http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/dining/27fail.html


August 27, 2008

Love Food? Think Twice Before Jumping In

By MICHELINE MAYNARD

"WHEN Linda Lipsky taught a course called "So You Want to Open a Restaurant"
at Temple University in Philadelphia, she deliberately made the business
sound like a minefield. She warned her students that it is possible to lose
their homes, their life savings, and even the rights to their own names. Her
goal, she said, was "to get two-thirds of them to quit."

In fact, two of every three new restaurants, delis and food shops close
within three years of opening, according to federal government statistics,
the same failure rate for small businesses in general. "It's very easy to
fail if you know what you're doing, and even easier if you don't," said Ms.
Lipsky, president of Linda Lipsky Restaurant Consultants, a firm based
outside Philadelphia that has advised restaurant owners and chains for 20
years.

While restaurants have long been a dream for the hospitality-minded, the
industry has never had such a high profile, thanks to the Food Network and
celebrity chefs whose restaurants have become launching pads to marketing
empires.

The allure is easy to understand, said Peter Rainsford, the vice president
for academic affairs at the Culinary Institute of America and co-author of
"The Restaurant Startup Guide."

"So many people love to cook, they like food, and they think, boy, I'll have
a job where I'll do what I love," Mr. Rainsford said. "They don't realize
how hard a job it is, both financially and physically."

Charlita Anderson learned, but it was a painful and expensive education. Ms.
Anderson, 47, went to law school at Cleveland State University, and has
worked in the legal field for 20 years, most recently as a judicial
magistrate in suburban Cleveland, hearing cases involving juvenile crimes
and traffic violations. But she always longed to run a restaurant that would
feature her mother's recipe for gumbo, a family favorite.

So in 2002, she opened Pepper Red's Blues Café in Lorain, Ohio, a Cajun
restaurant and nightclub. She did everything at the cafe, from making gumbo
to scrubbing the floors and singing torch songs, while still putting in a
full day as a magistrate.

Today her restaurant is no longer in business and she is back to her
previous career, where she has paid off the debt she incurred during her
15-month foray into the hospitality business.

Ms. Lipsky has repeatedly seen restaurant novices make the same costly
mistake: vastly underestimating the money it will take just to break even.
She counsels them to have enough money to cover every aspect of a business
for the first six months, including food, salaries, benefits, kitchen
equipment, rent and utilities.

Indeed, Barry Sorkin and his four partners were well aware that the odds
were tough for Smoque, a Texas-style barbecue joint they opened a year and a
half ago on the northwest side of Chicago. But they were determined to beat
those odds, with both research and financing.

The partners - Mr. Sorkin; two former co-workers at a technology firm; his
uncle, who works in the building materials business; and a lawyer - were all
barbecue fanatics who frequently met to grill in each others' backyards.
They spent more than a year analyzing the business.

Mr. Sorkin quit his job in 2005, and visited restaurants all over the
country, including North Carolina and Memphis. (His wife supported the
family while he traveled, before the restaurant opened and he started taking
a modest salary.)

After tasting samples, the partners settled on Texas barbecue, known as "low
and slow" because it is cooked at a lower temperature for a longer period
than other styles. It was a variation they felt had been overlooked by
Chicago's numerous rib spots.

Mr. Sorkin, who has a degree in journalism, wrote a detailed business plan
that ran for more than 40 pages, comparing his concept to the menus of his
potential competitors. It featured a heartfelt essay, "Our View on 'Q," that
set out the group's philosophy on barbecue; a version of it is posted at the
restaurant's Web site, www.smoquebbq.com.

Along with a simple menu of ribs, brisket, chicken and side dishes like
macaroni and cheese and twice-cooked fries, the plan also included an
extensive analysis of the expenses the restaurant expected in its first
three years.

Determining that the North Side of Chicago lacked sufficient rib outlets,
the group zeroed in on a storefront on North Pulaski Road, about 15 minutes
north of the Loop and 10 minutes from Mr. Sorkin's house.

Two members of the group pledged their homes to secure a $440,000 Small
Business Administration loan to get the restaurant off the ground.

In the months just before and after Smoque opened, Mr. Sorkin and one of the
partners spent 120 to 130 hours a week tying up loose ends. "I seriously
thought we were going to die of exhaustion," he said.

