Long-term planning is great and all, but opening up that one first successful restaurant should be goal numero uno. If truly successful after that, he'd probably need to open a few more to validate the concept. After which he can franchise, or open more on his own, or both. I've thought of doing a number of different random franchises, and have struggled with the same issues as many have brought up here. Also, I have a job I want to keep, so would prefer to partner with someone willing to be an owner/operator. If someone here is really interested in that, I'd love to talk...
A big huge gigantic numero uno. Opening a successful restaurant is very, very difficult. Maintaining success for any length of time is unbelievably so.
Oh, for whoever mentioned it: A BW3 franchise requires 600K in unburdened liquidity & 1.8M in net worth. 20% of your startup costs must be liquid as well. You are required to open 2 locations, but not simultaneously. There are no franchises availabe in Texas. Couple of years ago they did a 42 location franchise deal with a guy out of McAllen - it covers Texas & a few locations in New Mexico.
I can't speak with all BW3 locations -- but the one where I live (Fayetteville, AR) has the worst service I've ever seen. The place is packed and the wings are pretty damn tasty, but I don't understand how the place has taken off so quickly. I like all the TVs, but the beer aint cheap and the service aint good, either...What is the experience like in Texas?
It's all about unit economics. Think about it when you walk in. Is the place huge? No. Is the place filled with expensive lights, upscale dishes or tables? No. Are wings easy to make, high margin products? Yes. Is liquor high $ volume, high margin? Yes. Undoubtedly not all BW3 have bad service. But the reason they are at the point where you have to be so well-qualified to even get into the front door of their franchising department is because a lot of people are knocking, and their better off taking on less risky franchisees, willing and capable of opening multiple units.
Definitely true. I've read numerous articles on failure rates of restaurants, I guess the average is 70% in the first 2 years. After a google check, the claim seems to be closer to 60% in 3 years. Not horrible, but the odds aren't in your favor.
There's a convenience store down the street from me, and a neighbor leases space there and has 2 commercial pizza ovens. He sells by the slice all day and evening, and also takes order for full pizzas. There's only one size. He hires a couple of kids to work weekends and sometimes nights, and I think he does pretty well. There's no big advertising budget, it's all neighborhood walk up and drive by traffic. He has a kid on a bike who delivers on weekends. Very low overhead. It's good for the convenince store too, because people come in and get drinks from the store. If you could find a good neighborhood location, where people could walk in, and also catch some drive in business lunch hour traffic, you could do well. With pizza, I don't think it's about the brand name- if you make a good pie people will buy it.
