Another Restaurant Buying Thread (2 Viewers)

[Drunken knight]

Good luck to you


... just food for thought:

Stiglmeier Sausage CO.

Hula Dog

 

[Beef Ravioli Part 2]

@pollardsvision how’s it going? You still slinging amazing food?

We hope it's amazing, but yeah, we're still slinging it. The last 6-8 weeks have just been nuts. The busiest in the 8 years I've been here.

No really sure why. Our prices still being too low surely is part of it.

The other part might be that our main competitors (in the local hot dog/burger/breakfast joint space) are all in a time of transition.

All beloved places, but one has a 90 year old owner looking to sell with no clear path to transitioning. I figure the buyer will turn it into something more lucrative than a hometown restaurant.

The biggest hot dog player in town just sold out to a regional chain of gas stations (Express Lane). People absolutely loved this place, and I figured this wouldn't go well. It's not. Scaling a business is great. Small community restaurant trying to scale with corporate CFO overlords? That's hard to pull off.

This city loves it's locally owned dog/burger/breakfast joints. Suddenly, there just aren't many left.

And we're in a unique spot where it's mostly just me and one other person (outside of my niece helping one day a week). We're both long past Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours (50,000 between the two of us, I think), yet we're still in our 40's. You don't age well in this job, but we've got something left in the tank.
Like many jobs, the peak balance of knowledge/experience and youth/energy probably is in the 40's for our business.

Either way, most places are becoming the investor owner model. That tends to lead to underpaid 20 year old's that don't give a **** (and maybe shouldn't). You come here, you are dealing with adults that do.

When that's not the case, we'll deal with it then. We did it a different way 5 years ago and I'm sure we'll do it a different way 5 years from now.

For now, we're providing a place for folks in the community to break bread together, which I think is important and increasingly rare. I'll find ways to do it as long as I can. Not lucrative, and I have no idea what idiot will buy into a chance to do this when I'm done. But I love it.

Thanks as always for listening to the rambling.

Thanks for the update! Rooting for you!

 

[Redwes25]

Love these updates. This is one of my favorite threads on the board. One of these days I am going to have to make it down to Lynchburg, VA as a do love an old school local hot dog stand. Though it is a long drive from Brooklyn for a Hot Dog!

 

[Summer Wheat]

My buddy owns a sports bar-restaurant and has been killing it since inflation has hit.

Raised his prices of food and drink and cut portions but nobody complains as they know how bad inflation is. So his bottom line is better than ever.

I asked him if he will lower prices if inflation ever gets under control..he laughed at me.

 

[Grahamburn]

My buddy owns a sports bar-restaurant and has been killing it since inflation has hit.

Raised his prices of food and drink and cut portions but nobody complains as they know how bad inflation is. So his bottom line is better than ever.

I asked him if he will lower prices if inflation ever gets under control..he laughed at me.

Unfortunately I think this will be the mentality across the board.

 

[dkp993]

And we're in a unique spot where it's mostly just me and one other person (outside of my niece helping one day a week). We're both long past Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours (50,000 between the two of us, I think), yet we're still in our 40's. You don't age well in this job, but we've got something left in the tank.

You’re a better man then I. I dipped/sold out of my Resturant at 38, just flat lost my passion for it. 70+ hr weeks (sometimes 90+) took its toll. At 45 I need knee replacements in both knees. Tough job.

 

[Chemical X]

My buddy owns a sports bar-restaurant and has been killing it since inflation has hit.

Raised his prices of food and drink and cut portions but nobody complains as they know how bad inflation is. So his bottom line is better than ever.

I asked him if he will lower prices if inflation ever gets under control..he laughed at me.

Unfortunately I think this will be the mentality across the board.

i understand american culture and bars, but dudes spending $76 for 6 wings and $8 a pop on a beer always shukes me. people will spend money, especially if the gubmint prints it and gives it out for free i guess.

 

[Enderdog]

Moore's? I've gotten hot dogs there a couple of times and forgot their chili is made with napalm. They make their money on the two sodas you have to buy for each dog.

