Anyone own or ever owned a restaurant?

[ClarindaA's]

Thinking of opening one next year, just breakfast foods, open 6-1. Then opening on the weekend for evening hours near several bars, say from 6pm to 2 am. I have the location selected, no competition from noon fast food chain places, 16k population for 9 months a year. Too risky?

 

[RicoSuave102954]

Profit margin on food is very low %, you make your money on booze sales.

 

[lucas80]

I’m pleasantly surprised Clarinda started a thread that isn’t about triggered fairies or Muslims.
Will you serve them at your restaurant?

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

Personally, I would never own a restaurant. Seems like an incredible hassle and an almost guaranteed way to lose money and work yourself to death.

 

[hawkeyetraveler]

I worked at restaurants to pay for college. Very hard business. Food margins sub 10%, staff can be sketchy but you need to trust the staff as inventory is hard to manage and cash has a way of disappearing.

I would not do it unless you plan to be there in person 24/7 for years.

 

[SolarHawk]

Opening a restaurant, in a town of 16k, and open 9 months out of the year is suicide. Don’t do it.

 

[ClarindaA's]

I’m pleasantly surprised Clarinda started a thread that isn’t about triggered fairies or Muslims.
Will you serve them at your restaurant?

Lots bacon and sausage, if they are willing to eat the non pork products, yes

 

[FormerlyCyberCy]

Opening a restaurant, in a town of 16k, and open 9 months out of the year is suicide. Don’t do it.

Is there a tougher way to make a buck?

 

[ClarindaA's]

Opening a restaurant, in a town of 16k, and open 9 months out of the year is suicide. Don’t do it.

No, the student population is there 9 months, 11k residents, 6 k students

 

[THE_DEVIL]

If you have your heart set on it, you might want to think about going the food truck route.

 

[Colonoscopy]

If you have your heart set on it, you might want to think about going the food truck route.

I saw a black guy at a food truck

 

[Gimmered]

Thinking of opening one next year, just breakfast foods, open 6-1. Then opening on the weekend for evening hours near several bars, say from 6pm to 2 am. I have the location selected, no competition from noon fast food chain places, 16k population for 9 months a year. Too risky?

I've put in a commercial kitchen for my wife's catering and meeting rooms. Food service is really finicky. you could easily be $250,000 into it and never make a dime. Even if you pick up clean used equipment, it's going to be a hell of an investment.

For my wife, she absolutely loves to cook, but found cooking for a living is a whole different animal.

 

[Colonoscopy]

Thinking of opening one next year, just breakfast foods, open 6-1. Then opening on the weekend for evening hours near several bars, say from 6pm to 2 am. I have the location selected, no competition from noon fast food chain places, 16k population for 9 months a year. Too risky?

I've thought about that sort of thing.

I'd want to nail the shit out of the recipes and be really good at teaching people how to reproduce them.

 

[SolarHawk]

No, the student population is there 9 months, 11k residents, 6 k students

Got it, I stand by my opinion. Don’t do it dude.

 

[noleclone2]

Thinking of opening one next year, just breakfast foods, open 6-1. Then opening on the weekend for evening hours near several bars, say from 6pm to 2 am. I have the location selected, no competition from noon fast food chain places, 16k population for 9 months a year. Too risky?

What you should do is open one not targeting breakfast. Have it open 4PM-2AM. Then, cut back on food and focus to just serving pizza and a couple of hot subs you can cook in pizza oven. Oh, yeah, and get a bar license and make 98% of your money selling beer, wine and liquor to people paying 200-400 percent markups on their drinks.

Encourage cash only with pricing.

You are welcome.

 

[mnole03]

Profit margin on food is very low %, you make your money on booze sales.

So he’ll need to target the fairies but not the Muslims.

 

[HROT]

If you have your heart set on it, you might want to think about going the food truck route.

This. Gets you in the door with considerably less then a brick and mortar spot...

Always allow you to try how much you actually like it or have the customers you thought

 

[RicoSuave102954]

So he’ll need to target the fairies but not the Muslims.

How many of them can there be in a population of 16K not near San Fran.

 

[hawkdave007]

Thinking of opening one next year, just breakfast foods, open 6-1. Then opening on the weekend for evening hours near several bars, say from 6pm to 2 am. I have the location selected, no competition from noon fast food chain places, 16k population for 9 months a year. Too risky?

No, the student population is there 9 months, 11k residents, 6 k students

Is the 9 months a year thing because students will be the labor pool, or will they be the target market?

Everyday regular hours of 6 to 1 sounds like your target market is farmers and retired fogeys, not college students. Maybe your research is to the contrary, but that's my initial reaction.

 

[St. Louis Hawk]

If you have your heart set on it, you might want to think about going the food truck route.

I owned a very small share of a tavern for shits and grins. Didn’t do it for a living - just a place to hang with the other owners and friends.

Be a tavern with 5 good dishes, not a full service restaurant. 40 regulars should support a low overhead tavern.

Watch your food costs. Keep them under 32%, preferably in the high 20’s. If you aren’t gonna be there, hire a good manager and cut them in on the profits. Inventory walks out the door if someone isn’t watching everything.

Social media and market non-stop. Non-stop.

 

[millah_22]

I once owned a bathroom in a restaurant.