Since Smoque opened, Mr. Sorkin has scaled back to a relatively relaxed 90
hours a week. Now, he is at work by 7 a.m., for a day that starts with
stocking wood in a smoker, accepting an order from a meat deliveryman,
checking the previous night's receipts and supervising as kitchen assistants
chop peppers and prepare peach cobbler. He is on his feet all day, and
rarely gets home to see his two toddlers before their bedtime. He can only
occasionally catch a beer in a bar near his house.

But he is not complaining, because Smoque has served many more customers -
thousands more - than the business plan forecast.

"My old job was challenging, even interesting at times, but I never got the
same buzz from knowing that someone got their e-mail fixed," Mr. Sorkin
said. "I love barbecue. I love to feed people barbecue, and I love to watch
them enjoy it."

Ms. Anderson began in a far less ambitious way, relying on her family's
encouragement far more than on financial planning, a step that Ms. Lipsky
said often proves fatal.

Her suburban Cleveland cafe was named after her late uncle, whose nickname
was Pepper, and her father, dubbed Red. The cafe was the culmination of her
lifelong dream to gain more exposure for her mother's gumbo, a recipe handed
down from generations of cooks in Louisiana and Mississippi.

"People who have tasted that gumbo say it's the best this side of New
Orleans," she said. "It's a big deal in our family."

Still working as a magistrate, she began to shop for a location in downtown
Lorain, a working-class town, in 2002. Ms. Anderson chose a former Woolworth
's store about 40 miles from Cleveland on the shores of Lake Erie, on the
hope that long-rumored casino hotels would soon be built.

Ms. Anderson also felt that local residents, who had few options to hear
live music, would patronize a club in their collective backyard rather than
drive into the city.

Even an economic slowdown that gripped the area after Sept. 11, 2001, did
not deter her, because, she figured, "people have to eat, they want to be
entertained."

She had a truly secret recipe in her mother's gumbo. Her mother, Claudia
Anderson, who had never shared her methods with her daughter growing up,
required that she learn the gumbo recipe by heart and make two batches from
scratch, without help, before she would agree to let her offer it on the
menu, which also featured Southern classics like red beans and rice,
cornbread and crawfish.

Meanwhile, family members, including her husband, son and a flock of
relatives, volunteered to work there, meaning she had to hire only one
employee, a waitress.

But before the cafe opened, unexpected costs appeared. To pass inspection,
the restaurant needed doors that pushed outward so customers could easily
exit. The two doors each cost $1,000. Toilets for the restrooms arrived with
no seats.

"The tiny little things you don't even expect, they're going to pop up at
any time," Ms. Anderson said. She was responsible for every detail. "I went
from a highfalutin position to scrubbing the floors," Ms. Anderson said.

The summer after the restaurant opened in May 2002 was promising. Acting as
the hostess, Ms. Anderson rushed every evening from the courtroom to the
cafe, where she tied a custom-designed apron over her business clothes to
seat the guests.

Ms. Anderson, who is not a trained musician, learned to sing blues songs and
regularly took a turn on the bandstand. "It was the most fun I ever had,
notwithstanding the stress," she said.

But the joy did not last long. The hotels did not open, and by fall, the
crowds that she anticipated would fill the restaurant every night had
thinned. The friends she expected would be her regulars were often missing.
"People will encourage you," she said, "but they won't show up every night."

Ms. Anderson, who had borrowed $17,000 in a small business loan, fell deeper
into debt.

Despite a bump during the 2002 holiday season, her business dried up over
the first winter and did not rebound to her first-year level the following
summer. Ms. Anderson did not have enough money coming in to cover the rent,
$1,000 a month, and she could no longer afford to keep on her employee. In
September 2003 she decided to close, a move that left her depressed and
embarrassed.

"How could someone with a law degree and as smart as you blow it this big?"
Ms. Anderson said she asked herself. But she ultimately decided that it was
better to be realistic. "You have to appreciate that this might not work,"
she said. "If it doesn't, get out."

Ms. Anderson's experience is far more typical than Mr. Sorkin's, said Mr.
Rainsford. He should know. For five years, when he was a professor at
Cornell University's hospitality school, Mr. Rainsford ran a restaurant
called O'Malley's on a lake just outside Ithaca, N.Y.

Mr. Rainsford and his wife soon discovered that the restaurant was not a
sideline to his job, but a full-time undertaking for the entire family,
especially during the summer. Eventually tiring of the disruption to their
routine, and with their children losing interest, the Rainsfords sold O'
Malley's to a young couple for a small profit.

