1. Don’t go into the business.

2. See tip No. 1.

He is only half-joking.

“The restaurant business is a difficult, risky, tough business,” Mott said. “I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.”

But if you can’t resist the urge to test your restaurant skills on the public, Mott says there are ways to reduce the risks.

Begin by examining your motivations for opening a restaurant. If it’s a serious effort to make a profit serving meals, fine. But if it’s a venture designed to impress your friends and neighbors, forget it.

“Owning a restaurant is kind of like owning a sports franchise. People don’t go into it for purely economic reasons. They do it to show off. There are a lot of people with money who go into the business for this reason. You don’t want to compete against people like that,” Mott said.

To drive home his point, Mott used an old adage: “How do you make a small fortune in the restaurant business? Start with a large one.”

If it’s your first foray into the business, Mott advises opening a modest restaurant rather than trying to create a trendy, cutting-edge dining experience. “You can open a small diner for $50,000 to $100,000. It would cost at least $1 million to open a place with fine dining,” he said.

As for choosing a location, Mott says there are plenty of options.

“Since 70 to 80 percent of all new restaurants fail in the first three years, there are lots of empty storefronts. And you can get used equipment cheap, too, because there’s so much of it out there. But when you find the ‘ideal’ spot, ask yourself why the last place didn’t make it there,” Mott said.

In all, pretty sobering advice.