The biggest hot dog player in town just sold out to a regional chain of gas stations (Express Lane). People absolutely loved this place, and I figured this wouldn't go well. It's not. Scaling a business is great. Small community restaurant trying to scale with corporate CFO overlords? That's hard to pull off.

 

[Grahamburn]

My buddy owns a sports bar-restaurant and has been killing it since inflation has hit.

Raised his prices of food and drink and cut portions but nobody complains as they know how bad inflation is. So his bottom line is better than ever.

I asked him if he will lower prices if inflation ever gets under control..he laughed at me.

Unfortunately I think this will be the mentality across the board.

i understand american culture and bars, but dudes spending $76 for 6 wings and $8 a pop on a beer always shukes me. people will spend money, especially if the gubmint prints it and gives it out for free i guess.

True enough. I took my wife out for lunch yesterday. Draft beers were literally $8. I couldn’t believe it.

 

[Chemical X]

My buddy owns a sports bar-restaurant and has been killing it since inflation has hit.

Raised his prices of food and drink and cut portions but nobody complains as they know how bad inflation is. So his bottom line is better than ever.

I asked him if he will lower prices if inflation ever gets under control..he laughed at me.

Unfortunately I think this will be the mentality across the board.

i understand american culture and bars, but dudes spending $76 for 6 wings and $8 a pop on a beer always shukes me. people will spend money, especially if the gubmint prints it and gives it out for free i guess.

True enough. I took my wife out for lunch yesterday. Draft beers were literally $8. I couldn’t believe it.

there are things we don’t want to give up and come normal to us and easy, but when you take a step back you are like, this is crazy. like i said, go out to eat and enjoy and don’t want to come off as that cheap guy, but try to justify spending $100-$150 on a basic night out with your wife. 2 drinks each, split an appetizer, 2 meals, split a dessert and 2 coffees in my head is now 4x$8, $12, 2x$18, $6, 2x$3 for $92, then tip. i don’t know how people justify attending live sporting events anymore.

 

[ChiefD]

My buddy owns a sports bar-restaurant and has been killing it since inflation has hit.

Raised his prices of food and drink and cut portions but nobody complains as they know how bad inflation is. So his bottom line is better than ever.

I asked him if he will lower prices if inflation ever gets under control..he laughed at me.

Unfortunately I think this will be the mentality across the board.

i understand american culture and bars, but dudes spending $76 for 6 wings and $8 a pop on a beer always shukes me. people will spend money, especially if the gubmint prints it and gives it out for free i guess.

True enough. I took my wife out for lunch yesterday. Draft beers were literally $8. I couldn’t believe it.

there are things we don’t want to give up and come normal to us and easy, but when you take a step back you are like, this is crazy. like i said, go out to eat and enjoy and don’t want to come off as that cheap guy, but try to justify spending $100-$150 on a basic night out with your wife. 2 drinks each, split an appetizer, 2 meals, split a dessert and 2 coffees in my head is now 4x$8, $12, 2x$18, $6, 2x$3 for $92, then tip. i don’t know how people justify attending live sporting events anymore.

Yeah, this is where we are as a family. With everything so sky high right now eating out just can’t happen. For a family of 5 it gets brutal just for a decent meal.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

My buddy owns a sports bar-restaurant and has been killing it since inflation has hit.

Raised his prices of food and drink and cut portions but nobody complains as they know how bad inflation is. So his bottom line is better than ever.

I asked him if he will lower prices if inflation ever gets under control..he laughed at me.

Unfortunately I think this will be the mentality across the board.

i understand american culture and bars, but dudes spending $76 for 6 wings and $8 a pop on a beer always shukes me. people will spend money, especially if the gubmint prints it and gives it out for free i guess.

