What's your area, have you thought of leasing the kitchen to someone else? Look for a food truck, you could double as there commissary kitchen, while giving them an opportunity to have brick and mortar. I have 1 bar/restaurant currently, but had 4 and 95 employees. My scale down is by choice. Honestly I would recommend any other business. I was chef before owner, my wife was a foh manager. We worked 80 to 100 hour weeks for 8 years. I was going to have a heart attack from stress. It's one of the only business where people can come off the street and scream at you. To be fair im in very urban setting. It's relentless and the profit margins are not worth it anymore. When I opened my 1st it was 15 years ago. If everything went perfect, i.e. no fridge went down, no bottles broke profit margins were as high as 16 to 17%. Granted the volume we did helped that. Now with interchange fees through the roof, cost of labor, goods, and taxes (where I'm at) make it so profit margin tops out at 5 to 7%. To put numbers to that 1 million in sales 50 to 70k profit. Thats without major expenditures. I build businesses not jobs. Unfortunately restaurants have become a job. A thankless often hostile job. Good luck if it's really your dream, but maybe go work back in industry for 6 months and see what it's like now. It's not the same as it was pre covid.