Anyone here own/run a restaurant?

What do you think gave me the idea...lol

 

i think there are some DC weed pop-up event things where literally you buy a sticker for like $100 and get a sack of weed with it haha. or others where you pay a "club membership fee" and then they technically just give it out to you for free. all seems pretty shakey... but hey, if you're only in town a few days and then on to another county or state, who's coming after you?

 

Robby Bobby, what do you do for food at your track? Do you draw numbers enough to think about doing that?
Might be your way to dip your toe in the piranha infested waters of restaurants.

 

I own a restaurant. I work no less than 70hrs/week. I cover 9 shifts a week by myself to keep payroll down. I’m there in some capacity 7 days a week unless I’m at the track. I’ve had mine for 10 months working with food only. The first 5 months were absolutely TERRIBLE, even with nonstop marketing and community outreach. The last 5 months my profit has averaged about $7500-$8000/month. All going to pay for the first 5 months bills. Added beer last Thursday and sales have jumped slightly. Liqour is getting added in about a month. I’m in a very religious area of a suburb of Jackson, MS so the liqour process takes forever(city app, city council vote, state app, public notice in paper for 15 days,$1600 total license cost) I held off on alcohol because of that but food alone isn’t enough. Had I gotten the liqour immediately I think things would be better already, live and learn. Everyone drinks with tacos. All of my employees are people I’ve known for 10 years minimum who watch theft/loss very thoroughly and understand portion control and customer service. It’s one of the most difficult things I’ve done and I watch it like a hawk. I think restaurants close more so for the difficulty factor rather than the financials. If you’re not willing to be personally broke at first, exhausted, fight for every penny, and as the owner develop your base in person it will not survive. Be prepared to make $0 in your first year. With all of that being said I’ve still managed 15 track days this year. You can find time to ride if you plan.

 

This. There was a place in North Augusta, great food, great business from day one. The owner wasn't prepared to deal with the level of commitment that a successful venture requires so she shut the doors. Sometimes I think the BBQ folks around here have the best deal, open Thurs thru Sat. Closed the rest of the week. If your product is good, it sells.

 

If he's been in government work he'll have no idea how to make that much of a dedicated time commitment.

Gonna be a reality check for sure.

 

A lot of local inspectors really starting to crack down on those....be careful

They are a lot of money to start, BUT the beauty is you aren't depending on 8 people to staff, a shitty location, or commited to X number of hours.

A wise man told me once "If you stay small.....you keep it all".

Too many people focus on getting bigger....and they lose sight of what their time is worth.

 

I was thinking the same thing. A food truck is doable if you have a couple of good employees in mind and having a venue you own where it can operate gives you more control and options.
A good start would be to survey the track customers.

 

‘Stay small... keep it all’ is right. I’ve been approached countless times about expansion. Hell no. I’d rather build one kickass place than have 10 turds paying for each other.

 

My family has owned several restaurants. We were very lucky to have found a steady stream of loyal and honest employees (more than half turned out to be lifers). Those restaurants afforded us a very comfortable living.

That being said, they also took an enormous effort to run, and employees call in at the worst possible moments. I've had to cancel dates, miss birthdays, etc., but it literally put food on the table for my family so I had to do it.

A restaurant will takeover your life, and if you're not willing to life that way, you will fail spectacularly especially on your first restaurant. Think about the effort it takes to cook Thanksgiving dinner; now think about doing that for every meal everyday. If that exhausts you just thinking about it, stop.


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You keep it all, that's for sure. You keep the long hours, the stress, the responsibility, and the headaches. All yours.

To each his own, but I know when I had a small operation I worked seven days a week, sometimes 80 hours. I was constantly stressed and felt trapped by my business. Now that I have a decent sized operation, I live at the beach 2000 miles away and spend 40 hours per month in the office. I don't "keep it all", but I love my life.

 

Ya'll making this waaayyy to complicated. What he wants to do is pretty easy. You just described being a "carney".
Drive around and sell food for a few days ata a time. Just get hooked up with a bunch of circus/carney folks and there you go.

I believe they handle all the paperwork and hose food trailers get a quick inspection by the locals before opening day so nice and legal.

Plus you get to spend time with some lovely, nice folks who are to give away Chinese stuffed animals and small REO Speedwagon mirrors for doing lines of coke on to Americans youth.

It's practically charity work

 

lol

Having partied a couple times with carney folk back in highschool, It's not exactly how I envisioned my retirement to be. While I'm sure I could get back into the swing of things, I'm pretty sure I'd lose the wife at some point in the journey.....

Wait a minute, you might be on to something....

 

You say you really love food. One of the biggest mistakes that people make is taking something you LOVE to do and make it something you HAVE to do.

 

Keeping it small is where my head was...

 

The only thing I miss is the bacon. There was always bacon available.

 

Just do it

 

Every business requires living there and has a 50\50 chance. Hard work is the only chance of survival, just like any other career...