Opening a restaurant is not for the casual culinary enthusiast. In addition to the staggering financial commitment, there are the years-long planning stages, and countless hours spent wrangling construction permits, building out the space, and navigating all the usual and unexpected obstacles along the road to opening. Here, the 2026 class of F&W Best New Chefs reflect on their own restaurant opening experiences and share the advice that they wish they could go back and give themselves at the start.
1. Have patience
“Be patient with yourself. It’s not all going to come at once.” — 2026 F&W Best New Chef Melissa López, Barra Santos, Los Angeles
“I want to execute things at a very, very high level and I want it to happen immediately. But also, understand that if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. Have a little patience. Things will always fall into place. The pressure I put on myself — I like it, but I wish I had another person in front of me telling me, like, ‘You don’t have to put that much pressure on yourself. It will still work out.’ It’d be nice to have someone to come by and tell you, ‘Hey, you know, you’re on the right path. Don’t worry.'” — 2026 F&W Best New Chef Rishi Kumar, Mirra, Chicago
2. Buckle in for long nights
“It’s going to be long hours. I did know that from the beginning, but I didn’t know that it was going to become a compulsion to try to do more and keep working. It’s either that or being happy with just staying the same or not trying to evolve or change.” — 2026 F&W Best New Chef Carlos Delgado, Causa, Washington, D.C.
3. Trust your gut
“When the pandemic happened, we were in a ghost kitchen — like a really bad Black Mirror episode — cooking in a 285-square-foot kitchen with a freaking iPad. We would get love notes through DoorDash where you write special instructions. We would get love notes from all our guests telling us not to quit. My advice would be to do exactly what you did. You followed your heart and you really trusted the process of ‘you work hard and things will happen.’ I wouldn’t change a thing about it.” — 2026 F&W Best New Chef Zubair Mohajir, Mirra, Chicago
Credit: SimpleImages / Getty Images
4. Overestimate how much money you’ll need
“Overbudget on the amount of working capital for the start. You always think you have enough but there are always these many small purchases right before and after opening that eat away at what you thought would be enough. It makes the finances super stressful while you’re trying to build up your business. Also, buy more extension cords.” — 2026 F&W Best New Chef Gian Carlo Reinardy, The Paper Bridge, Portland, Oregon
5. Don’t forget to take a breath
“I would tell myself, don’t take the stress too seriously. Sometimes you won’t be able to fix something right away and just need to take a step back and assess. Everything will get solved eventually.” — 2026 F&W Best New Chef Quynh Nguyen, The Paper Bridge, Portland, Oregon
6. Ignore the haters
“Have thicker skin. We don’t read the reviews.” — 2026 F&W Best New Chef Cybille St. Aude-Tate, Honeysuckle, Philadelphia
“I take the elevated rapper status approach, like, I’m not gonna respond to your diss track.” — 2026 F&W Best New Chef Omar Tate, Honeysuckle, Philadelphia
7. Embrace your identity
“Embrace everything you experienced in the past. When I started this career, a lot of people told me I should not mention I was a cheerleader. I was told, people are not going to take me seriously, so don’t say anything about it. I kind of believed in that for a long time. But you know what? The person I am today is built with all the past experience. I was really naive, listening to what other people tell me. I don’t do that anymore, and I really want to tell my younger self, just believe in yourself. Be confident in who you are.” — 2026 F&W Best New Chef Masako Morishita, Perry’s, Washington, D.C.
More advice from Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs
Read the original article on Food & Wine
Dining and Cooking