The experience has helped him give advice to students at the culinary
institute, where about half are traditional undergraduates and the rest are
older students, many of whom have changed careers or want to enhance skills
they have picked up on the fly.

Many of those students have a romantic vision of life in the food business,
he said, fed by the success stories of people like Ina Garten, known as the
Barefoot Contessa, who was a White House budget analyst before buying the
shop in the Hamptons that started her food career.

Back in Ohio, former customers still rave about Ms. Anderson's gumbo. She
often passes the cafe, now reopened under new ownership and with a new name,
on her way home from court.

Each time she passes, she said, she is tempted to give the restaurant
business another try. "But then I just keep driving, and I say to myself,
don't look, don't look, don't look."

</>

On Wed 27 Aug 2008 04:57:27p, Gregory Morrow told us...

>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/dining/27fail.html
>
>
> August 27, 2008
>
> Love Food? Think Twice Before Jumping In
>
> By MICHELINE MAYNARD
>
> "WHEN Linda Lipsky taught a course called "So You Want to Open a
> Restaurant" at Temple University in Philadelphia, she deliberately made
> the business sound like a minefield. She warned her students that it is
> possible to lose their homes, their life savings, and even the rights to
> their own names. Her goal, she said, was "to get two-thirds of them to
> quit."
>
> In fact, two of every three new restaurants, delis and food shops close
> within three years of opening, according to federal government
> statistics, the same failure rate for small businesses in general. "It's
> very easy to fail if you know what you're doing, and even easier if you
> don't," said Ms. Lipsky, president of Linda Lipsky Restaurant
> Consultants, a firm based outside Philadelphia that has advised
> restaurant owners and chains for 20 years.
>
> While restaurants have long been a dream for the hospitality-minded, the
> industry has never had such a high profile, thanks to the Food Network
> and celebrity chefs whose restaurants have become launching pads to
> marketing empires.
>
> The allure is easy to understand, said Peter Rainsford, the vice
> president for academic affairs at the Culinary Institute of America and
> co-author of "The Restaurant Startup Guide."
>
> "So many people love to cook, they like food, and they think, boy, I'll
> have a job where I'll do what I love," Mr. Rainsford said. "They don't
> realize how hard a job it is, both financially and physically."
>
> Charlita Anderson learned, but it was a painful and expensive education.
> Ms. Anderson, 47, went to law school at Cleveland State University, and
> has worked in the legal field for 20 years, most recently as a judicial
> magistrate in suburban Cleveland, hearing cases involving juvenile
> crimes and traffic violations. But she always longed to run a restaurant
> that would feature her mother's recipe for gumbo, a family favorite.
>
> So in 2002, she opened Pepper Red's Blues Café in Lorain, Ohio, a Cajun
> restaurant and nightclub. She did everything at the cafe, from making
> gumbo to scrubbing the floors and singing torch songs, while still
> putting in a full day as a magistrate.
>
> Today her restaurant is no longer in business and she is back to her
> previous career, where she has paid off the debt she incurred during her
> 15-month foray into the hospitality business.
>
> Ms. Lipsky has repeatedly seen restaurant novices make the same costly
> mistake: vastly underestimating the money it will take just to break
> even. She counsels them to have enough money to cover every aspect of a
> business for the first six months, including food, salaries, benefits,
> kitchen equipment, rent and utilities.
>
> Indeed, Barry Sorkin and his four partners were well aware that the odds
> were tough for Smoque, a Texas-style barbecue joint they opened a year
> and a half ago on the northwest side of Chicago. But they were
> determined to beat those odds, with both research and financing.
>
> The partners - Mr. Sorkin; two former co-workers at a technology firm;
> his uncle, who works in the building materials business; and a lawyer -
> were all barbecue fanatics who frequently met to grill in each others'
> backyards. They spent more than a year analyzing the business.
>
> Mr. Sorkin quit his job in 2005, and visited restaurants all over the
> country, including North Carolina and Memphis. (His wife supported the
> family while he traveled, before the restaurant opened and he started
> taking a modest salary.)
>
> After tasting samples, the partners settled on Texas barbecue, known as
> "low and slow" because it is cooked at a lower temperature for a longer
> period than other styles. It was a variation they felt had been
> overlooked by Chicago's numerous rib spots.
>
> Mr. Sorkin, who has a degree in journalism, wrote a detailed business
> plan that ran for more than 40 pages, comparing his concept to the menus
> of his potential competitors. It featured a heartfelt essay, "Our View
> on 'Q," that set out the group's philosophy on barbecue; a version of it
> is posted at the restaurant's Web site, www.smoquebbq.com.
>
> Along with a simple menu of ribs, brisket, chicken and side dishes like
> macaroni and cheese and twice-cooked fries, the plan also included an
> extensive analysis of the expenses the restaurant expected in its first
> three years.
>
> Determining that the North Side of Chicago lacked sufficient rib
> outlets, the group zeroed in on a storefront on North Pulaski Road,
> about 15 minutes north of the Loop and 10 minutes from Mr. Sorkin's
> house.
>
> Two members of the group pledged their homes to secure a $440,000 Small
> Business Administration loan to get the restaurant off the ground.
>
> In the months just before and after Smoque opened, Mr. Sorkin and one of
> the partners spent 120 to 130 hours a week tying up loose ends. "I
> seriously thought we were going to die of exhaustion," he said.
>
> Since Smoque opened, Mr. Sorkin has scaled back to a relatively relaxed
