Cafe/Restaurant: SD, we need your help!

[Think4Yourself]

Originally Posted by echo42

Have you thought a bout a food truck or even a small restaurant in an off-location. What you are talking about is the functional equivalent of graduating with a degree in business and applying to be the CEO of Walmart.

I'm a huge fan of food trucks as people can get a foot in the business for only $20k-$40k, refine their products and menu offerings, learn how to actually run a business, learn what sells in a given market & what doesn't, sort out pricing & figure out per unit costs, make mistakes without losing everything, and most importantly build up a following before committing $1 million (and often more) to setting up a brick and mortar storefront.

Given the OP's lack of experience this sounds like a very good way to get the ball rolling, feel things out, and refine his game before committing his whole life savings.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by Think4Yourself

I'm a huge fan of food trucks as people can get a foot in the business for only $20k-$40k, refine their products and menu offerings, learn how to actually run a business, learn what sells in a given market & what doesn't, sort out pricing & figure out per unit costs, make mistakes without losing everything, and most importantly build up a following before committing $1 million (and often more) to setting up a brick and mortar storefront.

Given the OP's lack of experience this sounds like a very good way to get the ball rolling, feel things out, and refine his game before committing his whole life savings.

I totally agree with this thought process. I'd smart out smaller vs. the big plans of doing something big and expensive. I don't care if you're a successful Entrepreneur with a big track record of successful businesses, the restaurant business is totally different. There are so many variables in the restaurant business that you sometimes can't control.

Just like Think4Yourself mentioned, maybe you start out smaller in a food truck and see how that goes.

[Jenkay]

Originally Posted by Hestati

Ok, we are moving!!! Within one year. So we have two choices, one is to come and grab two jobs, for me and my wife and live regular lifestyle, add to road traffic and do all other nice things new people in the city do.

Second is to open unique cafe/restaurant, create few jobs and actually help the city we love so much. We both love food, cooking, serving and we always wanted to have our own business. Yes I know that any business could fail, but I am 100% convinced our cafe will do very well for multiple reasons: low competition, original idea, our passion and mainly because we love this city (did I mention this already?). In fact, our goal is to build a small empire of unique restaurants, cafes and hotels based in SD, contribute to SD development and community and make SD proud of us. Anyway, this is long term plan; let's move to the short term, where we will need your help!

We are in a process of creating menu for our café/restaurant. I am also trying to come up with a draft business plan. Our next steps will be:

- Finance our project through Kickstarter. We do have some cash saved up for the cafe, actually we might have enough to do it without Kickstarter, but want to make sure people do like the idea and show us some support. Extra cash will also allow us to bring in few nice upgrades and offer more to our customers. We will be aiming for 20K, but probably collect more. We will need your help with this later .

- Laws and regulations. And THIS IS WHERE WE MOSTLY NEED YOUR HELP. I know it is tough in Cali. We will probably rent a place where restaurant/cafe was previously located, so that at least most of regulations are already taken care of. However, there are still many questions/concerns remaining. I am reading Retail Food Code, but I think there are also rules specific to SD County. Main question is NSF standards. Where can I find more information about what is required in Cali and SD, any specific boards, websites? The reason why we are doing it so early, is because we have time to shop around for best prices on our equipment and tableware, but I do not want to find out that the 100 plates and cups we bought are not NSF certified and we cannot use these. Same goes for ice makers, grinders, blenders, espresso machines and everything else. We could save a lot and buy better equipment now, when time is on our side, but we have to make sure all rules and regulations are respected.

- Move and find suitable location. We are looking for 1000-1500 sqft for not more than 2500-3500$/month. From what I've seen so far, it is reasonable price even for prime areas (except Coronado, have no idea what the prices are there, did not find anything for lease). We narrowed it down to few areas:
-Gaslamp or right next to it. I think this is the best place year round and we can capture both business customers during the day and party crowd at night.
-Coronado Island, ff the rent is even within our budget. Summer, it will be very, very good, maybe better than Gaslamp. My only concern is, how is Coronado during the winter, is it quiet? Maybe good spot for our second cafe/resto when we are ready.
-La Jolla around the cove. Like the area, many people there, but same concern as Coronado, how is the winter?
- PB. Cheaper than anything else, but again, will winter kill us? We will also probably live there (or Ocean Beach), so it is a big plus.
-Hillcrest, Kensington, Mission Height are less preferred and almost as expensive as other areas . But maybe I do not know something.

