Hospitality industry veterans lend new meaning to term BYOB.

• Author: Wareing, Andrew
• Position: Build Your Own Bar

Drinks and dollars are combining with bits and bytes in Chris Painter and Drew Bennett's world. The two 30-something hospitality industry veterans know firsthand the pitfalls of starting up a business, and they are giving those starting out a chance to try their luck in a virtual world where the only thing at stake is their final grade and not their life savings.

Out of this desire to teach people just starting out, they have developed BYOB: Build Your Own Bar, an online simulation for those who want to learn what it actually takes to open their own hospitality business.

"It's more than just how to open your own bar," says Painter. "There are seven simulations for starting up a night club, a resort, hotel, a themed restaurant and fine dining. Everyone we've ever known, half have told us they always wanted to open their own restaurant or bar ... it's a common thing that many people who can cook a good Christmas dinner think they can open a restaurant.

"What we thought, if we could teach an individual how to open properly, how to manage properly, let them see the inside of the business; there are those things you can't teach in school but we deal with every day and we've installed into the program," he says. "It's the daily decision-making process that dictates the success of a business."

Sitting in Bennet's own restaurant, Painter describes how he and Bennett each started at the same time, opening hospitality businesses in Parry Sound in 1995. Bennett's restaurant, Drew's Place, is a bistro-style restaurant while Painter's business, one he opened with his family, Brunswick Travelodge Inn, is a hotel and sports bar-style establishment.

Each business might have a different emphasis, however each have noted similar challenges.

"A few years into it, after we got a little time under our belts, we realized there were certain common issues between all ends of the marketplace whether it be staff turnover, management issues, financial issues, what have you," says Painter. "We thought, with the advent of the Internet, maybe we could create something that would educate the individual on operating a hospitality business."

The pair started in 1998 with a job-search/job-post Web site called winewingswaitstaff.com specifically designed for the hospitality industry. From there, they pitched the Web site to college and university students, but they rapidly received feedback that the Web site also needed to have an educational component as well.

Teaching...