> 90 hours a week. Now, he is at work by 7 a.m., for a day that starts
> with stocking wood in a smoker, accepting an order from a meat
> deliveryman, checking the previous night's receipts and supervising as
> kitchen assistants chop peppers and prepare peach cobbler. He is on his
> feet all day, and rarely gets home to see his two toddlers before their
> bedtime. He can only occasionally catch a beer in a bar near his house.
>
> But he is not complaining, because Smoque has served many more customers
> - thousands more - than the business plan forecast.
>
> "My old job was challenging, even interesting at times, but I never got
> the same buzz from knowing that someone got their e-mail fixed," Mr.
> Sorkin said. "I love barbecue. I love to feed people barbecue, and I
> love to watch them enjoy it."
>
> Ms. Anderson began in a far less ambitious way, relying on her family's
> encouragement far more than on financial planning, a step that Ms.
> Lipsky said often proves fatal.
>
> Her suburban Cleveland cafe was named after her late uncle, whose
> nickname was Pepper, and her father, dubbed Red. The cafe was the
> culmination of her lifelong dream to gain more exposure for her mother's
> gumbo, a recipe handed down from generations of cooks in Louisiana and
> Mississippi.
>
> "People who have tasted that gumbo say it's the best this side of New
> Orleans," she said. "It's a big deal in our family."
>
> Still working as a magistrate, she began to shop for a location in
> downtown Lorain, a working-class town, in 2002. Ms. Anderson chose a
> former Woolworth 's store about 40 miles from Cleveland on the shores of
> Lake Erie, on the hope that long-rumored casino hotels would soon be
> built.
>
> Ms. Anderson also felt that local residents, who had few options to hear
> live music, would patronize a club in their collective backyard rather
> than drive into the city.
>
> Even an economic slowdown that gripped the area after Sept. 11, 2001,
> did not deter her, because, she figured, "people have to eat, they want
> to be entertained."
>
> She had a truly secret recipe in her mother's gumbo. Her mother, Claudia
> Anderson, who had never shared her methods with her daughter growing up,
> required that she learn the gumbo recipe by heart and make two batches
> from scratch, without help, before she would agree to let her offer it
> on the menu, which also featured Southern classics like red beans and
> rice, cornbread and crawfish.
>
> Meanwhile, family members, including her husband, son and a flock of
> relatives, volunteered to work there, meaning she had to hire only one
> employee, a waitress.
>
> But before the cafe opened, unexpected costs appeared. To pass
> inspection, the restaurant needed doors that pushed outward so customers
> could easily exit. The two doors each cost $1,000. Toilets for the
> restrooms arrived with no seats.
>
> "The tiny little things you don't even expect, they're going to pop up
> at any time," Ms. Anderson said. She was responsible for every detail.
> "I went from a highfalutin position to scrubbing the floors," Ms.
> Anderson said.
>
> The summer after the restaurant opened in May 2002 was promising. Acting
> as the hostess, Ms. Anderson rushed every evening from the courtroom to
> the cafe, where she tied a custom-designed apron over her business
> clothes to seat the guests.
>
> Ms. Anderson, who is not a trained musician, learned to sing blues songs
> and regularly took a turn on the bandstand. "It was the most fun I ever
> had, notwithstanding the stress," she said.
>
> But the joy did not last long. The hotels did not open, and by fall, the
> crowds that she anticipated would fill the restaurant every night had
> thinned. The friends she expected would be her regulars were often
> missing. "People will encourage you," she said, "but they won't show up
> every night."
>
> Ms. Anderson, who had borrowed $17,000 in a small business loan, fell
> deeper into debt.
>
> Despite a bump during the 2002 holiday season, her business dried up
> over the first winter and did not rebound to her first-year level the
> following summer. Ms. Anderson did not have enough money coming in to
> cover the rent, $1,000 a month, and she could no longer afford to keep
> on her employee. In September 2003 she decided to close, a move that
> left her depressed and embarrassed.
>
> "How could someone with a law degree and as smart as you blow it this
> big?" Ms. Anderson said she asked herself. But she ultimately decided
> that it was better to be realistic. "You have to appreciate that this
> might not work," she said. "If it doesn't, get out."
>
> Ms. Anderson's experience is far more typical than Mr. Sorkin's, said
> Mr. Rainsford. He should know. For five years, when he was a professor
> at Cornell University's hospitality school, Mr. Rainsford ran a
> restaurant called O'Malley's on a lake just outside Ithaca, N.Y.
>
> Mr. Rainsford and his wife soon discovered that the restaurant was not a
> sideline to his job, but a full-time undertaking for the entire family,
> especially during the summer. Eventually tiring of the disruption to
> their routine, and with their children losing interest, the Rainsfords
> sold O' Malley's to a young couple for a small profit.
>
> The experience has helped him give advice to students at the culinary
> institute, where about half are traditional undergraduates and the rest
> are older students, many of whom have changed careers or want to enhance
> skills they have picked up on the fly.
>
> Many of those students have a romantic vision of life in the food
> business, he said, fed by the success stories of people like Ina Garten,
> known as the Barefoot Contessa, who was a White House budget analyst
> before buying the shop in the Hamptons that started her food career.
>
> Back in Ohio, former customers still rave about Ms. Anderson's gumbo.
> She often passes the cafe, now reopened under new ownership and with a
> new name, on her way home from court.
>
> Each time she passes, she said, she is tempted to give the restaurant
> business another try. "But then I just keep driving, and I say to
> myself, don't look, don't look, don't look."
>
> </>
>
>
>