True enough. I took my wife out for lunch yesterday. Draft beers were literally $8. I couldn’t believe it.

there are things we don’t want to give up and come normal to us and easy, but when you take a step back you are like, this is crazy. like i said, go out to eat and enjoy and don’t want to come off as that cheap guy, but try to justify spending $100-$150 on a basic night out with your wife. 2 drinks each, split an appetizer, 2 meals, split a dessert and 2 coffees in my head is now 4x$8, $12, 2x$18, $6, 2x$3 for $92, then tip. i don’t know how people justify attending live sporting events anymore.

Yeah, this is where we are as a family. With everything so sky high right now eating out just can’t happen. For a family of 5 it gets brutal just for a decent meal.

Ocean City, MD, family of 4, we spent $250-$400 every night we went out to eat. It was ridiculous.

 

[dkp993]

Yeah, this is where we are as a family. With everything so sky high right now eating out just can’t happen. For a family of 5 it gets brutal just for a decent meal.

Yep. In-laws are in town so we went out to eat last night at our local Mexican restaurant. Great food but definitely no high end joint. Very middle of the road. For the 5 of us it was 150$. Zero alcohol was ordered too. Just food and sodas. $150 for tacos and enchiladas. Nuts.

 

[Chemical X]

My buddy owns a sports bar-restaurant and has been killing it since inflation has hit.

Raised his prices of food and drink and cut portions but nobody complains as they know how bad inflation is. So his bottom line is better than ever.

I asked him if he will lower prices if inflation ever gets under control..he laughed at me.

Unfortunately I think this will be the mentality across the board.

i understand american culture and bars, but dudes spending $76 for 6 wings and $8 a pop on a beer always shukes me. people will spend money, especially if the gubmint prints it and gives it out for free i guess.

True enough. I took my wife out for lunch yesterday. Draft beers were literally $8. I couldn’t believe it.

there are things we don’t want to give up and come normal to us and easy, but when you take a step back you are like, this is crazy. like i said, go out to eat and enjoy and don’t want to come off as that cheap guy, but try to justify spending $100-$150 on a basic night out with your wife. 2 drinks each, split an appetizer, 2 meals, split a dessert and 2 coffees in my head is now 4x$8, $12, 2x$18, $6, 2x$3 for $92, then tip. i don’t know how people justify attending live sporting events anymore.

Yeah, this is where we are as a family. With everything so sky high right now eating out just can’t happen. For a family of 5 it gets brutal just for a decent meal.

Ocean City, MD, family of 4, we spent $250-$400 every night we went out to eat. It was ridiculous.

i know restaurants are passing the costs on to us, we all know this, but at some point do enough people just stop going to create issues? i get the convenience thing, but i can make 2-3 nights worth of meals at home for under $20. i don’t have to wonder if the kitchen is clean and if everyone has covid.

 

[Beef Ravioli Part 2]

My buddy owns a sports bar-restaurant and has been killing it since inflation has hit.

Raised his prices of food and drink and cut portions but nobody complains as they know how bad inflation is. So his bottom line is better than ever.

I asked him if he will lower prices if inflation ever gets under control..he laughed at me.

Unfortunately I think this will be the mentality across the board.

i understand american culture and bars, but dudes spending $76 for 6 wings and $8 a pop on a beer always shukes me. people will spend money, especially if the gubmint prints it and gives it out for free i guess.

True enough. I took my wife out for lunch yesterday. Draft beers were literally $8. I couldn’t believe it.

there are things we don’t want to give up and come normal to us and easy, but when you take a step back you are like, this is crazy. like i said, go out to eat and enjoy and don’t want to come off as that cheap guy, but try to justify spending $100-$150 on a basic night out with your wife. 2 drinks each, split an appetizer, 2 meals, split a dessert and 2 coffees in my head is now 4x$8, $12, 2x$18, $6, 2x$3 for $92, then tip. i don’t know how people justify attending live sporting events anymore.

Yeah, this is where we are as a family. With everything so sky high right now eating out just can’t happen. For a family of 5 it gets brutal just for a decent meal.

Ocean City, MD, family of 4, we spent $250-$400 every night we went out to eat. It was ridiculous.

Where were you eating at? Even with the higher prices, that seems high. Dad & Mom and kids? How old are kids?