 

[SolarHawk]

I once owned a bathroom in a restaurant.

 

[St. Louis Hawk]

I once owned a bathroom in a restaurant.

A Burger King bathroom?

 

[Gimmered]

No, the student population is there 9 months, 11k residents, 6 k students

Students don't eat breakfast.

 

[seminole97]

Thinking of opening one next year, just breakfast foods, open 6-1. Then opening on the weekend for evening hours near several bars, say from 6pm to 2 am. I have the location selected, no competition from noon fast food chain places, 16k population for 9 months a year. Too risky?

I'm trying to think what compensation would look like for me to agree to working those hours at this point in my life.

It would have to be very large.

 

[tigerguy_]

I was a partner in a hotel if that helps.

One of the best investments I’ve ever been involved with. Made the real money when we sold it 4 years later because the location was great.

Broke a little bit better than even before we sold and never had to dump money into it to make it run which was great.

But there was no food involved so I don’t know about the restaurant side of it.

Did have an outdoor pool with a tiki hut looking thing that had drinks and alcohol sales are ridiculously profitable.

All I got

 

[millah_22]

 

[manatree]

Being open only nine months is a recipe for failure. You are going to need those year round residents, and shutting down during the summer gives them three months to find another restaurant that they can rely on year round and not come back. I’ve lived in a college town for over thirty years and as soon as you see a place close for the summer you know they won’t be lasting much longer.

 

[millah_22]

Students don't eat breakfast.

most of the students wont even be waking up until 1.

 

[Dr. Phil Seuss]

No, but I will probably open some small eatery in retirement just to stay active, and I won’t care if it makes money. They’re literally one of the worst businesses to start.

 

[ClarindaA's]

Students don't eat breakfast.

Brunch hours, and on the weekend the idea was to catch the bar crowd

 

[ClarindaA's]

Being open only nine months is a recipe for failure. You are going to need those year round residents, and shutting down during the summer gives them three months to find another restaurant that they can rely on year round and not come back. I’ve lived in a college town for over thirty years and as soon as you see a place close for the summer you know they won’t be lasting much longer.

I’ll be open all year. The students are only there 9 months

 

[ClarindaA's]

I owned a very small share of a tavern for shits and grins. Didn’t do it for a living - just a place to hang with the other owners and friends.

Be a tavern with 5 good dishes, not a full service restaurant. 40 regulars should support a low overhead tavern.

Watch your food costs. Keep them under 32%, preferably in the high 20’s. If you aren’t gonna be there, hire a good manager and cut them in on the profits. Inventory walks out the door if someone isn’t watching everything.

Social media and market non-stop. Non-stop.

Since it’s breakfast foods, the guy advising me( he owned a truck stop cafe, and later his own breakfast centered restaurant) told me I can keep it to 25-30 percent

 

[ClarindaA's]

Is the 9 months a year thing because students will be the labor pool, or will they be the target market?

Everyday regular hours of 6 to 1 sounds like your target market is farmers and retired fogeys, not college students. Maybe your research is to the contrary, but that's my initial reaction.

I’ll be open year round, morning is targeting the towns people, who only have fast food places to choose from at present time. The evening late weekend hours are to get drinking college kids, kids studying, after a game, etc. it would be staffed lighter at night.

 

[InsaneHawkJJP]

What will you do if someone wears a pro Islam or rainbow LGBTQ shirt to your restaurant OP?

I don’t think you have the proper mindset to be a restaurant owner. Successful restaurants need to be all inclusive and non -political. Can you do that?

 

[hawkdave007]

Ok, that makes sense.

Sounds like you'll be the "only game in town", which could be a good thing.

Are you going to try to be "famous" for anything, or just serve basic stuff?

There's a lady in Galesburg, Illinois who owns a restaurant like the one you propose, and she hired a company to do social media marketing, and it's on fire. She was recently featured in the New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/25/dining/tiktok-sketch-comedy-restaurants.html

 

[ClarindaA's]

What will you do if someone wears a pro Islam or rainbow LGBTQ shirt to your restaurant OP?

I don’t think you have the proper mindset to be a restaurant owner. Successful restaurants need to be all inclusive and non -political. Can you do that?

You bet

 

[InsaneHawkJJP]

You bet

Good to know.
I have a buddy who just started a food truck. It’s a lot of work and you really have to love what you’re doing. No 1/2 🫏ing it.

 

[St. Louis Hawk]

Since it’s breakfast foods, the guy advising me( he owned a truck stop cafe, and later his own breakfast centered restaurant) told me I can keep it to 25-30 percent

Great. Get advice from any source that will talk to you. Don’t half ass this if you are going to do this.

Look for intelligence on your neighborhood. Data people will have info - usually for sale cheap.

Talk to the booze distributors in the area. They always have good info on what places are working and what’s trending.

Hit all the best competitors in the area to see what they are doing right and wrong.

Keep your menu simple until you can make it work.

That’s about all I have. Good luck.

 

[Jimmy McGill]

OP - the cost / profit will be marginable at best at first. Be prepared not to pay yourself for over the first 12 months.

Kind of like a lot of people that think they can run a bar. The profit margins are slim and unless you don't want the profit to be drank away, you pretty much need to be there all the time because you won't be able to find good employees in rural Iowa unless they are named Pedro or Juan

With that being said, I'm in.