I should have thought with her background and experience that she woule
have known that Lorain, Ohio is probably one of the worst choices to open
a new restaurant. Having lived most of my life in the greater Cleveland
area, I can't think of a much worse location than Lorain.

--
Wayne Boatwright

*******************************************
Date: Wednesday, 08(VIII)/27(XXVII)/08(MMVIII)
*******************************************
Countdown till Labor Day
4dys 5hrs 57mins
*******************************************
Make a fortune: open 'Rent-A-Heart.'
*******************************************

"Gregory Morrow" <FlyPrahaBangkokByCzechAirlinesIL62Jet@flyokayflyc sa.cz>
wrote in message m...
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/dining/27fail.html
>
>
> August 27, 2008
>
> Love Food? Think Twice Before Jumping In
>
> By MICHELINE MAYNARD
> >
> "So many people love to cook, they like food, and they think, boy, I'll
> have
> a job where I'll do what I love," Mr. Rainsford said. "They don't realize
> how hard a job it is, both financially and physically."

Count me out. I like to cook. I already have a good job that I like.
Turning a hobby into a business just makes another job and you lose a hobby.

Good article.

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
>
> "Gregory Morrow" <FlyPrahaBangkokByCzechAirlinesIL62Jet@flyokayflyc sa.cz>
> wrote in message m...
> >
> > http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/dining/27fail.html
> >
> >
> > August 27, 2008
> >
> > Love Food? Think Twice Before Jumping In
> >
> > By MICHELINE MAYNARD
> > >
> > "So many people love to cook, they like food, and they think, boy, I'll
> > have
> > a job where I'll do what I love," Mr. Rainsford said. "They don't realize
> > how hard a job it is, both financially and physically."
>
> Count me out. I like to cook. I already have a good job that I like.
> Turning a hobby into a business just makes another job and you lose a hobby.
>
> Good article.

