OT - Anyone here own a restaurant?

Jay Honeck wrote:

You have to sell a lot of $4.00 hamburgers, $2.00 hotdogs etc. to make a
decent amount of money.


True. However, I see a restaurant as a necessary adjunct to the Inn, nothing
more.

If it were to merely break even -- but double out hotel business -- I'd be a
happy guy. :-)

God knows it's a great location. They're building a Super Wal-Mart down the
road from us (if it ever gets out of court), which should increase traffic,
oh, 5000% or so?

My sister-in-law manages a small restaurant and bakery. They are very
popular, almost always full with a line waiting at the door and just
barely break even. If they lost 20% of their business, they would lose
money. The margins are razor thin for a restaurant.

I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, just keep in mind that you will
likely lose money for a year or two and then break even or make a little
only if you are VERY popular, always busy and run a very tight ship.


Matt

Brad wrote:

We want to call it "the Tower"


Hey! That was my name submission from the contest.

I better get a free dinner Jay!

Be careful what you ask for. Jay just might offer you a job managing
the place!

Matt

Jay Honeck wrote:

One other thing... I have noticed that many of the basic hotels I've been
around have no restaurant attached to them, but are built in an area that
has lots of separate basic restaurants nearby. I'll bet there's a reason
for this.


That's what we are now. In fact, within 1 mile of the inn, there are
currently over 50 restaurants. Six of them are within walking distance.

It's a university town. Unemployment is non-existent, everyone works for
the Gummint, and there are lots of underworked, over-paid people that have
time on their hands, yet eat out every meal.

Unfortunately, most nearby restaurants are either "bottom feeders"
(McDonalds/Wendy's/KFC/etc.), or "top feeders" (fru-fru restaurants with
tiny portions and over-sized prices). There are no "middle of the road"
restaurants, which (IMHO) presents an opportunity.

It may be an opportunity, or it may be that their is no market for a
middle of the road restaurant. Only one sure way to find out though...

:-)


Matt

"Jose" wrote in message
t...
I've never run a restaurant, but I've heard it's a very slim margin
business. I've been a restaurant customer in many restaurants that have
run up against their margins. They had one choice: either raise their
prices, or lower their quality. Every restaurant that chose the latter
failed.

Yes, but do not be fooled into believing that there is no money to be made
in restaurants.

A neighbor had a cousin who was a good chef, and wanted to manage a
restaurant.
The neighbor had some money to invest, and it took off. He now is wealthy.

Find the chef, the manager will be easy, with you looking over the shoulder.
The rest will follow. You can find a great chef and lure him away from
where he is a success, with promises of some more say-so about the menu and
running of the restaurant, and a portion of the take, on top of a nice
salary, of course.

My vote is for a place that has not average or good steak, but fantastic
aged corn fed steak. That should not be hard to find in Iowa. Is there an
over supply of good steak restaurants around you? Think of it. Can you
give (within a millisecond) the recommendation of (one place) where you
would go for a slab? If not, the nitch is still available to be filled.

Like it or not, French cuisine is some of the best, IMHO. That can go with
steak, too.
--
Jim in NC

In article , "Morgans"
wrote:

My vote is for a place that has not average or good steak, but fantastic
aged corn fed steak. That should not be hard to find in Iowa. Is there an
over supply of good steak restaurants around you? Think of it. Can you
give (within a millisecond) the recommendation of (one place) where you
would go for a slab? If not, the nitch is still available to be filled.

How far will people drive in Iowa for good food, a good steak?

I know of a really good steak place in Cedar Rapids. Jay, would you be
able to compete with that place?

--
Bob Noel
New NHL? what a joke

"Morgans" wrote in message news
My vote is for a place that has not average or good steak, but fantastic
aged corn fed steak. That should not be hard to find in Iowa.

One might think so, but my experience up there is that beef isn't seen as
much as pork... Hell, they even thing that pork classifies as BBQ...

Kevin Dunlevy wrote:

Much of the business is done in cash, which often
ends up in the pocket of the owner (or worse, stolen by employees) ...

Yep, that's something to watch out for. There used to be a bar & grill beside
the entrance to Kupper airport. The owner had a local manager running the show,
and he was running a steady loss. So, he sold the place and closed down.

He let the manager go after the sale and ran the place himself for the last
month. He was amazed at how much money the place made. His manager had been
robbing him blind. Too late to stop the sale, though.

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

"Jay Honeck" wrote

Iowa City is like the "anti-Iowa" in many ways. It's got dozens of
"fru-fru" restaurants (a rarity in the rest of Iowa), thanks to the
University crowd, all of which serve tiny portions at outrageous prices.
You can get excellent Indian, Vegetarian, Mediterranean, Japanese, French,
and California (whatever *that* is) cuisine -- but you CAN'T get a decent
burger or breakfast served all day for less than $15 per person.

IMHO, a restaurant with those two items, reasonably priced and served
fresh, would make a mint in this goofy town.

I see a need for a dual restaurant. One, with a low profit margin, going
with the cheep burger and breakfast all day, more like a grill. Another
"fine food" with the killer atmosphere and fancy food, to suit the high
rollers that fly in for a fantasy weekend. Also, the people around town
that want to spend for the suite and/or a great meal, anniversary dinner, or
whatever have their night spot, and you get a higher profit margin.

The advantage of having a place to stay that has food on site has great
appeal. Having a grill for breakfast and lunch, then a 5 star meal at night
is a real draw, I think.

Will it be possible to have the plane parking for hotel use, also? That
sounds like another winner. A heated and AC walkway attached to the hotel
would be another plus.

As I see it, you need to purchase that land. There is no other buy that can
give you the possibilities like attached land can give you. For that plot,
all you can say is location, location, location! g, and it does not come
available, every day.

Sorry for rambling. Just a few thoughts.
--
Jim in NC

"Jose" wrote

One other thing... I have noticed that many of the basic hotels I've been
around have no restaurant attached to them, but are built in an area that
has lots of separate basic restaurants nearby. I'll bet there's a reason
for this.

But Jay's hotel is anything but a basic hotel. I think opportunity lies
with this fact.

Still, he will need the walk in clients, but lots of other choices nearby
still do nothing to keep the parking lot from being full, if the formula is
right.
--
Jim in NC

My sister-in-law manages a small restaurant and bakery. They are very
popular, almost always full with a line waiting at the door and just
barely break even. If they lost 20% of their business, they would lose
money. The margins are razor thin for a restaurant.

Matt

Perhaps a small price increase might be worthwhile.. not enought to run
off business, but enough to get above break even.

Dave