 

[Joe Bryant]

Thanks for the excellent discussion. After spending time in the Political forum, it's awesome to see what a good forum can be.

I'm fascinated by the restaurant industry. And I hear you on the cost thing. The reality is it seems though that's where it's heading.

One one hand, the reality is people feel like they're overpaying for food.

On the other hand, the restaurant people feel like they're being underpaid or underrewarded for the effort.

Both are obviously true.

And that feels like a problem.

 

[Joe Bryant]

My buddy owns a sports bar-restaurant and has been killing it since inflation has hit.

Raised his prices of food and drink and cut portions but nobody complains as they know how bad inflation is. So his bottom line is better than ever.

I asked him if he will lower prices if inflation ever gets under control..he laughed at me.

Thanks. I'd be interested in hearing more on this if you can ask him. Is he saying he's been able to raise prices more than his costs have gone up?

Is he having any trouble finding employees?

Where is this business?

 

[dkp993]

Thanks for the excellent discussion. After spending time in the Political forum, it's awesome to see what a good forum can be.

I'm fascinated by the restaurant industry. And I hear you on the cost thing. The reality is it seems though that's where it's heading.

One one hand, the reality is people feel like they're overpaying for food.

On the other hand, the restaurant people feel like they're being underpaid or underrewarded for the effort.

Both are obviously true.

And that feels like a problem.

It’s tough because the margins are so tight and it’s extremely difficult to make money. Yet the perception from the general public is that restaurants print money. Add in todays labor environment and it’s one of the most difficult business models to operate and be successful.

 

[cudjoekey10]

Everyone seems to complain about the high prices but every place I go to is packed. Restaurants, sporting events, airports, amusement parks, stores, everything.

Inflation hasn't seemed to make its way to American discretionary spending just yet. Of course people are also being paid a lot more which offsets a lot of inflation.

 

[pollardsvision]

Love these updates. This is one of my favorite threads on the board. One of these days I am going to have to make it down to Lynchburg, VA as a do love an old school local hot dog stand. Though it is a long drive from Brooklyn for a Hot Dog!

You're welcome anytime. Probably a lot different than the hot dog culture you're used to in Brooklyn. You can generally tell where people are from by what they get on the dog.

In the NE, it seems you guys have much higher quality hot dogs with more minimal toppings. If somebody down here just wants kraut and mustard, it usually means they are from the northeast. I wish we could sell those good natural casing dogs here, but I don't even know where to find them at any sort of reasonable price.

The south generally goes for dirt cheap dogs with an emphasis on the toppings.

Our place splits the difference a little. Every other established HD joint here rolls with the awful, dirt cheap red Jesse Jones dogs (people here do love them though). Our main dog is a decent step above that (IMO), and then we have a Nathan's beef dog for a little more that plays better with folks from up north.

 

[pollardsvision]

Moore's? I've gotten hot dogs there a couple of times and forgot their chili is made with napalm. They make their money on the two sodas you have to buy for each dog.

The biggest hot dog player in town just sold out to a regional chain of gas stations (Express Lane). People absolutely loved this place, and I figured this wouldn't go well. It's not. Scaling a business is great. Small community restaurant trying to scale with corporate CFO overlords? That's hard to pull off.

Yeah, Moore's. I've always had great respect for Moore's, for a lot of reasons. Pulling off the napalm chili is one of them. I know our customers would revolt if the chili was that spicy. For them to build what they've built, based on what I know out the area's hot dog customer base, with that chili that spicy is pretty amazing. I wish our chili was more spicy, personally, but our "lane" has always been best suited as a contrast. We do keep about 10 different hot sauces out for customers that want more spice.

And to be clear, I can't say with 1st hand knowledge that Moore's has gone downhill since the buyout. That's just what the bread man and other customers tell me. IME, if anybody knows the heartbeat of a restaurant, it's usually the bread man.