I've long said I'd like to open a restaurant - after I win a big lottery
and can operate it a break even or even a loss for fun.

Pete C. wrote:
> Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
>>
>> "Gregory Morrow"
>> <FlyPrahaBangkokByCzechAirlinesIL62Jet@flyokayflyc sa.cz> wrote in
>> message m...
>>>
>>> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/dining/27fail.html
>>>
>>>
>>> August 27, 2008
>>>
>>> Love Food? Think Twice Before Jumping In
>>>
>>> By MICHELINE MAYNARD
>>>>
>>> "So many people love to cook, they like food, and they think, boy,
>>> I'll have
>>> a job where I'll do what I love," Mr. Rainsford said. "They don't
>>> realize how hard a job it is, both financially and physically."
>>
>> Count me out. I like to cook. I already have a good job that I
>> like. Turning a hobby into a business just makes another job and you
>> lose a hobby.
>>
>> Good article.
>
> I've long said I'd like to open a restaurant - after I win a big
> lottery and can operate it a break even or even a loss for fun.

Money issues aside, would you be the one in the kitchen all day long or
acting as a sort of glorified maitre d', meeting, greeting and schmoozing
with the customers? As the article said, "Since Smoque opened, Mr. Sorkin
has scaled back to a relatively relaxed 90 hours a week."

There's a big difference between opening a restaurant and actually doing all
the work and opening one and hiring other people to do it all for you
But you know that.

Jill

jmcquown wrote:
>
> Pete C. wrote:
> > Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
> >>
> >> "Gregory Morrow"
> >> <FlyPrahaBangkokByCzechAirlinesIL62Jet@flyokayflyc sa.cz> wrote in
> >> message m...
> >>>
> >>> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/dining/27fail.html
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> August 27, 2008
> >>>
> >>> Love Food? Think Twice Before Jumping In
> >>>
> >>> By MICHELINE MAYNARD
> >>>>
> >>> "So many people love to cook, they like food, and they think, boy,
> >>> I'll have
> >>> a job where I'll do what I love," Mr. Rainsford said. "They don't
> >>> realize how hard a job it is, both financially and physically."
> >>
> >> Count me out. I like to cook. I already have a good job that I
> >> like. Turning a hobby into a business just makes another job and you
> >> lose a hobby.
> >>
> >> Good article.
> >
> > I've long said I'd like to open a restaurant - after I win a big
> > lottery and can operate it a break even or even a loss for fun.
>
> Money issues aside, would you be the one in the kitchen all day long or
> acting as a sort of glorified maitre d', meeting, greeting and schmoozing
> with the customers? As the article said, "Since Smoque opened, Mr. Sorkin
> has scaled back to a relatively relaxed 90 hours a week."
>
> There's a big difference between opening a restaurant and actually doing all
> the work and opening one and hiring other people to do it all for you
> But you know that.
>
> Jill

I'd certainly be hiring up front staff since I'm not a people person. I
expect I'd be head chef driving the kitchen staff and doing a few things
myself.

"Pete C." > wrote in message
> I've long said I'd like to open a restaurant - after I win a big lottery
> and can operate it a break even or even a loss for fun.

Now that is sensible! Takes a lot of pressure off.

If I opened a restaurant it would have a simple menu. Dinner? Yes or No.
You get what I feel like cooking tonight. Beverage choices would be either
a pitcher of water or a pitcher of wine as both will be on the table. There
will be one seating at 6:30.
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

"Edwin Pawlowski" > ha scritto nel messaggio
...
>
> "Pete C." > wrote in message
>> I've long said I'd like to open a restaurant - after I win a big lottery
>> and can operate it a break even or even a loss for fun.
>
> Now that is sensible! Takes a lot of pressure off.
>
> If I opened a restaurant it would have a simple menu. Dinner? Yes or No.
> You get what I feel like cooking tonight. Beverage choices would be
> either a pitcher of water or a pitcher of wine as both will be on the
> table. There will be one seating at 6:30.
> --
> Ed

That's pretty much a trattoria, except fr the 6:30 bit. Not even babies eat
that early here!

