Ekal Byar wrote:

> Went belly up.

LOL!!! It wasn't as bad as that. Heck, we were named 'Best New Business of
The Year' by the public the first year we were opened. After two years, I
was seeing customer growth at about 5% per year. I had projected, based on
my research, that we should see a 20% per year growth during our first 5
years of operation. We maintained customer loyalty and repeat business
(about a 92% return rate), but new customer growth was too slow for my
comfort. We had a so-so profit return: about $42,000 per year average on
about $296,000 in sales each year. That was just not sufficient enough for
my tastes, and the low percentage growth in new customers clearly
demonstrated that an increase in our profit margin was not going to happen
as fast as I wanted it to.

This was a problem for me for one very big reason.... I was running myself
ragged and literally had no time for myself or family. Then it hit me like a
bucket of icy water: I didn't own the business as much as the business owned
me. I was an employee, not a business owner. I had never planned to work
16-18 hour days, 7 days a week forever and ever. I had expected that after
the first year, I would be able to hire a chef to manage the store and
kitchen, but the profit margin didn't allow for that level of employee
expansion.

At the point I decided to sell the land and building, I had been going at
creating and running the business for several years. Some of you may
remember my initial post here in which I announced my decision to open a bbq
joint. I had reached THAT decision after over a year of burning the midnight
oil, while working full time at the health district, researching and
drafting a rough business plan. I had been at this a loooong time, and I was
exhausted. We sold the building and, after the business loan was paid off,
came away with a decent profit . Since we owned our restaurant equipment and
furniture, we were fortunate to capture about 75% of our purchase price when
it was sold. That is an atypically high recapture percentage, but most of
the kitchen gear was purchased new and was kept in excellent condition (I
was a bear on kitchen and equipment cleanliness).

> Bad location.

It was, given the conditions that the city imposed AFTER I opened the doors.
It was a considerable factor in lower than expected new customer growth.

I had been concerned, from the beginning, that the location lacked one BIG
factor: great visibility. During the time I spent working with the city
during the building permitting process, I specifically met several times
with the city manager to obtain assurances, in writing, that we would be
able to have adequate signage, both on the property, and at other locations
throughout the city, to direct potential customers to our store. I won't go
into the whole long story and battle that occured AFTER we opened; suffice
it to say that the city decided to change its sign ordinances which
effectively blinded my location from the direct view of motorists who use
the two major streets which carry the major traffic flow. The city's
attorney held to the position that my agreement with the now EX city manager
(he left shortly after the store was built) held no weight for allowing a
grandfathering exemption to the new ordinance. He then smiled and invited me
to take it to court. I took it to the full city council, but on the advice
of the city attorney the council refused to consider exempting me from the
new ordinance. My attorney advised me that there was no certain outcome if
civil action was attempted, but that the money required to go forward with
an action would be considerable. I decided that I couldn't afford it.

In hindsight, I should not have built the store at that location. I should
not have relied on signs to overcome poor visibility. The land was a
bargain, but it turned out the old adage is true: "If you buy quality, you
only cry once". Of course at the time, the amount of money available for
construction was limited and existing lease options on existing stores in
good locations were non-existent.

The other thing was that I had never intended to close as a business, I had
wanted to relocate to another, more favorable location even if it meant
leasing a building. In fact, when we sold our building I rented it back from
the owner and continued operation for 6 months. During that time we learned
that another restaurant, which operated in an old Pizza Hut store, was
closing up shop. They had another 4 years on their lease, and were willing
to sub-lease the store to us. They would be pulling out their equipment and
furniture and we would be moving ours in. I gave notice to my building's new
owner, and set a date to move out. During the time prior to our scheduled
move, the new owner found a guy who was starting a motorcycle shop who
signed a leased to move in after our move-out.

Five days before the move, I got a call from the 'Pizza Hut' guy. I was
informed that they decided to keep the business open. So, instead of a move
to a new store, the move was made to a storage facility. Signs and ads
informing customers of our move, were changed to "keep an eye open for a new
grand opening". The "right" location never appeared; they would either be
too invisible to the public, or they lacked sufficient parking/access, or
they were a sucker's bet with high lease rates, plus triple net, plus high
multi-year (10 years was typical) contracts.

I still get calls every once in a while from customers asking when we'll be
opening again. Sigh.

I love bbq, and I loved the entire process of getting my bbq joint open and
running. I loved the vast majority of my customers and their loyalty and
enjoyment of the bbq we turned out. I enjoyed the challenge of re-educating
the community as to what bbq really is, and the pleasure at seeing the
reaction of folks, who entered our doors for the very first time, sink their
teeth into their first pulled pork sandwich or plate of brisket. It tickled
me to no end to have ex-pats from the southeast region of our country eat
our food, break out into big grins, and come up after their meal to tell me
that what they had eaten reminded them of home.

Jill and I talk about how much we have learned from owning and operating the
store, and how re-starting an eating joint would be so much easier for us
now that we have a better handle on things. One of the things we agree on is
this: the concept of a real bbq joint is a cultural thing. People in the
Pacific Northwest don't have a grasp on what bbq is or what a bbq joint is.
They generally love it once they 'discover' it, but it's not part of the
eating tradition like it is in areas like the southeast. So if I were to
open a new joint, it would be a hamburger/hotdog joint. I would do what
Danny Gaulden did and start with the expected and typical 'joint' food for
this area, and slowly-but-surely add bbq offerings to the menu. I love a
good hamburger or hotdog, and I can commercially cook a good product. Good
hamburger/hotdog joints are not plentiful around here and that would be my
hook in building customer traffic.

I will be getting back to driving truck in the next 12 weeks. Hell, I may
even save all of my trucker salary toward opening a 'joint' all over again,
using the lessons learned. I miss the good things about the store and its
customers. I think I learned enough to avoid what I hated most.

To Big Jim, Chef Juke (I miss seeing you here, Pat), Dave and Heather, Harry
D., TFM (and a nod toward Heaven for Christy), the Reverend Frohe and his 6"
Boner, Nick (say high to Jun for me), and those I know I'm forgetting to
include but who were part of a special memory: You all made the opening
special. It spoke volumes to the caring nature of the folks on AFB and why,
despite a very few certain characters, I love this NG. Now all I need to do
is figure a way to get back to Texas and hook up with Sqwertz and Om.


--
Dave
What is best in life? "To crush your enemies, see them driven before
you, and to hear the lamentation of the women." -- Conan