Here I sit in my sister's office in her lovely home she shares with her husband, here on the island of Maui, it's a rather warm and sometimes cool Summer evening, I was contemplating watching the t.v. David Letterman is on, and he's got the greatest rock band for his so-called orchestra. I love that show more than Leno.
I was thinking what to write, and since this is a food blog I figured I'd give some info for people that want to start a restaurant, some things you may look for when searching for that perfect location. There are a lot of information from just using Google or Bing, you'd be surprised to learn that there's countless restaurants up and running with all of the valuable equipment needed to store, prepare, cook, and serve your potential customers.
You may see an ad that is displayed like this: FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD GRILL AND BAR for sale; 85,000.00 Seller Financing available. Heavy foot traffic, located across of big box retailers, successful for 15 years, owners will retire. 2 weeks training, 5 days, 8 hours a day.
If you see this, go check it out, and interview the owners, ask them what their cash flow was like, ask if you can see proof in numbers too, let them know you are seriously interested in what they got. No, you aren't guaranteeing that you'll buy the joint, but you are seriously interested, and it is in their best interest to converse with you if they want to sell their baby, don't come across like a jerk, be friendly.
Number one, it says they been in biz for 15 years, that's a long time, research them, ask their diners what makes them so special. If you go there and study them, and every day they got a line out the door, this is a future money maker, I mean in contrast to a restaurant with zero lines? You got the picture? Take a tour of the place, ask to visit the chef and the kitchen crew for a few minutes. Check out the front of the house, observe the menu, the kinds of people there. And there's big box retailers across the street, that's gold man, that's heavy duty traffic. Think at this point like a true Capitalist! Sorry, if I had the money and this place rocked, I'd be thinking "Cha Ching!"
So you did your recon, it looks great, but you want to add on to the menu your own little twist, cool, ease into it, don't buy the place and change the whole menu and look of the place, especially if the owner has a fan base. Maybe you figure you'd make his Grannies Roast Chicken differently, you don't like the taste. But listen to me and don't be an idiot. Listen, if the patrons there love his Grannies chicken, do not mess with it. If the POS registers good numbers on this item on his menu, leave it be.
Now you see that his Seafood Pasta looks pretty shabby, and it doesn't twirl your beanie, and you see the POS register hardly with a blip of the seafood pasta, go right ahead and redo it, and make sure that the customers know that you re-did that dish, highlight it on the menu, place a placard on every table, with something like this: "Try The Seafood Pasta, creamy lobster sauce, fresh herbs, and generous slices of thick garlic bread." That's all you need, let them know that they gotta try it, maybe have a batch of it, and give away free sample plates of it. If it's a hit, pat yourself on the back. The customers will appreciate that you've kept the original hot sellers, and that you want them to sample your new inventions. You are bridging the gap from the old owner to you, the new maverick in town.
If the logo is well known, and they sell shirts and ladies tank tops, do not mess with the logo. What you may do, is slowly make changes to the logo, maybe erasing Chuck's name with yours, but keeping the main body of the logo in tact. Imagine when a pro football team leaves one city for another and they keep the name. One example is the Los Angeles Rams moved to St. Louis, they kept the Ram on the helmets, but they removed Los Angeles because the team is currently in St. Louis. You get the idea?
When looking at a business that's successful, and you want to buy it, keep in mind what they are known for, and if they sell it like hot cakes do not mess with it, that car ain't got nothin wrong with it, don't fix what's not broken.
Observe the surrounding area, what's located behind the restaurant, do you need more lighting for security reasons? Protecting your customers and employees is important. Have a contractor friend come along with you to eyeball the premises, maybe you want to redo the bar and some of the dining room because it does look worn and tired, some wood and tile may need to be replaced, check the electric outlets, wiring, is it fire safe? How safe is the gas line? Is the fire extinguishers up to date? Just give it a look, have it inspected before you sign your life away. Hire an attorney to draw up and go over any negotiated statements in writing. Hire an accountant to go over some numbers, look at your liabilities, from the very start, project when you'll turn a profit, have a business plan written out, even if you do have money, having that plan to show other investors in the event you got the capitalist fever and funds needs to be raised quickly, that plan is key.
Hire a marketing specialist to help you get people in there, for instance, if that place is 60 to 80 percent full during lunch, you want that place up to 70 to 90 percent filled. If you serve breakfast, and it's only filled at 40 percent, something's wrong, market, get that word out you own the joint, and have the chef create interesting breakfast, keeping it real and simple, great egg dishes, hot organic coffee and tea, awesome biscuits and gravy, eggs Benedict's, cereals, fresh fruit, maybe a weekend brunch from 10 am to 2 pm. Marketing and advertising is keys to having your sales bloom. If you're selling 25 corned beef sandwiches from 11a to 1 pm, try a new goal to get that 25 average up to possibly 30. Practice marketing that sandwich, and advertising that sandwich. That's what the big boys do, like Mc Donald's, Burger King etc., despite their large funding, you can do that in your local area. Pass out coupons, 2.00 off entrees, with a picture of that corned beef sandwich on the coupon. The more people see, it becomes ingrained in them.
Okay that's enough for now, you get the picture, use a great restaurant to make you profits, build on it, and expand. Get a business plan written out, get a team together, an accountant, a legal advisor, a contractor, and run your ideas to others and see what kind of responses you get.
