Hmm weird i thought i posted a reply but it didnt show up so...

Twolf, i'm from Minnesota and have never heard of Joey's are you sure it's not Joes Crab Shack? If it is Joes crab shack they have excellent food, are always busy and have a great dining atmosphere with entertainment for the whole family.

 

Border3899, it is Joey's Only. They are out of Canada and have a branch office in St.Paul Minnesota. Mil1ion has seen them in Canada. They have over 100 sites in Canada and plan on having over 170 sites in the USA by 2007. I have checked and there is only one in Montana. Alot of money needed to start one. I checked out the web site; www.joeysonlyusa.com Just not sure.

Tom

 

I live a half hour west of Ottawa, Ont. and 25 minutes west of a "Joey's Seafood Only".

It's a low priced, no liquor-licence restaurant. Good for a very tasty, low priced lunch or a very tasty, medium priced dinner. It's a middle class type restaurant but the food is honest and darned good.

It does quite well but it's in a high traffic area.

Someone has already mentioned that restuarants have the highest failure rate of any small business though.....

for whatever that was worth.....

 

TWolf....2 things. First, I'm sorry, but I'm going to do a smidge of hijacking by the end of this post (and it's gonna be long).

But second...are you looking for something to kill some time, be your own boss and make a little money on the side? Or are you talking straight money making venutre, fire it up, keep it running, go and start another and rake in the dough? The latter is obviously going to be more difficult and I think the most important thing to remember is yourself here. What are you going to be doing for the next few years? Moving? Got kids and priorities? A restaruant, chain or not, will be expensive in more than just $$ terms....time, energy, patience, time from the family, short-tempers on bad days, etc. On the other hand, if you're going to be sticking around, have older kids, maybe even self sufficient and are just looking for something to do, I say go for it. You say you have family business experience, but I get the impression that you're making it sound like a bad thing. I can only assume (being from Philly) that a family attitude in Montana is the only way to go, and family operations, though not as financially lucrative, tend to fair a little better. You always have a solid base, friends willing to help out, etc. Think about more then just the money (I'm sure you are) but there are a lot of things under the surface that take some time to realize.

Here comes the hijacking....I'm near an area in center city that is booming and just found a few shells of apartments and old bars. There seems to be a movement of top quality chefs leaving the 4 stars and going to cook in pubs. The area we are looking at is responding to this very well. We're considering picking one up, and are going though all of our realizations now (time, $, stress...etc....just like mentioned above). I'd love to know more about it, such as ideas, what I can look to spend, how to get a liquor license (I'm hearing upwards of $250,000 in Philly for one), legal aspects and steps to take...anything.

I'm sorry to take some of your thunder TWolf, but I think we're both looking for the same thing, just 2000 miles apart. This thread is really becoming a good one and I hope it keeps on going with more ideas, thoughts, suggestions, and maybe even a reality check or two. I'm sure we're not the only two lookingfor a startup business and I'm positive that there are entrepenuers in here as well who could help. Good luck with everything, and don't let the idea slip away!

 

It would be a really good idea to make a trip to the liquor control dept. (whatever it's called in your area). Here in Oregon there's a big difference between beer/wine and spirits. They have a packet I picked up with the forms needed and examples. It's very educational to to get this info early in the planning process, because they wanted a plot plan of how the restaurant was set up if spirits were sold, lay out wise. The info was great to have. The lady down at our liquor control was telling me stories of people designing thier own restaurant layouts, building it, then having to remodel after liquor control deemed it more of a bar than a restaurant. (A bar can be expensive for insurance, zoning - all sorts of reasons.)

A good chef is someone to talk to, also. Cooking the food is just a small part of the job. Food costing is what affects the bottom line. I'm kind of partial to chefs, because my wife is one. She's worked 5 star culinary on down. My folks owned a mom and pop restaurant when I was growing up and I thought it was normal to make donuts and wash 150 coffee cups before school.. Anyway, a chef can help answer questions about what kind of menu works best for the theme you design and the profit margin.

There's a lot to it. Franchises take care of most planning tasks, but it comes at a price.