 

[pollardsvision]

And we're in a unique spot where it's mostly just me and one other person (outside of my niece helping one day a week). We're both long past Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours (50,000 between the two of us, I think), yet we're still in our 40's. You don't age well in this job, but we've got something left in the tank.

You’re a better man then I. I dipped/sold out of my Resturant at 38, just flat lost my passion for it. 70+ hr weeks (sometimes 90+) took its toll. At 45 I need knee replacements in both knees. Tough job.

I'm still only 43, and dream about getting out sometimes (often?). Whether that happens or not, I get it. Absolutely I get it.

Before the pandemic, I was saving money with an eye towards getting out. Whether that was going back to school (my bachelor's is in psychology, not terribly valuable in the marketplace), or just buying time to build another business, money is necessary.
Then and now, that push/pull between putting money back into the business/building vs saving it for the next phase is always there.

To your point, I don't know when I'm out, but I know it's coming. I'd guess most everyone in this business has a love/hate relationship with it. We love it for whatever reason, but everybody from the dishwasher to the owner is planning their exit strategy. Body and mind torn to hell for nowhere near enough money.

 

[dkp993]

And we're in a unique spot where it's mostly just me and one other person (outside of my niece helping one day a week). We're both long past Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours (50,000 between the two of us, I think), yet we're still in our 40's. You don't age well in this job, but we've got something left in the tank.

You’re a better man then I. I dipped/sold out of my Resturant at 38, just flat lost my passion for it. 70+ hr weeks (sometimes 90+) took its toll. At 45 I need knee replacements in both knees. Tough job.

I'm still only 43, and dream about getting out sometimes (often?). Whether that happens or not, I get it. Absolutely I get it.

Before the pandemic, I was saving money with an eye towards getting out. Whether that was going back to school (my bachelor's is in psychology, not terribly valuable in the marketplace), or just buying time to build another business, money is necessary.
Then and now, that push/pull between putting money back into the business/building vs saving it for the next phase is always there.

To your point, I don't know when I'm out, but I know it's coming. I'd guess most everyone in this business has a love/hate relationship with it. We love it for whatever reason, but everybody from the dishwasher to the owner is planning their exit strategy. Body and mind torn to hell for nowhere near enough money.

Yeah no doubt. From the age of 18 all I thought about was owning my own restaurant. Then it happened after close to 20yrs of grinding. All the preopening work, concept building, challenge of a successful opening, etc etc was awesome. Even the 100hr weeks doing it. But once that was past it was just back to pure grind and boredom (while also working my *** off). Honestly felt no different then being a GM. Just could no longer find my motivation after that.

I’m still in F&B but on the weddings and events side as an executive in the company I’m in. Far better life balance and more meaningful (to me at least).

 

[pollardsvision]

My buddy owns a sports bar-restaurant and has been killing it since inflation has hit.

Raised his prices of food and drink and cut portions but nobody complains as they know how bad inflation is. So his bottom line is better than ever.

I asked him if he will lower prices if inflation ever gets under control..he laughed at me.

Unfortunately I think this will be the mentality across the board.

i understand american culture and bars, but dudes spending $76 for 6 wings and $8 a pop on a beer always shukes me. people will spend money, especially if the gubmint prints it and gives it out for free i guess.

True enough. I took my wife out for lunch yesterday. Draft beers were literally $8. I couldn’t believe it.

there are things we don’t want to give up and come normal to us and easy, but when you take a step back you are like, this is crazy. like i said, go out to eat and enjoy and don’t want to come off as that cheap guy, but try to justify spending $100-$150 on a basic night out with your wife. 2 drinks each, split an appetizer, 2 meals, split a dessert and 2 coffees in my head is now 4x$8, $12, 2x$18, $6, 2x$3 for $92, then tip. i don’t know how people justify attending live sporting events anymore.

Yeah, this is where we are as a family. With everything so sky high right now eating out just can’t happen. For a family of 5 it gets brutal just for a decent meal.