Good Luck Ron
I was thinking what to write, and since this is a food blog I figured I'd give some info for people that want to start a restaurant, some things you may look for when searching for that perfect location. There are a lot of information from just using Google or Bing, you'd be surprised to learn that there's countless restaurants up and running with all of the valuable equipment needed to store, prepare, cook, and serve your potential customers.
You may see an ad that is displayed like this: FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD GRILL AND BAR for sale; 85,000.00 Seller Financing available. Heavy foot traffic, located across of big box retailers, successful for 15 years, owners will retire. 2 weeks training, 5 days, 8 hours a day.
If you see this, go check it out, and interview the owners, ask them what their cash flow was like, ask if you can see proof in numbers too, let them know you are seriously interested in what they got. No, you aren't guaranteeing that you'll buy the joint, but you are seriously interested, and it is in their best interest to converse with you if they want to sell their baby, don't come across like a jerk, be friendly.
Number one, it says they been in biz for 15 years, that's a long time, research them, ask their diners what makes them so special. If you go there and study them, and every day they got a line out the door, this is a future money maker, I mean in contrast to a restaurant with zero lines? You got the picture? Take a tour of the place, ask to visit the chef and the kitchen crew for a few minutes. Check out the front of the house, observe the menu, the kinds of people there. And there's big box retailers across the street, that's gold man, that's heavy duty traffic. Think at this point like a true Capitalist! Sorry, if I had the money and this place rocked, I'd be thinking "Cha Ching!"
So you did your recon, it looks great, but you want to add on to the menu your own little twist, cool, ease into it, don't buy the place and change the whole menu and look of the place, especially if the owner has a fan base. Maybe you figure you'd make his Grannies Roast Chicken differently, you don't like the taste. But listen to me and don't be an idiot. Listen, if the patrons there love his Grannies chicken, do not mess with it. If the POS registers good numbers on this item on his menu, leave it be.
Now you see that his Seafood Pasta looks pretty shabby, and it doesn't twirl your beanie, and you see the POS register hardly with a blip of the seafood pasta, go right ahead and redo it, and make sure that the customers know that you re-did that dish, highlight it on the menu, place a placard on every table, with something like this: "Try The Seafood Pasta, creamy lobster sauce, fresh herbs, and generous slices of thick garlic bread." That's all you need, let them know that they gotta try it, maybe have a batch of it, and give away free sample plates of it. If it's a hit, pat yourself on the back. The customers will appreciate that you've kept the original hot sellers, and that you want them to sample your new inventions. You are bridging the gap from the old owner to you, the new maverick in town.
If the logo is well known, and they sell shirts and ladies tank tops, do not mess with the logo. What you may do, is slowly make changes to the logo, maybe erasing Chuck's name with yours, but keeping the main body of the logo in tact. Imagine when a pro football team leaves one city for another and they keep the name. One example is the Los Angeles Rams moved to St. Louis, they kept the Ram on the helmets, but they removed Los Angeles because the team is currently in St. Louis. You get the idea?
When looking at a business that's successful, and you want to buy it, keep in mind what they are known for, and if they sell it like hot cakes do not mess with it, that car ain't got nothin wrong with it, don't fix what's not broken.
Observe the surrounding area, what's located behind the restaurant, do you need more lighting for security reasons? Protecting your customers and employees is important. Have a contractor friend come along with you to eyeball the premises, maybe you want to redo the bar and some of the dining room because it does look worn and tired, some wood and tile may need to be replaced, check the electric outlets, wiring, is it fire safe? How safe is the gas line? Is the fire extinguishers up to date? Just give it a look, have it inspected before you sign your life away. Hire an attorney to draw up and go over any negotiated statements in writing. Hire an accountant to go over some numbers, look at your liabilities, from the very start, project when you'll turn a profit, have a business plan written out, even if you do have money, having that plan to show other investors in the event you got the capitalist fever and funds needs to be raised quickly, that plan is key.
Hire a marketing specialist to help you get people in there, for instance, if that place is 60 to 80 percent full during lunch, you want that place up to 70 to 90 percent filled. If you serve breakfast, and it's only filled at 40 percent, something's wrong, market, get that word out you own the joint, and have the chef create interesting breakfast, keeping it real and simple, great egg dishes, hot organic coffee and tea, awesome biscuits and gravy, eggs Benedict's, cereals, fresh fruit, maybe a weekend brunch from 10 am to 2 pm. Marketing and advertising is keys to having your sales bloom. If you're selling 25 corned beef sandwiches from 11a to 1 pm, try a new goal to get that 25 average up to possibly 30. Practice marketing that sandwich, and advertising that sandwich. That's what the big boys do, like Mc Donald's, Burger King etc., despite their large funding, you can do that in your local area. Pass out coupons, 2.00 off entrees, with a picture of that corned beef sandwich on the coupon. The more people see, it becomes ingrained in them.
Okay that's enough for now, you get the picture, use a great restaurant to make you profits, build on it, and expand. Get a business plan written out, get a team together, an accountant, a legal advisor, a contractor, and run your ideas to others and see what kind of responses you get.
Good Luck Ron
No comments:
Post a Comment