Jay Honeck wrote:

We also want to make the first floor available for banquets. Banquet halls
are in very short supply in Iowa City, for some reason.

In that case, you might collaborate with some local organization. Here, many
fraternal orgs (like the Knights of Columbus) rent out their meeting halls as
banquet halls. Perhaps you could do the reverse.

There's also a diner in Edison, NJ (called "The Pines" for some reason not
involving trees that I can see) that does exactly what you have in mind. Most of
the money comes from being a typical New Jersey diner, but they have room for
banquet hosting.

Jersey diners are real phenomenae. Large meals, lots of selections, reasonable
prices, and open long hours. Don't know how they do it.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.