The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-04-14
~ WHAT SHALL | DO? ~

!
briefly and without any special refer
cncc to lunch and tea rooms.
| Without doubt. the best way to
! learn the lunch and tea room business
is in the school of experience. and 1t IL
safe to say that every day spent in such
| school means tens of dollars saved
+ later on. 1t is not difficult to get the
/ opportunity to serve an apprenticeship.
One young woman. who made up her
mind that there was good money to be
! gained in a well-run lunch and tea room
at certain summer resort. went about
it in the right way to learn the bust
ness.
For a few months of the winter pre-
ceeding the opening of her lunch room
she went to one of the big cities and ac-
tually went to work waitress in a
fashionable tea room. In this capacity
she learned the problems of pleasing pa
irons, the problems of the waitress her
self She learned how the tables should
be set. and gained countless invaluable
suggestions. all of which she carefully
put away in the back of her head.
When she had served as waitress for
a few weeks she managed to have her
self transferred to the kitchen. where
she served as pantry girl. in this way
; learning how 10 make up various dishes.
, and how to run the pantry. Then for a
dishes in the absence of the regular dish
! washer and. tiresome as this was. it gave
her the opportunity to view the lunch
! room business from another angle.
All the time she was working in this
tea room she kept her eyes open to what
was going Oh about her and was always
eager to help in every way she could
Thus she gained an insight into the
problems of ordering and buying. account
keeping. etc. and when her stay in the
city was over she knew not only all the
ms and outs of the business Of the lunch
room where she had been working. but
she could have given the proprietor who
had employed her many a money saving
suggestion Frequent visits to other tea
rooms in the city supplemented this ap-
premiership and finally made the fitting
up of her own tea room a thing to be
accomplished at the lowest possible fig
ures.
The record Of the first summer season
that this young woman put in proved the
value of the plan which she had fol-
lowed, for she was able to make both
ends meet after paying for all her fur
nishings and succeeded in giving her tea
room a name that made the next sum-
mer's income amount to a net of thou
sand dollars.
or course every woman who wants to
go into the tea room business doesn't
have to don a waitress cap and apron
and actually go to work this plucky
young girl did, but she does almost Of
necessity have to get a good, thorough
knowledge of the everyday problems OF
the business, and there is no better way
than actually going to work to do this.
Besides the knowledge Of the BUSH
ness. there is a great deal in having
the right idea, for often it is the idea
that makes the profits. In the large
cities and in the fashionable summer
resorts there are. dozens of lunch and
tea rooms run by women where q
special idea, we'll carried out, makes
patrons willing to pay an extra price
for everything eaten under the roof
of the particular establishment. Espe-
cially in the large cities people are
forever on the lookout for interesting
places, and the young woman who
can create and maintain an interest
ing atmosphere about her lunch and
tea room is sure of attracting a crowd
willing to pay well for what they eat.
Odd dishes. in keeping with the place,
and served in special manner, also
serve as drawing cards, and sometimes
a particular sort of fakor. inexpensive
ly but artistically got up, will add an
other means Of profit making.
The most important thing 10 do"
SO a woman who has made a study of
the lunch and tea room question says,
lis to decide on your location. II you
do not open your tea room in a very
busy neighborhood where you have to
pay large rent to make sure of a SUP
ply Of patrons. you have to be the
first arrival in a more restricted neigh
borhood"
There are all sorts of opportunities
for lunch and tea rooms and every
oil
of many such opportunities herself.
Tea rooms carried on in college towns,
not too expensive but filled with little
individual touches that make them
relief TO the student from the ordi-
nary dormitory board, usually prove
successful. Tea rooms at summer re-
sorts are more and more coming into
favor Lunch and tea rooms in busy
work "a day districts in the large cities
have big opportunity at this very
time that is not fully realized. In
many of the business sections of our
large cities there is room for some
place where the better paid business
women of the neighborhood can get a
simple, well served luncheon in
quiet spot. and thus he spared the
noise and confusion of the large ouicl,
lunch resorts and the EXPENSE and
glitter of the standard hotels and
restaurants.
Another interesting departure for the
young woman who knows how to run
a lunch room is in opening an American
lunch room abroad. There are a yer,
few of these in Europe but there is room
Tor many more. as American tourists
with taste for American "eats' will
testify.
Besides the undoubted fact that lunch
ana tea rooms pay-and a well run tea
or lunch room in a large city or DopuIar
resort would. when well running, yield
from 1850 TO 5000 or 5000 a year or
even m"rc-there are decided advantages
in the business. The first advantage is
that. while II means hard work while IL
lasts. the working day is not long; and
Will" there is sono risk to start with
stu. when once started II IL a reason
ably sure investment of time and labo
for people Keep on eating and SO long as
folk have to eat there will ALWAYS be
business for the lunch and tea rooms
N ny ball