From the day I first looked at my site, I was picturing in my mind what the final look would be. Given the fact that I have over 8000 square feet of restaurant space, it’s easy for my numbers to grow almost faster than I can dream. However I have a few things in my favor. First and foremost is the fact that I have an almost fully fixturized restaurant. That means that all the kitchen, bar and dining room equipment is in place. Many of my expenses will come as repairs and not capital expenditures. Things like air conditioners, walk in refrigerators, stoves, reach in refrigerators and ice machines are in 80% working order. The biggest job I’ve had so far is identifying the 5 electrical panels, each housing 44 breakers that turn everything on. My two best friends so far have been my electrician and my refrigeration guy. The second factor in my favor is the fact that I have a limited budget. Simply stated, I can only spend so much money so I have to stick to my budget. I’m using no design team, architect or general contractor. I’m also doing no work that will trigger any kind of permit. This will allow me to grandfather most minor repairs as existing. I will open this restaurant on budget and on time!
OK so now you know that I’m a little thrifty. Struggling financial times dictate different strategies and in 2010 modesty prevails. I’m counting on paint, wine racks and good food and wine, priced right, to be my allies. The former owners of this location spent huge sums of money on this site and I plan to massage what they did to facilitate my budget. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.
The first thing I did was to sit down and prepare a line item budget for my remodel. This included all remodeling cost including electrical, plumbing, equipment repairs, Point of sale system, signage, wine racks, repairs to dining room furniture, food, liquor, wine and small wares. Also included was a 15% cost overrun and 1 full year of basic operational expenses (rent, utilities, insurance & permits). I rechecked my numbers almost daily for a full 2 months to make sure that I neither overstated nor understated my opening expenses. Bored yet? I highlighted those items were experience has taught me that the numbers could go up as well as highlighting those items that I knew I could save a lot of money on if I used a little ingenuity. For example, I have some 40 sconces in the restaurant that will need to be repaired or replaced. To date, the cheapest sconce I have found will cost about $165 per sconce. That equals over $8000 just for the sconce not including the installation. This is an item that I have given some thought to and I have come up with a unique idea that incorporates wine barrels. I should be able to use this idea to create a new sconce with a total cost of about $4000, labor included. This same idea if it works will use LED lighting, effectively replacing 240 forty watt light bulbs. This should add up to big saving on my electricity bill. Hopefully my idea should work, I’ll keep you updated.
Design is like a piece of art, it’s very personal. I’ve found that my best ideas come after sitting in the space for hours and just playing what if games with my mind. I’ve also been my own worst enemy by changing my mind 50 times before finally settling on an idea. When in doubt bring in other people that have working experience in the biz. For me that would be my managers, my chefs or maybe even my wife. Even though my wife is not as experienced with the biz, she brings a fresh, non cluttered perspective to the design concept.
In this location I have a big advantage in that I already have two other 3rd Corners restaurants open so I have a working framework with which to draw from. I already know things like traffic flow issues, as well as what equipment I will need, especially in the kitchen. My bar set up is already in place and things like point of sale, menus, logos and wine set up are already established in my other restaurants so I don’t have to spend much time thinking about them. The design includes all of these items even though they may not be a part of the final visual product.
I’m also a big believer in bringing in people such as the health department, fire department, and any other local regulatory agencies that can walk through my restaurant and eliminate any nasty last second costly surprises. I guess what I’m trying to say is do your homework. Ask questions again and again and then just when you think you understand it all, think about it some more. I have made more than my share of stupid mistakes when opening a restaurant and unfortunately all have come at a price.
Most of my first 3 blogs concerning opening a new restaurant have been pretty dry and factual. Sorry if I have bored anyone but I have tried to show you that opening your own restaurant is a serious and potentially costly biz. Over the next few months I will provide you with the lighter side of getting this restaurant open. Opening date should be sometime around June/July. We’ll see what happens.
I have borwse a lot of blog, but no one as good as your blog.