The last two weeks I have spent hours researching what it is that makes a successful business. I have been looking at everything from 30 page Restaurant Industry Reports to websites with helpful tips like Entrepreneur.com. From the 15 sources I have looked at so far I have gotten a bunch of great information. My findings include things like, five employees all businesses should have, how to make a good marketing strategy, what makes a good leader, what the state of the business owner is, how the food industry is growing, the technology a business need to prepare for the future, and many other great bits of information. All this information I have put into two different surveys, one for the owners and one for the employees. Something I decided to do with the surveys is that I am going to ask both the owners and employees similar questions to see if they are all on the same page or if the owners are thinking they are doing one thing, but their employees feel totally different. This research aspect has been incredibly helpful to me because I feel like I am now close to ready to begin evaluating businesses on my own.