Ocean City, MD, family of 4, we spent $250-$400 every night we went out to eat. It was ridiculous.

i know restaurants are passing the costs on to us, we all know this, but at some point do enough people just stop going to create issues? i get the convenience thing, but i can make 2-3 nights worth of meals at home for under $20. i don’t have to wonder if the kitchen is clean and if everyone has covid.

I feel like a hypocrite making my living on people going out to eat, but I absolutely agree with you guys. Personally, I very rarely go out to eat. About twice a year.

I'm not an amazing cook, but my job is feeding people on a budget so going out to eat feels like a carpenter paying someone else to build a deck.

More importantly, I don't believe in many restaurant structures. I will not patronize a national or large regional chain. I'm just a dishwasher, and don't understand how they scale without ripping off employees or customers.

 

[dkp993]

and don't understand how they scale without ripping off employees or customers.

That’s what I was referencing in my post to Joe about. To do it right is extremely difficult served with a side of luck.

 

[Beef Ravioli Part 2]

How are things going @pollardsvision? You still cranking away at the shop?

 

[Hawks64]

How are things going @pollardsvision? You still cranking away at the shop?

Nice bump, was just thinking about him!

 

[pollardsvision]

How are things going @pollardsvision? You still cranking away at the shop?

Yeah, we're cranking along.
After years of trying to get around to it and not wanting to, we finally raised prices on Jan 1. Really the first price increase in 9 years (outside of a small increase of a couple of things about 6-7 years ago).

Most of the delay was just not wanting to, but also, I very rarely go out to eat myself (about 2-3 times a year). I really had no idea how out of control restaurants have gotten with their prices. I really only heard about it from our customers telling us we need to raise prices.

So, we did. About 10-15% across the board. We didn't do it really for the money. I live super cheap.

But last year, as other restaurants kept getting more insane with the prices, we kept getting more and more spill over from them. We simply got to a point where we just can't feed everybody. I don't have enough hours in the week to prep. We don't have enough room in the parking lot or the building to fit everybody.
We went a couple months where we were out of burgers everyday by 1:00.

More importantly, the staff (just me and the main cook now). We love chaos, and we can get down with the best of them, but man, it was just getting to be too much.

The price increase, however, did not work. Still just as busy.

That's not a humblebrag. Our food is solid, but not amazing. We've got with a staff a lot of experience that gives a crap. We provide an experience that is becoming more scarce, but the food is not special.
We're busy because we're cheap.

We can be that way because we're in a situation where this city just doesn't have very many locally owned/owner-operator restaurants anymore. Chains are chains, of course.

But there used to 3 other big competitors in our space. Owner-operator places with history that deal in the hot dog/burger/breakfast space (this city loves hot dogs). Over the last 3 years, all the rest have either sold to investors, or the owner wanted to get out and anybody with enough money to buy the property certainly wasn't going to invest that much money to keep it a hometown restaurant.

The two that sold to investors, of course, now that means they've got somebody that needs passive income/return on that investment. They went from little local joints to gouging people like the chains.

No different than any other business. You need car work done cheap, go to a mechanic that doesn't own a business as much as he just owns his job. Price goes up as you throw more layers of corporate profit on top.

I know it's nobody's fault, just the reality of the situation, but it does make me a little mad.

No matter what we all tried to convince ourselves of 4 years ago, people need community. One of the best ways to do that is with food. We have yearning to break bread together. And a community restaurant is so good for that. You go there, you know somebody. It becomes a family. I can't tell you how many of our customers are retired widows/widowers that come everyday.

I work for a modest amount of money because I believe these sorts of places are necessary. And it can't be priced in such a way that folks can't come regularly.

While I'm ranting, I'll say this when it comes to prices, if the owner of the place was actually ringing people up personally, there's no way all these prices would be so high. It's very hard for most people to screw somebody when they look them in the eye and know them.

Anyway, we're trucking along. I'm happy that we are able to provide the sense of community that we can. I don't know how much longer we can do it. We probably should operate another way, but we won't (I'm really glad my retirement is invested with companies that don't think like me).

Whenever it comes a time that we can't do it this way, I'll sell.