by great gretzky » Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:28 pm
Well, I'll step up. I am not an expert by any means, but worked for a very notable wine and food magazine in the day and know a lot of acquaintances in the business, and have read a fair bit on the subject. And what I am about to say is scratching the surface.
Bear in mind that the restaurant industry is the single-most difficult legal business to be successful at, it has the highest failure rate and you absolutely have to bust your hump for a while. Food margins are not that high, booze is where the money is, which is also where you can be stolen from blind. Or screw up and serve a minor, etc. I am not intending to be patronizing, because I can't gauge your level by the post, but Kitchen Confidential is a very eye opening book for this type of thing. i'd also read "The Nasty Bits," read some issues of "Food Arts" and do some other homework. The type of cuisine won't be relevant, but might give you a sense of what you are getting into. Its one business where you can really lose your shirt even if the idea is the best.
How are you going to acquire the real estate? If you lease, what do you do if the owner wants to sell? Can you afford or get backing for the real estate? How realistic is a liquor license for your area? They can be expensive and difficult, but also key in the profits. Does your area aloww BYOB? That can be a pretty sweet thing too. One place where I used to live didn't have a liquor license. BUT, they had BYOB. And one thing they did was make mixed beverages based on what you brought. Bring wine, they can make sangria, tequila - margaritas, they had fun things with beer, etc. Who nominally takes care of trash removal, and who REALLY does? What are water and electricity bills like?
Given the cuisine you want to offer, definitely look into used. Ready the papers for failing business, foreclosures, etc. No need to buy a brand new fryer or pizza oven, griddles, obviously -- huge discounts for not new.
Funding can be very hard. There is a reason why the restaurant business has loads of private investors. Given the track record of fine dining, and the competition of chain restaurants, it can be hard to get bank funding. This is just on my head, so I am probably wrong, but I would imagine that in this climate, banks aren't so inclined to loan money for restaurants at the moment.
Who would your food purveyor be? Do you have a sense of this? How long will they let you buy on credit? You might have to, as not many restaurants come out like gangbusters. Who inspects the quality?
You check to see if the name is taken by the patent and trademark office I believe. And you need to consult a lawyer, because might not matter if its taken, there are other considerations. Otherwise, there would only be one "Mel's Diner."
Bookkeeping services? I don't know. I would bet you would want to take beginning to intermediate lessons yourself, and hire someone as part of staff. I also know there are services that are good at monitoring booze inventory, which is where you really are going to get stuck. You know how many fish, chicken, steaks etc., you ordered, and you have tickets to show that. Harder to steal food. An extra pour, or beer here and there is a gradual killer. I'd get as much inventory control and monitoring you can both on the purveyor to you side, but on the you and employee side as possible. You are more vulnerable to theft etc. by the nature of the restaurant you want, as the waiters, cooks, etc. will be more prone to steal -- as the total orders won't be so big like they would in fancy shmancy places.
I think the type of place you describe can be a license to print money. But you really should consider investigating a restaurant consultant to help you work with location, the real estate negotiation (commerical real estate can be tough), your "out date," finding a purveyor, etc. This is a majorly significant decision that can ruin someone if they aren't careful. Hope I can help, and if I didn't, don't flame me, just trying to help.