"Giusi" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> "Edwin Pawlowski" > ha scritto nel messaggio
> ...
>>
>> "Pete C." > wrote in message
>>> I've long said I'd like to open a restaurant - after I win a big lottery
>>> and can operate it a break even or even a loss for fun.
>>
>> Now that is sensible! Takes a lot of pressure off.
>>
>> If I opened a restaurant it would have a simple menu. Dinner? Yes or
>> No. You get what I feel like cooking tonight. Beverage choices would be
>> either a pitcher of water or a pitcher of wine as both will be on the
>> table. There will be one seating at 6:30.
>> --
>> Ed
>
> That's pretty much a trattoria, except fr the 6:30 bit. Not even babies
> eat that early here!
>

If I waited until 8, no one would show up. Maybe 7 is OK. Yes, the wine on
the table I learned from eating in various trattoria. It was always
reasonably priced and free flowing. The best meals in Italy were the most
reasonably priced places where the local go.

Similarly, there are some folks who are considering going into farming
(so they can grow organic produce/dairy/etc and help the world) with
similarly naive preconceptions.

T.

"Janet Baraclough" > ha scritto nel messaggio
...
> The message >
> from "Edwin Pawlowski" > contains these words:
>
>> If I opened a restaurant it would have a simple menu. Dinner? Yes or
>> No.
>> You get what I feel like cooking tonight. Beverage choices would be
>> either
>> a pitcher of water or a pitcher of wine as both will be on the table.
>> There
>> will be one seating at 6:30.
>
> I'm half way there already. I just need to work out how much to
> charge the family for dinner. Should I accept credit cards? Should I
> tip the person who sets the table?
>
> Janet

No credit cards. Fair pay for the table setter with benefits as arranged
with his union. Reckon the cost of the foods, add for transport nowadays
and triple.
Remember, no shirt, no shoes, no service.

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
>
> "Pete C." > wrote in message
> > I've long said I'd like to open a restaurant - after I win a big lottery
> > and can operate it a break even or even a loss for fun.
>
> Now that is sensible! Takes a lot of pressure off.
>
> If I opened a restaurant it would have a simple menu. Dinner? Yes or No.
> You get what I feel like cooking tonight. Beverage choices would be either
> a pitcher of water or a pitcher of wine as both will be on the table. There
> will be one seating at 6:30.
> --
> Ed
> http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

Live Jazz club, open about 5pm, constantly changing menu with a few
standards, "show kitchen", etc. I'd show up about 4p to make sure my
staff was on track, and bail out around 9p once the rush was settling
down and things were under control. And of course pay enough to have
quality staff.

On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:31:42 +0100, Janet Baraclough wrote:

> The message >
> from "Edwin Pawlowski" > contains these words:
>
>> If I opened a restaurant it would have a simple menu. Dinner? Yes or No.
>> You get what I feel like cooking tonight. Beverage choices would be either
>> a pitcher of water or a pitcher of wine as both will be on the table. There
>> will be one seating at 6:30.
>
> I'm half way there already. I just need to work out how much to
> charge the family for dinner. Should I accept credit cards? Should I
> tip the person who sets the table?
>
> Janet

just be careful they don't bolt on the check.

your pal,
blake

Pete C. wrote:
> Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
>>
>> "Pete C." > wrote in message
>>> I've long said I'd like to open a restaurant - after I win a big
>>> lottery and can operate it a break even or even a loss for fun.
>>
>> Now that is sensible! Takes a lot of pressure off.
>>
>> If I opened a restaurant it would have a simple menu. Dinner? Yes
>> or No. You get what I feel like cooking tonight. Beverage choices
>> would be either a pitcher of water or a pitcher of wine as both will
>> be on the table. There will be one seating at 6:30.
>> --
>> Ed
>
> Live Jazz club, open about 5pm, constantly changing menu with a few
> standards, "show kitchen", etc. I'd show up about 4p to make sure my
> staff was on track, and bail out around 9p once the rush was settling
> down and things were under control. And of course pay enough to have
> quality staff.

Wouldn't be much of a jazz club if things were settling down by 9PM
That's when the joint should start jumpin!

Jill

On Aug 28, 7:47*pm, "Edwin Pawlowski" > wrote:
> "Pete C." > wrote in message
> > I've long said I'd like to open a restaurant - after I win a big lottery
> > and can operate it a break even or even a loss for fun.
>
> Now that is sensible! *Takes a lot of pressure off.
>
> If I opened a restaurant it would have a simple menu. *Dinner? *Yes or No.
> You get what I feel like cooking tonight. *Beverage choices would be either
> a pitcher of water or a pitcher of wine as both will be on the table. There
> will be one seating at 6:30.
> --
> Edhttp://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

Yeah, I've thought of a small lunch place- a daily soup, a daily bread/
roll, a few salads and a few sandwiches.

