Ok heres the deal. I have an opportunity to start a restaurant and it seems like a good deal but i have a few questions that maybe the Clutchfans world can help me out with. There is a guy that owns a seafood restaurant and can not afford to keep it running and has to get out. Right now i am a restaurant manager and i found out about if from my food distribution salesman. (Who is also the salesman of the restaurant going out of business.) He has a seafood restaurant and a bigger and better one just opened up down the road and took away a good chunk of his business away. The other reason he is going out of business is because he does not know how to control his inventory and price his menu properly. Talking to my salesman who is a really cool and straight forward guy he said opening up a burger place would be prime for that area as there are none other than fast food restaurants in that area. This is where i get interested: The guy is 2 months behind on his rent and will be evicted at the end of the month if he doesnt come up with the money to pay rent. (Which he will not be able to come up with). All the guy wants is $4,500 so he can pay up his rent and i can have the business including equipment and everything. I asked why couldnt he just sell all his equipment and pay up rent that way? My salesman said that he does not have time to sell them because the landlord will sue him because they have a bad relationship. I know i can trust the salesman because i have had him for a while and have been telling him i wanted to open a burger place. My questions are: Would i assume all of the guys debt as far as cooking equipment loans and such? How much money do you think (ballpark) i would need to come up with to switch it to a burger place and get the business open? Lastly, how much back up money should i have to start? It seems like a good idea but i personally think it is too good to be true. A restaurant with low low starting costs. It would be in the Clear Lake area so it would be alot of residential & business area. What do you think?
If you don't know the answer to those questions already then you don't know what you are doing. I'd say run away as fast as you can.
haha i knew it was coming...his question would be how could he open a restaurant and not eat his stash
i was going to spend today watching tv but now I think Ill spend my day making a free business plan for you so you can get rich.
1. Never make a huge financial commitment because of someone else's time pressures. 2. Never trust salesmen. Ever. On top of that, this sounds way too risky. If you want to do something like this, spend the time to do your research and get your financing lined up.
No one can really answer your question without knowing more information. How much does he owe on equipment? How did he purchase the equipment? (Loan, etc.) What does his lease look like? (Yrs. rent,etc.) How much remodeling needs to be done? My suggestion, go talk to the guy and hear it from his mouth first than decide your next step.
Never, ever let a time crunch dictate what you do with your money. Make sure you do your due diligence, and find out all the ins and outs of the deal before you commit one penny. This is especially true if it seems like things are too good to be true. Nobody is willing to lose money without a catch.
Is the current restaurant owner's name John? Is this place pretty close to the border of Friendswood and Pearland? If so, a halfway decent burger joint opened up across the street from this place...........last year I think. It already has closed. There is something magical about the right formula for a successful restaurant, and it is a tough go if you don't have the formula correct. If I have the restaurant right, I can tell you that the new place down the street--while bigger--is certainly not better. But they have the formula right 'cuz the parking lot is always ridiculously full.
