Restaurant Business
 

So, I'm thinking about starting a small restaurant back in KY hometown. No experience. Any experienced advise? Text or call me at 352-321-8423.

One half of all new restaurants fail in the first year. One half of those that survive the first year fail within three. It is not a business for someone with no experience.

Dude, unless you have experience.......don't.

This is not the forum to get answers.

:pray:

One person comes to mind on helping the OP on what not to do. Just sayin. :1rotfl:

Highest bankruptcy rate and alcoholism rate of any business. Very difficult way to make a living and still have a decent quality of life. The hours are ridiculous and finding good help at a wage that lets you make a profit is next to impossible. With the recent push to bring the minimum wage to $15/hour (I used to work for a minimum wage of less than $2/hour), you have to charge prices that make customers run away. And local towns/municipalities have jumped in to charge a dinning tax that also scares away customers. Trust me on this, I have a four year degree in Hotel and Restaurant Administration. After working in the field for a few years, I ran away and changed career paths. One of the best deceisions I eve made. If I stayed in that business, we would never have been able to afford the Villages dream that we are now living!

:shrug: I don't think it will work. I'm not sure people from KY are very good cooks..... have you ever tasted their jelly?:yuck:

Ok it took me a minute....but that was real funny!

Go for it

took me a lot longer, that is funny

I had a close friend who started a barbeque restaurant from scratch. Long story short, the business failed in less than six months and he had to take bankruptcy. I would say no one should start a restaurant without years of experience in all aspects, waiting, cooking, and business. Everyone seems to think they could run a restaurant simply because they like to eat. You could be the exception, but be careful.

When my younger son was about to start college the restaurant at the country club where he worked offered him $60k/yr to work for them. He was bound for college no matter what they offered but he told me that I had to admit that was a lot of money. I told him they will work you 80 hours a week so actually they offered you 2 40 hour jobs at $30k.

Best way to end up with $1 million when you are in the restaurant business is to start with $2 million.

Huh
 

From your post THIS IS NUTS.
You have no experience. So first get experience. You can likely get a job at a cash register. Clearing tables or so many other things. Getting paid while you learn. You keep you mouth closed and LEARN as much as you can.

As others have said restaurants have probably the highest failure rate of any business.

MONEY? Do you have money to buy equipment, pay rent etc etc.

TIME-look at any restaurant-are you willing to work those hours?

The OLD LINE-a cash business. in the real world, today most people pay with a credit card. They get money back etc. YOU AS THE OVER OF YOUR DREAM RESTAURANT PAY AROUND 2% ON EVERY CREDIT CARD SALE.

I don’t intend to be mean. I lived in Provincetown, a seasonal resort. I think there are about 160 food places. (The widest part of town is just three miles, the 98%(?) is on Commercial street. The vast majority of town is National Seashore—Thank you JFK. During season there are 20-30,000 visitors on weekends, and 60,000 over Fourth of July for the fireworks. Streets are mobbed and forget sidewalks. restaurants are mobbed! Food places are varied and some are VERY good.

Reality:

We’ve been visiting or living in Provincetown for 35years, including ten vicious winters.

The season is only five months, and that’s stretching it.
The population drops nominally to 3,600. I believe half are snowbirds. Although we might get 2000-3000 weekend-day visitors.
In winter, roughly 25 food places are open, some of them “fine” dining. The “fine” have been here DECADES.
The restaurants and food places that survive more than a year are less than half. I’ve seen it. The ones that do survive operate on a low margin and run like CLOCKWORK.

Advice:
I dreamed of having a restaurant too. I listened to a sensible friend. He said, you have no experience other than cooking. Whom will you hire? What duties need to be fulfilled every day, hour? How much money are you willing to lose until profitability?

My friend, with no one experience, you are setting yourself up for failure. Sorry.

I knew a guy a little who emigrated from the Philippines. Hard worker. Wife, kids...opened a place up in NJ and put everything into it. Lasted 3 years. Had to declare bankruptcy. Took a job as GM of a California Pizza Kitchen, then at Staples. Was saving every dime he could to try again with his own place. Not sure he ever will though. LOTS of work. Pressure. Staff issues.

My husband and I did this. He had lost his job and needed to work so we sold our house and bought a bar/nightclub/restaurant. We were in our early thirties. We brought what was a failing business back from the dead and were pretty successful. We could only stand it for two years but we had several people who wanted to buy it. One night at 4:00 a.m. after we closed and were dead tired we were at a restaurant where we always went after closing and one of the buyers was there. We said do you want to buy it and he said yes and six weeks later it was over. I couldn't imagine doing this for longer than the two years. We did many things right but some things wrong. We had 21 employees and many of them taking full advantage of us. We did have a great time doing it. I couldn't imagine doing it at retirement age. You need a lot of stamina to put up with the hours and energy it takes to run a business like this.

Go to the nearest Casino and dump the same amount in the Slots that you were investing in a restaurant. It will be more fun when you lose and you will not be screwing your workers, vendors and the few loyal customers you may have left when your business fails and all your money is gone.

Why do you think franchises are so popular. If you have $2 million contact McDonalds, if you have about $320K contact Jersey Mike's, they're the #1 fastest growing franchise.

Sub Sandwich Franchise Opportunity - Introduction - Jersey Mike's Subs

If you insist on starting from scratch. Move to St. Petersburg and enroll at St. Petersburg JC in the two year Hotel/Restaurant Mgmt program. Get a job at one of the local restaurants such as seafood and learn everything you can. If you want something unique, that probably nobody in Louisville has, get a job at Mazzaro's Italian Market and learn everything you can in two years.

http://www.nicegraphics.com/chow/tam...ros/coffee.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D6vJXCskY6...0/IMG_8174.JPG

https://www.floridaforboomers.com/wp...ian-market.jpg

The Deli | Mazzaro's Italian Market

https://go.spcollege.edu/Hospitality/

I knew someone art work who was friends with the family who started salad works in new jersey. It's now a concession. At the time I remember thinking a restaurant that just sells salads, what a great idea. Why didn't I think of it?
Then I just found this.

Saladworks was founded on October 1, 1986, by John Scardapane, who served as the company’s CEO until 2015.[5] The first Saladworks opened in the Cherry Hill Mall, the success of which inspired the opening of 12 additional locations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.[3]

Saladworks began franchising in 2001,[3] and by 2007 had 88 locations in eight states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Florida, and Illinois. Today, the franchise operates over 100 restaurant locations in 13 states and has announced plans to expand into new markets in the United States and internationally.

On February 17, 2015, Saladworks filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition and listed Commerce Bank and Metro Bank founder Vernon Hill as a major creditor. The bankruptcy filing said it was looking for an investor.[6] Saladworks was acquired by Centre Lane Partners in June 2015,[7] and promoted Saladworks president Paul Steck to CEO, replacing founder John Scardapane.[8]