A New Restaurant

Things are starting to look up in my quest for my own restaurant.  I have stumbled across a property that may be what I am looking for.

One of the things that stand between potential restaurant owners and their dream is the ability to finance the operation.  Starting a restaurant from scratch has a huge start-up cost.  Unless your personal finances are in excellent shape, it is very difficult to raise the needed capital.  Because of the high mortality rate of new restaurants many lenders have higher requirements for new restaurant than they have for other forms of business.  Without the start-up capital, your dreams are dead in the water.

One way to reduce the start-up costs is to get into a place that is set up for a restaurant.  That’s what I stumbled across last week.  The restaurant that had been there wasn’t there for very long.  People that had eaten there said the food wasn’t good, and it was in direct competition with another restaurant that anchored the plaza it was located in.  Then the couple that owned the business went through a divorce, and that was the end of the business.

The location is a little bit larger that I was initially looking for, so I need to be careful running the numbers to make sure my business model can support a higher lease rate, but it is in a good location, it’s the end unit of a small plaza and has great visibility, and it has a lot of daily traffic going past it.

Because the exhaust system and most of the equipment are already there it will reduce some of my start-up costs.  There is a bit of remodling to be done, and it’s not the most ideal kitchen design, so I will need to make sure my menu can be supported by the kitchen.

Be sure to check back for updates.  I will keep you posted as I continue to develop the restaurants concept, and as I develop my business plan.