Any thoughts, or comments about selected area?

I will keep this thread alive with the updates and progress. I will also ask for you help once again once we launch Kickstarter campaign (September-October 2013).

Thank you, in advance, for your help and support! Help us now, and we will pay it back to the community and this fantastic city

Important question: What will set your restaurant apart and make it special/meaningful/important/intersting enough for people to want to fund you via kickstarter?

[Think4Yourself]

I do see a lot of "I want to start a business/do a project/etc" on kickstarter but I confess I have never and will never donate to any of those things. I have donated to things like the San Diego Public Market and a project to help abused women because I see those as legit charities which fill a public need but giving money to Joe-Bob so he can draw a comic book, release his vanity music album, or start a private business without having to actually save money himself? Nope, I will not do that.

[Jenkay]

Originally Posted by Think4Yourself

I do see a lot of "I want to start a business/do a project/etc" on kickstarter but I confess I have never and will never donate to any of those things. I have donated to things like the San Diego Public Market and a project to help abused women because I see those as legit charities which fill a public need but giving money to Joe-Bob so he can draw a comic book, release his vanity music album, or start a private business without having to actually save money himself? Nope, I will not do that.

I almost agree with you. Except that a lot of local places that are looking to help expand their business actually offer really nice incentives in the form of their products in return for your donation. For instance, Pubcakes is trying to finance an expansion, and once the expansion is funded they'll be providing good value in return for the donations, including products, events, and classes. The fancy chocolate place that used to be on El Cajon Blvd (name escapes me) did something similar, with a great degree of success.

The other big difference is that the folks that I've mentioned have already carved out a place for themselves in the community, and have fostered good will and loyalty from the folks that like them. This makes it a lot more likely that people will want to help them achieve their goals- because it's seen to benefit everyone involved.

Which is why I asked the question above....

[sdurbanite]

Originally Posted by Jenkay

Important question: What will set your restaurant apart and make it special/meaningful/important/intersting enough for people to want to fund you via kickstarter?

I was wondering the same thing. I've funded 3 projects on Kickstarter, the SD Public Market, Eclipse and Modern Times Beer.

[sdurbanite]

Originally Posted by Jenkay

For instance, Pubcakes is trying to finance an expansion, and once the expansion is funded they'll be providing good value in return for the donations, including products, events, and classes.

I just saw that Pubcakes reached their goal in just 6 hours! Good for them!

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by Jenkay

Important question: What will set your restaurant apart and make it special/meaningful/important/intersting enough for people to want to fund you via kickstarter?

This is such an important question. The vast majority of people out there would NOT want to support some unknown, non-local entity that hasn't yet contributed anything to the community. I guess it would be different if you were some known restauranteur that has been successful in another area and now trying to recreate the same concept in San Diego.

But there are so many locals that don't take an active interest in EXISTING local causes that are important. I'm not sure people would want to donate to something unless your answer is compelling to Jenkay's good question.

[Hestati]

I agree with most of you on Kickstarter, people do not like to donate for something they did not try.

However, I believe our concept is different and interesting. In the beginning we will be family operated. There are 4 of us (me, my wife, her brother and brother's wife) and we will always have one family member in the kitchen and one on the floor to make sure food and service is the best. We will have very simple and unique menu. We will be unique in every aspect. I am not saying that "we are bringing something never seen anywhere in the world before", but we will be able to offer more in every aspect, service, food, ambiance. So I hope people will appreciate it and donate through Kickstarter, for good rewards of course.

In addtion, we will be asking for only 20-25% (20k) of our total budget. Yes we can do without it, but if we have it, we can buy better chairs and tables and do better redesign of the place for example and launch the place with some charity event or even charity week. I actually never donated to a project which needed 100% funding, especially small projects. I want to see project lead to actually invest his own money and then I am confident that he will take it seriously. So in our case, we are putting down 75% and will be asking for 20-25% (for rewards of course) through Kickstarter. But in the end, if we do not get this 25%, well, we will just do all the nice upgrades a bit later with our profits.