I appreciate you posting this especially about the first example. That has
been an idea of mine for a number of years and I'm glad to see it working for
someone.
People want good clean and good for you food with some decent sides and that
makes it so you don't have to carry excess items that move slow. I see so many
restaurant owners that think they need to have an extensive menu and the only thing
they do is tie up their money in stock.
been an idea of mine for a number of years and I'm glad to see it working for
someone.
People want good clean and good for you food with some decent sides and that
makes it so you don't have to carry excess items that move slow. I see so many
restaurant owners that think they need to have an extensive menu and the only thing
they do is tie up their money in stock.
Ain't that the truth! Having owned several businesses myself, I tend to evaluate every store or business I enter to see it's feasibility. A couple of places come to mind for me, both are relatively small operations. The first one is a soul food type restaurant in a mini mall near me where you just walk up to the counter, wait in line and order your meal (eat in or take out) from the small buffet in front of you. They have a very limited menu, focused on a healthy portion of baked chicken with appetizers like sweet potatoes, corn on the cob or yams. People are lined up all day long to get meals to go and the average price is around $10 a plate. The food is damn good and the price is right. This business is selling hundreds of plates a day and the owner is making beaucoup bucks! The whole operation is in a space that is less than 1,500 square feet. This business is a little gold mine for someone. They could easily be making 250K a year or more!
The second one that comes to mind is a small Japanese Noodle place a couple miles from my house. They don't open until 3 PM and there are people lined up waiting outside by 2:45. You are greeted by the entire staff when you enter in some kind of Japanese greeting yelled out to you. It's mostly all sit down fare and the menu is focused on noodle dishes with all kinds of ingredients. Prices are moderate and service is fast. They can get a party of four in and out within thirty minutes. They remain packed until closing at 10 PM. There is seating for maybe 40-50 people at one time. Again, hundreds of meals are served daily and the space might be 2,000 square feet. Someone is making out very well with this business, also in the healthy six figure range I can assure you.
One business like the one's I've described above and you will be okay and be able to live a very comfortable lifestyle. You could always expand to more similar operations but then your headaches only increase. I've been the 100% owner of two very successful mid size poolrooms (18-22 tables), that were busy seven days a week for several years each. They allowed me to make some prudent investments in real estate and now I have a pretty healthy net worth. When I was 27 years old, I was a near broke pool player with my entire net worth in my front pocket. :smile:
I've seen many such operations that I know are producing a good income for the owner(s). You can open a successful coffee/expresso type business without having to call it Starbucks. Just copy their model and go! That way you are not paying the exorbitant franchise fees.
I saw one other little business in the Philippines that I loved. It was run by a single old woman on a street corner. She had a large wok with a propane heater under it and was cooking fresh chicken all day long and offering a couple of different sauces in plastic pouches with each order. She couldn't make the chicken fast enough to keep up with the constant stream of people and was hustling her butt off full time. I think each order sold for maybe a two or three dollars. Multiply that by several hundred orders and you get my drift. That's big money in the Philippines! That little old lady was making out like a bandit. And she was working hard to do it. I say good for her!
I can't tell you how many similar businesses I've seen over the years. If you have a good idea (what people want and need in your area) then I say go for it! I took a chance and invested everything I had in a failing poolroom 45 years ago and it worked out well for me.