On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:50:34 -0700 (PDT), merryb >
wrote:

>Yeah, I've thought of a small lunch place- a daily soup, a daily bread/
>roll, a few salads and a few sandwiches.

Thousands have. It will require more dollars then sense.

On Aug 29, 1:17*pm, Billy <Hereiam@hotmaildotcom> wrote:
> On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:50:34 -0700 (PDT), merryb >
> wrote:
>
> >Yeah, I've thought of a small lunch place- a daily soup, a daily bread/
> >roll, a few salads and a few sandwiches.
>
> Thousands have. * * It will require more dollars then sense. *

Luckily I have plenty of sense- that's why I haven't done it yet

jmcquown wrote:
>
> Pete C. wrote:
> > Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
> >>
> >> "Pete C." > wrote in message
> >>> I've long said I'd like to open a restaurant - after I win a big
> >>> lottery and can operate it a break even or even a loss for fun.
> >>
> >> Now that is sensible! Takes a lot of pressure off.
> >>
> >> If I opened a restaurant it would have a simple menu. Dinner? Yes
> >> or No. You get what I feel like cooking tonight. Beverage choices
> >> would be either a pitcher of water or a pitcher of wine as both will
> >> be on the table. There will be one seating at 6:30.
> >> --
> >> Ed
> >
> > Live Jazz club, open about 5pm, constantly changing menu with a few
> > standards, "show kitchen", etc. I'd show up about 4p to make sure my
> > staff was on track, and bail out around 9p once the rush was settling
> > down and things were under control. And of course pay enough to have
> > quality staff.
>
> Wouldn't be much of a jazz club if things were settling down by 9PM
> That's when the joint should start jumpin!
>
> Jill

Settling down as in serving pace up to speed, not quieting down as in no
customers. Also bail out as in out of the kitchen and off to my spot to
relax and enjoy the show.

On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:09:12 -0400, jmcquown wrote:

> Pete C. wrote:
>>
>> Live Jazz club, open about 5pm, constantly changing menu with a few
>> standards, "show kitchen", etc. I'd show up about 4p to make sure my
>> staff was on track, and bail out around 9p once the rush was settling
>> down and things were under control. And of course pay enough to have
>> quality staff.
>
> Wouldn't be much of a jazz club if things were settling down by 9PM
> That's when the joint should start jumpin!
>
> Jill

actually, that would be before most of the patrons would be arriving.

your pal,
blake

"Pete C." wrote:
>
> Live Jazz club, open about 5pm, constantly changing menu with a few
> standards, "show kitchen", etc. I'd show up about 4p to make sure my
> staff was on track, and bail out around 9p once the rush was settling
> down and things were under control. And of course pay enough to have
> quality staff.

Quality staff? Restaurants (and the hospitality business
in general) consist of a few adults managing a much larger
number of teens and 20-somethings, often in their first jobs,
and somehow eking a profit out of it while minimizing accidental
fires and knife injuries, and keeping an eye open for the
occasional disaffected employee who spits or urinates in the
customers' food or drink.

If I had a restaurant, all of the business would be at the
drive-up window and we would serve nothing but deep-fried squid
and chips. Maybe half-a-dozen sauces to go with the squid.
Tartar sauce, certainly, and some kind of tomato-based sauce.

On Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:15:06 GMT, blake murphy
> wrote:

>On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:09:12 -0400, jmcquown wrote:
>
>> Pete C. wrote:
>>>
>>> Live Jazz club, open about 5pm, constantly changing menu with a few
>>> standards, "show kitchen", etc. I'd show up about 4p to make sure my
>>> staff was on track, and bail out around 9p once the rush was settling
>>> down and things were under control. And of course pay enough to have
>>> quality staff.
>>
>> Wouldn't be much of a jazz club if things were settling down by 9PM
>> That's when the joint should start jumpin!
>>
>> Jill
>
>actually, that would be before most of the patrons would be arriving.
>
There are a few restaurants here that turn into nightclubs after 10.
9-10 is the transition hour where diners finish their meals, the DJ
sets up and earlybirds start arriving to quaff a drink or two and
escape cover charges.


--
I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number of carats in a diamond.

Mae West