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[couture]

Hey guys. I'm new to this forum. I just wanted to introduce myself.

I'm thinking about opening up a restaurant, that's why I joined this forum. Hoping to get some advice here, whether it be positive or negative I'm ready.

I currently own a salon right now, but the tanning industry is going downhill due to a new tan-tax that was just thrown at us. So with that being said, I'm considering opening up a restaurant. I'm hoping for some advice here.

I've worked in a restaurant before, but never in management, so I just want to let you guys know I'm not coming here thinking I know everything, because I don't. I do know a lot on the business side of things, but I also realize a restaurants business is completely different than a salon's business.

So here's what I'm thinking... I would like to open up a sports bar-- beer, wings, burgers, etc. No pizza. I'd love to have a few flat screen tvs for people to watch games.

Now I was snooping around a little bit on here, and I see that someone had suggested taking over a current restaurant. Now, I know with my industry if a salon is failing you run the other way and don't look back. But I'm curious as to why it would be a good idea to take over a restaurant.

Now i have looked at a few buildings, and I was wondering how hard it is to get electrical and running water going throughout a restaurant. What do I need to look for when looking at buildings? What do I need to keep away from?

There are a lot of business opportunities where I'm at. I would love to hear what you guys think on the subject. I'm open to any suggestions and/or critiques.

Thank you so much in advance.

[crazy_cajun]

Hello how are you today? In response to your question about opening a restaurant where one has failed, there are many things that you need to look at. I have a few clients that have done this in the past when they were looking at opening their second or third location, and decided that an already established location, established meaning a restaurant setup, had been used. This saved them time and money in getting some of the things together that they needed for their business. Below are somethings you should take into consideration.

1. Why did the restaurant before you fail? Many people will say location is everything in the restaurant business. I many times agree, but that is not always the case. In our area I have seen restaurants with prime locations fail within months and years of opening. Location does not take care of you in the restaurant business, it takes the right management, marketing, and above all others GOOD FOOD. We recently did a survey of 1000 people living an our market to determine why the restaurants around us had failed, and to see what the problem was. Over 85% of the people said it was their food, and the value the customer thought they were receiving. In todays economy people are not spending the way that we had grown accustomed to, and it is important to give them a good value, if you don't, its hard to make it. Many of the people that we talked to told us that they would rather eat out once a month at a nice expensive restaurant knowing that they would receive a good meal, than to eat out multiple times at cheaper restaurants where they may not have been as happy with what they received.

2. How long was the prior restaurant in business? This is very important in determining if that location is right for you. The amount of time that they were there is what is going to give you an idea of the reasons they failed. If they were short term then it could have been something as easy as not having enough put away financially to start the business and keep it running. If they were more much longer, then you should research what took place. Was it a change in management, was it something as simple as they were trying to cut corners with their food, and the customers finally quit going? There are many things to look at it here, but that does not mean that will happen with you.

3.Food Niche? Another thing to look at, is what were they serving? Are there a group of other restaurants in the area that are serving the same thing, and if so do you think you can beat them, or is it even worth it?

Heres an example to look at:

Recently we just watched a Brazilian Steakhouse in our area close after about a year of business. Since many of our N-Touch Marketing clients are restaurants, we wanted to know what happened. The restaurant was Brazilian Churrascaria Meat and Steakhouse. There is only one other restaurant within a 30 mile radius that does this type of food, so their niche was great. The food on the most part was great, but they did have to compete with this other restaurant since that is where many people that went would compare it to, and in most cases they compared well. The one problem that they did have was that a big restaurant around them closed within the last 3 months as well. This should not affect them, nor do I believe that it did. I have talked to many business owners in the area, and I can only believe that they were not ready for the financial burden of opening a restaurant and being able to run it for a long period of time without seeing the types of profits that they would need to stay open.

With that in mind, that goes back to your question of should run? Well in this case I would say no since it was poor planning and implementing that caused this restaurant to fail. You need to make sure that you are diligent in the way that you research everything, and make sure that you have every basis covered to succeed in your venture. The one thing that many people opening a restaurant do not do, is take the right amount of time to find out the little things. I would find another business owner and talk to them, many are willing to talk and help out since they went through the same growing pains. I would also go and find you a good marketing company that will be able to help with the research and the development of your marketing plan well before you open your doors.

Sorry if I rambled, and I hope it was helpful. Good Luck.

crazy_cajun