So 2 years after opening the restaurant...

[NCC-1701]

Looks great. Best of luck now hire lots of pretty girls...

[Datawiz]

Awesome news Frank. The barn still needs to make a pilgrimage up there for a little ChiTown Cruise-In.

[Black94lt1]

Originally Posted by yell01

This year to date I've saved over $18,000 on bread.

That's some serious dough

Edit: Damn Dave beat me to it

[Black94lt1]

Originally Posted by Stangkiller

I still really want to have a get to get her up there.

Gene is that you?

[yell01]

Originally Posted by Jeff '79

Nice !

That's the way you do it.
How many hours a day do you work and how many days a week do you work, out of curiosity?

I "work" 3 days a week at the restaurant but work just about every day. Every morning I'm up doing the books, projecting out the next two weeks, etc. I meet with vendors whether I'm working at the restaurant that day or not. I'm actually heading in in about half an hour to meet the patio heater guys to go over a few things.

Originally Posted by snide

Gotta find the savings wherever possible.

We thought we had a good deal on our ice cream mix, until we found out we could buy it straight from the dairy. By cutting out the middleman, we cut the cost in half, thus increasing profit.

That's exactly what happened with the bread. The old owner only had one vendor for a lot of things. I deal with multiple vendors on different items and the competition it creates between them is good for my bottom line.

Originally Posted by Stangkiller

I still really want to have a get to get her up there.

Then get off your ass and get up here.

Originally Posted by datawiz

Awesome news Frank. The barn still needs to make a pilgrimage up there for a little ChiTown Cruise-In.

That would be great to see everyone and enjoy some food and brews.

[yell01]

Here's a few pics of the new place. I've got to tweak it just a little to make it similar to my original. Plus the place failed so badly I don't want people walking in thinking it's the old owner with another name change (he closed after being open for 4 months and just changed the name and didn't fix the issues and closed for good 4 months after that).

[Kerrmudgeon]

Looks like a real nice place to hang out. Well done!

For me, after spending 25 years in the restaurant business I had enough. Enough of the staffing woes, the long hours, landlords.....and on and on. I rarely even go out to restaurants to eat anymore. I can make better food and invite those I know I enjoy the company of, and save a pile of money on top, in my own house.

[snide]

Originally Posted by yell01

Here's a few pics of the new place. I've got to tweak it just a little to make it similar to my original. Plus the place failed so badly I don't want people walking in thinking it's the old owner with another name change (he closed after being open for 4 months and just changed the name and didn't fix the issues and closed for good 4 months after that).

Ouch. Hope they guy didn't start up from scratch. Hope the new store works out for you Frank!

[yell01]

Originally Posted by snide

Ouch. Hope they guy didn't start up from scratch. Hope the new store works out for you Frank!

He leased the space and completely remodeled it himself. He owns a small Lithuanian grocery store a few miles away which is one half of his space and the other half is a small diner with maybe six picnic tables in it from what my food reps tell me. He didn't have a clue about volume and from what I've heard he didn't treat the staff or customers very well. Plus, he owns a company that makes dumplings and instead of fries with burgers and sandwiches when he first opened he had dumplings.

[yell01]

Originally Posted by Kerrmudgeon

Looks like a real nice place to hang out. Well done!

For me, after spending 25 years in the restaurant business I had enough. Enough of the staffing woes, the long hours, landlords.....and on and on. I rarely even go out to restaurants to eat anymore. I can make better food and invite those I know I enjoy the company of, and save a pile of money on top, in my own house.

I've been in it two and like it so far. My plan is if my kids are interested and want to be involved they can run them and I'll semi-retire. I'll always want to be involved in some way.

[snide]

Originally Posted by yell01

He leased the space and completely remodeled it himself. He owns a small Lithuanian grocery store a few miles away which is one half of his space and the other half is a small diner with maybe six picnic tables in it from what my food reps tell me. He didn't have a clue about volume and from what I've heard he didn't treat the staff or customers very well. Plus, he owns a company that makes dumplings and instead of fries with burgers and sandwiches when he first opened he had dumplings.

I'm thinking that was a very small market. Not big enough to support a restaurant of that size. And you absolutely cannot treat your customers like shit, if you want to keep them coming back.

[DAB]

Originally Posted by snide

I'm thinking that was a very small market. Not big enough to support a restaurant of that size. And you absolutely cannot treat your customers like shit, if you want to keep them coming back.

No soup for you! Next!

[Superstreet]

That is awesome, Frank! We will have to make a trip up there.

[OddBall]

From the pictures, that is a gorgeous place. From the window pics, it looks like the location is in a shopping center so traffic volume and parking won't be an issue.
I managed a couple of pizza-n-sub joints back in the day working for money to get me through school. Learned a lot from a couple of old Greek brothers. They really knew the virtues of working hard, working smart, and the value of a customer.


