 or 40 people without it being taken the wrong way.

On top of that, three managers thought differently, and the doubts and the "he told me this" reached the owner, who decided to keep only one. Jorge stayed, and started working differently.

3.A business that runs its course

The bar where he worked became the king of the area, but competition arrived and the trend passed. Jorge describes it this way: the business gave what it had to give. There was also a two-year period without work, when his parents supported him. He says he came out of it by keeping moving and sending out his résumé, until an advertising sale led him to a director of operations position.

4.Leaving the place you helped build

At the restaurant where he became manager, during the pandemic, the owners did not know whether they could reopen and could not pay him. He was offered work at another place and had to say goodbye to a team they had turned into a family. It was a sad decision, but a necessary one.

5.Finding money and partners to open your own

When he found the big old house where Piedra Luna is today, Jorge had to build a financial projection in his head. He and his partner did not have all the money, so they looked for more partners. He made a simple, easy-to-digest projection, shared it over WhatsApp and answered questions as if it were a sale.

Many interested people came forward, including someone who wanted to put in about US$3 million. Jorge said no: he was not going to be dishonest, and with that capital it would not pay back in a reasonable time. He set an investment cap with a maximum payback of two years.

6.A team of many years taking things personally

Today at Piedra Luna there are people who have been with him for 11 or 12 years. The hardest part is getting those who started as peers to understand that he is now the owner: when he corrects them, they take it to heart. His answer: "we can be friends for life, but inside the restaurant there is respect". If they do their job well, he is the first to congratulate them.

7.The loneliness and constant fear of the owner

Although he has partners, Jorge says he feels alone, because the money at stake is his and his family's. He gets emotional support, but not financial. The fear is constant: that the business will not work, that the water or power will go out, that an inspector will show up.

He also talked about what being an owner involves: managing staff, suppliers, credit, taxes, accountants and social media. He says many customers do not even know who the owner is and treat him like just another waiter, and that is fine.

What he learned (and it can save you years)

1.The opportunities are there, you have to see them

When all the waiters went on vacation, Jorge got to serve his first big table. His boss set him a goal of selling two bottles, and he closed with seven. For him it is not luck: we all have many opportunities every day, and the important thing is to spot them and seize them.

2.Service decides whether they come back

Jorge says tables are decided almost 95% by service and attention. When you make a mistake at the table, the key is to offer a solution so the customer does not leave angry. He tells his waiters to treat customers like guests in their own home: at the very least, offer them a glass of water, and mean it.

3.Make a simple, honest financial plan

His projection for the partners was basic but easy to understand. He promised them something real, not a dream. His concern was not just the money, but his partners' trust: according to Jorge, that trust is worth more than the investment. And since his restaurant paid back the investment in a little over a year, he could tell them that whatever it keeps generating is already profit.

4.Put a cap on the investment

Putting in more money is not always better. Jorge set a cap and a maximum payback period of two years, and turned down someone who wanted to invest a much larger amount because it would not be recovered.

5.Give your team a path to grow

Jorge does not want his people to stagnate. He tells them to save, and that when they have their money, he will send them the financial projection so they can become partners. His longtime cashier is now a partner, the second largest, and already collects his monthly payout with peace of mind.

6.Leave a mark, not just money

For Jorge, money is necessary, but it is not his main goal. First comes keeping the job, then improving yourself, and then money. He wants that when his daughters arrive at school, people speak well of him and of what he left in the people who worked with him.

“Tables are decided by service, almost 95%.”

Is something like this happening to you?

If you want to open a restaurant or grow yours, go through these questions:

Listen to the full episode

This is only a summary. The full conversation has many more details, stories and tips. Watch it in full on YouTube (it is recorded in Spanish; turn on the captions and choose Auto-translate to read it in English) or find every episode on the Pandas Creativos podcast page (in Spanish).