Honestly

Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

CoqaVin

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2013
Messages
1,579
Reaction score
1
Honestly how much do you need to open your own restaurant? contemplating this seriously
 
Lot more than you planned usually. But still depends on your location , type of cuisine since you need to equip the kitchen accordingly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I understand that its more than I am going to plan for hoping to get a spot where a restaurant was so I can save on equipment costs but as I found out recently that does not always work to your advantage
 
I have already selected a property in foreclosure that comes with all the equipment, all I would need to add is a fresh coat of paint and a new grill. I have been contemplating this place for about a year. I make really good money doing what I do though, so it makes it tough to justify especially when you have to put your life savings on the line to do it. It was originally a german/european restaurant that the owners just wanted to retire and they sold out to a mexican restaurant that couldn't make it work. My plan would play on some of strengths of the original restaurant in an updated way and potentially add a brewery element to it. I have some thoughts for what I need/want to happen in the next six months and if they fall through, I am seriously considering upping my business plan to see if it is feasible and pulling the trigger.
 
DeepCSweede if its what you want to do and own your own restaurant go for it I say...If you don't mind me asking now what do you do now?
 
I am a partner in a CPA firm, but last year started to discuss a CFO position with a former client that has a strong need for someone to help him grow his business. I am ready to get out of the public accounting business, so if that falls through I am seriously contemplating what I want to do next. I have done consulting work for the hospitality business so I know just enough to be dangerous unfortunately, but also am a bit risk averse with a 6 yr old and 16 month old baby to provide for.
 
We planned 80 grand to open. Another 80 first year.

Turned into 150 grand to open, 150 first year, and 30 the second...

That's over 100% more than the business plan.

Good luck....
 
I hear ya NO Chop its not cheap that I know and there are always things that go wrong or break that are unexpected

how was the equipment when you openened
 
Location/size? What's the rent going to be? Will vendors give you 60 day credit? How many years have you worked in the industry, and how recently- that's going to be more important in getting a good staff. I think our first location did it with only 200,000 but that was small, in the Midwest and we got into trouble not paying vendors the first year.
 
Location not sure or size not sure hoping to take over a former restaurant to save on equipment costs...what is the common rent for a restaurant NO Chop how much do you pay? worked in the industry for like 5 years graduated from culinary school pretty recently I have 2 people in mind one guy from culinary school that was on the same page as me and a GM for the front of the house we already runs a restaurant and is quite the culinaire if thats a word I think I can make a good relationship with vendors for Meats and Seafoods and Produce but paper products not sure how those bigger companies operate
 
I am well aware of the risk and also how Murphy's law rears his ugly head and doubles everything, that is the underlying factor in why I haven't pulled the trigger on it. I definitely would want some side capital in place, if nothing else have that capital invested in the building so at least the investor capital is secured. The good thing with that too is that the price on the building really can't go any lower, I can pick it up for about $300,000 under fmv.
 
Lets say we have 600k sales per year. A perfect world would allow for 10% profit, so 60k a year profit, hypothetically...

That's six years, not including interest just to pay off the initial investments.

And the restaurant world is not a perfect world, let me tell you....

Now, how many restaurants are around for 8 years or more.

Do it for the love, never for the money....
 
I am not doing it for the money whatsoever I could really care less about that as long as I can provide for me and my own I am alright with that
 
To answer the question on rent.

It really depends on location. If you can find an up and coming spot, you might get a bargain. A hot area can cost double or triple. In the area we are in, rent for a typical 2000 to 3000 square foot space, which is small for a restaurant, can run $2500 to $5000 a month.

Also, no vendor will give credit upon opening. Your initial inventory will be COD.

Being handy can save you a fortune, as well.

We had a fair amount of equipment that we leased to own. We also spent a penny on new stuff....
 
Lets say we have 600k sales per year. A perfect world would allow for 10% profit, so 60k a year profit, hypothetically...

That's six years, not including interest just to pay off the initial investments.

And the restaurant world is not a perfect world, let me tell you....

Now, how many restaurants are around for 8 years or more.

Do it for the love, never for the money....


those are the numbers that talk me out of it every year... I can just take my 100grand and be happy working for someone or...
 
I have an aquaintence who designs and builds brewery equipment. If you are interested in speaking with him about ballpark costs for adding a brewery operation to the restaurant shoot me a PM and I will give you his contact info.
 
Updated German brew pub sounds like a pretty good idea. Especially near the airport. (If my assumptions are correct)
 
Honestly how much do you need to open your own restaurant? contemplating this seriously

the answer to this can range in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. you really need to get specific for an answer.

Where would you open it? would you rent the building or buy? how much square footage would you need? how many seats? is it prefab or are you buying/renting all the equipment from scratch? what cuisine will you be serving? how much of it can you be involved in (cooking/managing/accounting/advertising)

There is really no set amount... i'll agree with chegcomesback in that whatever you estimate is probably alot more as problems arise and there is a ton of unpredicability that comes along with it.
 
I hear ya jamster trying to save money wherever possible so it would be rented and hopefully the equipment/kitchen is in working condition already and just needs a few improvements
 
I hear ya jamster trying to save money wherever possible so it would be rented and hopefully the equipment/kitchen is in working condition already and just needs a few improvements

there are arguments for many approaches, cutting corners early can really come back to bite you in the rear later on and once your operational its not very easy to just up and make changes or fixes. not that there is anything wrong with renting and using used equipment, just be smart about where you look for savings and explore all avenues before moving forward.... for instance in some areas renting might be significantly more expensive then what you'd get on a mortagage and that money is going in the owners pockets not towards a place you will eventually own
 
Believe me I am not trying to cut corners because I know that will bite you in the azz later on

Where do you get your experience from if you dont mind me asking?
 
Believe me I am not trying to cut corners because I know that will bite you in the azz later on

Where do you get your experience from if you dont mind me asking?

My stepfather and his 11 siblings ran an italian family restaraunt when i was growing up... was working back there since i could reach the counter tops. worked all through high school before moving away to college. learned a ton just by being around the business for 20 years. Opened a bar and grill with 2 friends after school, worked as the chef/owner for 8 years... got to be too much for me, we were profitable but it was starting to wear on me and if i stayed longer i would have eventually started to hate cooking, so i switched careers and do IT work now and just cook at home and do some private instruction
 
To tell you the truth though I am just getting tired of working for other people and them thinking I am a dumb ass or something really gets me frustrated more than anything

Nothing against Mexicans or anything like that but they are taking over the restaurant scene here and they think they know better than you and that's what really infuriates me they think they know all
 
Several young chefs have opened restos in town lately. Basic formula: Find a hip location with low rent, scrape your cash and credit together and put the bare minimum in materials and design, invest a ton of sweat equity, get help from friends and family, get great reviews, get nominated for a James Beard award.

The fact that restaurants are getting rave reviews despite having plywood bar tops and tables kinda blows my mind. But that's the trend these days.
 
A restaurant in my neck of the woods opened the way Salty describes. Then, after a couple years they did a kick starter campaign and made 300k in a week. Now they are about to re-open.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top