Short story.
On the 15 minute drive from my house to my little "farm", I pass a small mom-n-pop restaurant that has failed four times in the three years that I've been driving by it. As far as location goes, it's on a road with plenty of traffic. It's a country road, but one of the major ones. And there is enough community in the area to support it. The original owners ran it successfully for years, and built up a loyal clientele. They sold it when they retired. And it's failed ever since after that.
I stopped by not too long ago to really just see what was on the inside and get a history of the place. The newest owners where a couple in their 30s that were about to lose it again. The place had passed through family and friends; all of which did not have a clue as to what they where doing. Being a fry-cook at the Local Hardee's does not make you a restauranteer. Arrogance was another problem they had. I listened to them, talked with them, and offered them some really good advice, which they pretty much just dismissed. Here's the advice in short that I gave them:
When someone drives by the restaurant, you have less than 10 seconds to make an impression, and that person is probably going to make a decision in less that 3 seconds. So your building has to be attractive. Their building literally looked like a biker bar. The paint was old, the windows tinted, nothing on the marquee. If it weren't for a couple of cars in the lot, you wouldn't know the place was open. I told them the first thing they needed to do was put in a big ol' neon "OPEN" sign on the door or window. Immediately, do that. Next, start using that marquee. At the very top, put: "We're Open! Come on in. We'd love to have your business!". Again, do that immediately. Put a brief description of the menu on the marquee and some prices. A "specials" menu would be fine. And put the store hours on the door and on the marquee. Those two things alone; putting up an open sign and filling out the marque will let people know that you are open and that you are a restaurant; and most importantly, that you WANT the customer's business. You have to make the place look inviting. Yeah, sure the old couple let things slide, but they had an established business and reputation to stand on. Give the place a fresh coat of paint, and then make any repairs that need to be done. Make me feel comfortable to stop there.
One of the other major things that they were doing wrong is that they had grandiose ideas with the menu. Which was pretty much over their skill level, and the food was probably getting old in the freezer since they weren't selling any of it. Old mom-n-pop had had a simple menu; hamburgers, hot dogs, and a few side items. Your basic greasy-spoon type menu. This was what they needed to stick with. It was simple and it was what worked. What they had was way over complicated and too demanding for their capabilities and resources. They also had no clue on how to price their menu. I told them that there was a ton of information on pricing your product, food costs, overhead, all the formula's that they needed to know freely available and that they should look it up. They seemed to think that old uncle Joe knew all there was need to know about that. Ok, fine. How's that working out?
The place was impeccably clean. I'll give them that, which I really did not expect considering the outside.
They weren't ill towards their customers, but they weren't cheerful either. Not rude, just matter-of-fact. Which anything less than a pleasant attitude with a customer is pretty much the kiss of death for your business.
There were other issues that they had, but again thought they knew all there was to know about it, since old uncle Joe, or uncle Jim, or autie Mae, or cousin Billybob, or whoeverthefuck knew all there was to know about it.


Well, an open sign never went up; marquee never got used, and I still don't know it the place is open or not. Hate if for them, the place could work, if whomever runs it wants to get their head out of their ass and make it work.

[Aerovette]

Originally Posted by yell01

When you actually pay attention it's amazing how much money you find. I switched bread companies in May of last year after I had owned it for six months and had looked at how to save money without sacrificing any quality. I now buy from the company the old company was buying from and reselling to us. This year to date I've saved over $18,000 on bread.

My current boss has a saying that "Saving a buck is easier than making one".

I make it up that way now and then. PM me the exact location and I'll pop in next trip. I'm more than likely going to be there for Cubs opening day.

[Kerrmudgeon]

Guy has the kind of job in the hospitality industry that I'll like to have, although how he doesn't weigh 400 lbs is beyond me!

[snide]

Originally Posted by Kerrmudgeon

Guy has the kind of job in the hospitality industry that I'll like to have, although how he doesn't weigh 400 lbs is beyond me!

He's a colossal douche. We do watch that show however.

[Cybercowboy]

This place is my wife's and my favorite restaurant in Joplin. It's only open for breakfast/brunch/lunch five days a week (Wed-Sun), usually open from 9 AM to 2 PM. That's it. So you'd think, big deal.

They know what they are doing, trust me. They have very loyal staff, they work about 8 hours a day five days a week with two consecutive days off. The food is always just spectacular, but they don't really have a big menu at all. At any given time they are either only serving breakfast/brunch or brunch/lunch. So why are they always packed? Why do you pretty much feel obligated to leave as soon as you are done eating? It just works! Their system works, nothing fancy, but you follow the rules out of respect. Don't hold the door open when there's a line of people. Order when it's your turn, you can't save tables/seating before that. After you order, if there's a wait, you can take your drink outside and hang on the patio or just stand somewhere. When you're done, if there are people waiting for seating, get up and leave or go back to the patio (they don't let you eat out there when busy.) You can order more drinks and hang on the patio for as long as you want (which we've done a few times.)

Six or seven craft beers (bottles only), Hamms, PBR, bloody mary's (they make their own mix), Rumchata for coffee or straight, screwdrivers, mimosas, coffee/tea/milk/juice. Their specials are always very creative, and you probably need to get there early if it's a really good one. I'm always impressed at how well thought out their whole business model is, and the owners are super nice folks. Problem is that people from outside Joplin are starting to become aware of it, so it's even more crowded than usual. Thing is, I've never had to wait more than 15 minutes from the time I get there until I'm seated.

[pgp]

It looks like a great place. Good luck !

[Black94lt1]

Originally Posted by aerovette

My current boss has a saying that "Saving a buck is easier than making one".

For us in the health care business where we dream of a 5% margin, saving a buck is like earning 20. My current project is dealing with hundreds of thousands in expenses, which really are small potatoes until you think of it as millions in revenue