Restaurant · Guide · Updated July 2026

How to Start a Restaurant or Food Business Step-by-Step (Free Course Guide)

The full course is free. No email address, no upsell, no catch. Over 85 videos that Wilson K Lee previously charged thousands of dollars for are now on YouTube, broken into playlists, with downloadable templates in a shared Google Drive.

Here is what is in the course, why it exists, and how to get the most out of it.

Why Wilson Released This Content for Free

When Wilson started in the food and beverage industry, five or six years before this release, there was no blueprint. Nobody was teaching the actual how, only the what. How do you calculate food cost? What margins should you aim for? What does it actually take to open a location, then another one?

All the information available online told you what to do. None of it told you how to do it properly.

That gap caused real, expensive mistakes. Wilson’s words: “tens and thousands of dollars of mistakes throughout my entire journey.” Those mistakes continued until he documented the process, systemized it, and built a framework. That framework is what took 720 Sweets from a single shop to a seven-location international ice cream chain, and ultimately to an acquisition.

Once the business sold and Wilson shifted careers, he kept getting emails. Operators asking how to take the first step. People who couldn’t afford to spend thousands on courses, just like he couldn’t when he was starting out. His response was to pull the gate down entirely and put everything on YouTube at no cost.

What the Course Actually Covers

The content is a full A-to-Z guide on building a profitable food business from scratch. Specifically, it covers:

• How to create a profitable restaurant from the ground up
• How to sell food online
• How to market in the food and beverage world
• How to calculate food cost and understand your margins
• The step-by-step process of opening and operating an F&B business

Every template Wilson used in building 720 Sweets is included. These are the same documents he charged for in the paid course. They are available as downloads through a Google Drive folder linked from the YouTube playlist descriptions.

One Important Caveat About the Content

The videos were recorded in 2020. Some specific figures, platform details, or market conditions may have shifted since then. Wilson flags this directly so you are not caught off guard.

The business fundamentals, food cost math, margin targets, marketing logic, systems thinking, none of that has changed. The core framework is as applicable in 2026 as it was when it was recorded. Just apply current numbers where relevant. For example, as of 2026, opening a full restaurant in the US runs roughly $727,000 to $1,211,500, with a planning rule of having about 1.4 times your total build cost in cash before you sign a lease.

Use the course for the framework. Do your own current research on any vendor pricing, platform fees, or local regulations.

How the Content Is Organized

The 85+ videos are broken into playlists on YouTube. Each playlist has a description telling you exactly what you will take away from that set of lessons. You do not have to watch everything in one sitting. Pick the playlist that matches your current question, watch those lessons, and use the templates alongside them.

The Google Drive folder holds all the downloadable documents. If you cannot find the link, go to the description of the main playlist video on YouTube.

Who This Course Is Built For

Wilson built this from direct operating experience. He was not a consultant who advised restaurants from the outside. He opened a shop, made expensive mistakes, fixed them, built systems, then opened six more locations across two countries, and sold the chain. The course reflects that firsthand experience.

If you are considering opening your first food business, whether a restaurant, a dessert shop, a food truck, or an online food brand, the fundamentals in this course apply. The context is mostly brick-and-mortar retail food, drawn from the ice cream and dessert world, but food cost math, margin targets, and operational systems work the same way across formats.

If you are 13 years old dreaming about a food truck one day, the most useful thing you can do right now is start learning these fundamentals and yes, start saving. The costs are real and significant. The earlier you understand the numbers, the better prepared you will be when the time comes.

What Wilson Asks in Return

Nothing financial. His only ask is this: if you find the content valuable, leave a comment on the video so he knows it is helping people. That feedback tells him the resource is worth keeping available.

No email. No subscription. No paid tier. The templates, the videos, the framework, all of it is free.

The Bottom Line

The single biggest reason food businesses fail in the first year is not bad food. It is a missing framework: no understanding of food cost, no system for tracking margins, no plan for what opening week actually looks like. Wilson built that framework the hard way, through costly mistakes running 720 Sweets to seven locations. He then packaged it into a paid course, and he has now released all of it for free because he wishes someone had done the same for him. Use it. The knowledge is there. The only variable is whether you act on it.

Watch the full video

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