Restaurant management should run as smooth as a finely tuned wind-up clock with the notches of each gear fitting each other and turning synchronously together. When one gear slows down, the others will not turn as fast or as smooth as they were before. Eventually, the machine breaks down and needs to be fixed.

Unlike a machine, however, a restaurant business is not easily fixed when it fails. To avoid this scenario from happening, do not just rely on your restaurant management skills. Seek the help of experts to guide you in areas where your business mentors did not teach you about. Experience, after all, is the best kind of education.

Websites, such as Score.org, Restaurant.org and CalRest.org, provide updated news and articles related to restaurant management. They provide short-term courses in food handling and protection, employee management, customer service, and general management matters, like legal processes involved in opening your own restaurant business. They also keep their members updated with industry-related news and special networking events for restaurant owners.

Aside from the availability of assistance from experts and fellow entrepreneurs, restaurateurs can also take advantage of free online resources, such as restaurant forms (i.e. kitchen prep sheets, inventory schedules and order forms), restaurant templates (i.e. business planning, sales and financial templates). All these restaurant forms, templates and schedules follow industry standards.

If you prefer to take advantage of what technology has to offer, then you can tap into videos, podcasts, PDFs and webinars to learn more about restaurant management. Restaurant owners can sign up for one of the online workshops about taking their restaurant business online.

Other online sources, such as discussion forums and restaurant blogs, also provide fresh and valuable information into the business. Restaurant owners and managers can also take advantage of their readership, which consists of other restaurateurs and entrepreneurs. Building business relationships in networking events, trade shows and on the Internet can help you grow your restaurant business.