Tyson Cale Boyd owns hospitality businesses for more than a decade in Edmonton. He runs Concert Works which is a live entertainment business and The Starlite Room, a restaurant business. Boyd still keeps his restaurant busy and organize live concerts while following the pandemic guidelines.
Boyd’s initial experience started with organizing live concerts for Alberta Music while working in restaurants. Years later, he decides to purchase a restaurant business with his wife by backing into their years of hospitality experiences.
As a business owner, he shares the reasons that led him to be a successful owner and advises those who want to start a restaurant business.
How long have you been running your own business?
I have been running Concert Works for 11 years, but The Starlite Room for three years.
How did you get into the restaurant business?
I was organizing live concerts which were not steady work. Therefore, I had to fill my time with working for the other bars and restaurants. Then, it ended up for me becoming a restaurant manager and owner.
How did you invest in yourself to be able to run a restaurant business?
Basically, all of my experience was working at live concerts for 10 years. Andrea Kotylak, my wife also is in the hospitality industry and she is much more involved with restaurant kitchens. I follow her lead under the kitchen aspect where I am already familiar with running customer service and working with the beverage programs. So, we are running our business based on our years of hands-on experience for sure.
What is the disadvantage of owning a restaurant business?
I would not say it nearly a disadvantage, but it is a very hard industry with very small margins. So, a lot of stress kind of falls back on us. Then, we also have increased challenges of fluctuating overhead costs. That could be specified in the province, but here, in Alberta, whenever we have tax increases in alcohol, it really affects our industry. Sometimes it is really hard to adapt to new tax increases.
What skills make you successful in this business other than your work experience?
Just being very detail-oriented. Also, when I was working on live events, we always planned so far ahead. So, planning beforehand with a very close eye on details kind of gives us a little bit cut above.
What are you aiming to achieve as a restaurant owner?
Right now, our whole complete focus and dream are staying alive to the end of the pandemic. I think it a serious matter for us right now…We got all of our eggs on one basket and we’re just hoping we can cross that line and you know, being able to figure out from that point.
What would your advice to those who want to get into the restaurant business?
Do your research, talk to business owners and really listen to what they say! There are a lot of people who want to get into this business. I have seen more people fail at this business and fewer succeed. It is really easy to get a grasp of the business, but it is really difficult to see and find all the details. So, find details on what typically makes a business successful.
The Starlite Room is open from Tuesday to Saturday to offer great customer service and live music to customers
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