Ryan O’Donnell（西餐西点应用科学副学士学位，2000）在肯代尔完成美食烹饪课程后，上了一节商业课，他将其称之为“所有课程中最完整的一课”。他的最后一课（他得了A+），是以他的占星星座而命名的Gemini Bistro餐厅设计一个商业计划。
让我们向前推进大约10年。O’Donnell工作后开始担任厨师，随后在美国协助进行几家餐厅的开业工作，他计划与他的商业伙伴厨师Jason Paskewitz在芝加哥开一家至今仍未命名的餐厅。这是他最后一课的课题，俩人同时灵光一闪。
O’Donnell 婚礼结束后4天，Gemini Bistro餐厅于2009年9月9日正式开张。除了餐厅名字以外，餐厅规模、美食和理念最后都与O’Donnell最后的项目理念非常相似。Paskewitz监管厨房的同时，O’Donnell作为老板和管理伙伴，负责管理员工和经营餐厅。
他每天的工作包括接收物资、往返银行办业务、安装Open Table系统、召开侍者会议，这需要他对员工“鼓励与严厉并重，照顾特殊人群”等等。他说道：“有时非常顺利，但是有时却各种问题不断。这不是某一门具体的学科可以学习到的。”
Gemini Bistro餐厅是一个家庭产业，O’Donnell的母亲是一位艺术家，她将O’Donnell对内部装饰的想法付诸实践，并创立了餐厅的顾客艺术。他的妻子Anna O’Donnell，负责办公室，管理账目，如有需要，有时则充当一下服务员。
O’Donnell表示：“对于我们而言，一切都非常顺利。”，他将这归功于合理的价位、美食的风格和餐厅的地理位置。他解释道：“餐厅位于林肯公园（Lincoln Park）中心，很多人行道之间。是一座角落里的建筑，所以从两边街道都能发现它。”
Gemini Bistro餐厅的开张昭示O’Donnell想要开一家自己的餐厅的目标达成。他的事业早在从丹佛（Denver）的一所大学辍学后就开始了，那时他急需钱，就找了一份流水线厨师的工作。他解释道：“我就是能胜任这份工作，它激起了我的兴趣。”他的母亲送给他一本有关烹饪学校的书籍，正是这件事促使他重返埃文斯，进入肯代尔大学学习。
他表示：“肯代尔大学比较小，有着法国背景，而且烹饪导师的实践经验都非常丰富，这些都是我喜欢肯代尔的地方。”他认为肯代尔大学帮助他培养了成功所需的自律和工作理念。他还说：“肯代尔的导师都是非常棒的厨师，他们能够在世界上任何一个厨房工作，他们教授给你很多知识，为你的职业生涯做好准备。他们以正确的方式教授你基本知识。”
O’Donnell很高兴能够与大家分享从雄心壮志的餐厅经营者那里学到的宝贵经验。3月份，他和Paskewitz在肯代尔观摩了谈判和冲突课，并与学生谈论了创立一个企业到底需要什么的话题。O’Donnell表示：“他们问了一些繁文缛节，很好，要知道城市本身就有很多繁文缛节。”
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办公地址：北京市 东城区 东直门外大街48号 东方银座A座19FA decade after graduating from Kendall, Ryan O’Donnell makes his final class project real.
As he was completing the culinary program at Kendall, Ryan O’Donnell (A.A.S., 2000), took a business class that he describes as “one of the most integral classes of all.” His final project—for which he received an A+—was to design a business plan for a restaurant he named Gemini Bistro (in honor of his astrological sign).
Let’s fast forward almost 10 years. After working first as a chef and then helping to open several restaurants around the country, O’Donnell was planning to open an as-yet-unnamed restaurant in Chicago with his business partner, chef Jason Paskewitz. He came across his old class project, and a light bulb went on for both of them.
Gemini Bistro (geminibistrochicago.com) opened on 9/09/09, four days after O’Donnell’s wedding. In addition to the name, the size, food and concept of the restaurant ended up being very similar to O’Donnell’s final project concept. While Paskewitz oversees the kitchen, O’Donnell—as owner and managing partner—manages the employees and the running of the restaurant.
His daily routine includes taking in deliveries, making frequent trips to the bank, setting up the Open Table system and holding a server meeting, which requires “motivating, scolding, going over the specials,” and so forth. “Some days are real smooth, some days you have bumps in the road,” he says. “It’s not an exact science.”
Gemini Bistro is a family affair— O’Donnell’s mother, an artist, brought his vision for the interior décor to life and created the restaurant’s custom art. And his wife, Anna O’Donnell,runs the office, handling the accounting as well as filling in as a bartender and hostess as needed.
“Things are going very well for us,” says O’Donnell, who credits reasonable prices, the style of food and the location for the restaurant’s appeal. “It’s right in the heart of Lincoln Park, in the middle of a lot of walking traffic,” he explains. “We’re a corner building, so we have a lot of exposure on both streets.”
Gemini Bistro represents the fulfillment of O’Donnell’s goal to have his own restaurant. His journey started when he dropped out of college in Denver and, needing money, got a job as a line cook. “I just excelled in it, and it piqued my interest,” he explains. His mother sent him a book on culinary schools, which inspired him to return home to Evanston and attend Kendall.
“I liked that Kendall was smaller, that it had a French background and that the culinary instructors were very handson,” he says. He believes that Kendall helped him develop the discipline and work ethic necessary for success. “The instructors at Kendall are great chefs who could be working at any kitchen in the world—they really prepare you well,” he says. “They teach you the basics in the right way.”
O’Donnell is happy to share lessons learned with aspiring restaurateurs. In March, he and Paskewitz visited a negotiation and conflicts class at Kendall and talked to the students about the nitty-gritty of what it takes to open a business. “They asked a lot of red-tape questions, which was good,” O’Donnell says. “The city has a lot of red tape!”
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