On my way to work this morning I walked past the restaurant Vinzee's that was being demolished. Now you might remember the story. This spot used to be a Dairy Queen and attached Laundromat that this old Italian couple had owned for forty years. They put their kid through Georgetown and medical school while wearing the same pair of sweatpants. So when they were getting ready to retire their kid convinces them to let him open up a restaurant. They insist that it have ice cream like their old place so he opens up this joint that has hot dogs and burgers and ice cream. But nobody would go in.
The old lady stopped me one day as I was walking by and said "Why a you no a going into my sons store. What did I ever do to you?" I replied "Senora nobody loves not dogs more than me. Not even skinny Japs in a hot dog eating contest. I stop every day on my way to the store for a slice of pizza. I would do that for a hot dog. But not for a five dollar hot dog. That's your problem."
Plus they had no experience in running a joint like this. They were way overstaffed. A cook. A cashier. Two waitresses. A manager. You needed to run that joint with one person who spoke English to take the money and a Mexican to do all the work. Then they might have survived.
But they didn't and now they are ripping out all the brand new fixtures and equipment that they put in when they started. I estimate that they spent around $300,000 to fix if up in the first place. Some hipster asshole who has a joint on Smith St that was very popular in a very small space is moving in. Not my kind of place.
It is just a sin that so much money go wasted. A sin I tell you.
45 comments:
I see this time and time again with restaurants (and other businesses too). Bourdain has documented examples of this in his books (and has also described his mentor who could turn these places around).
The way to open a restaurant is find one like this that went under and then get the lease and fixtures already there at a discount (the landlord will be happy to have you take it over). Make sure you are incorporated when you sign the lease. Then run the place exactly as Troop says: You running the register and an immigrant in the kitchen. You run it lean and light (especially to start). Make the food good (obviously that is important) but it has to be a good value to customers. Anticipate small profit margins (but don't give the stuff away), good service, keep the place clean. If you give good value, make customers want to come back, guess what--they will. Plan on working 16+ hours a day because if you are not there, you might find your staff stealing you blind. Ever wonder why Greeks do well with diners? They have the family there all the time making sure shit is getting done.
Exactly right Evi. People think because they ate in a restaurant that they know how to run one. That is why they have about a 95% failure rate.
The shame of it is I could have taken that spot and ran a successful joint catering to the kids in the neighborhood if the rent was right.
If the rent was right is a big part of it. I don't know what the rents are in your neck of the world but I have to imagine they're higher than where I am, and I know a little diner near me that's having to pay around $2k/month in rent. That's a lot of hamburger plates and open face turkey sandwiches. Somehow they keep it going...but then again, they're the only non take out pizza place in town, so they have that going for them.
Of course Troop, you can't because you and your wife have another business. The only way this could possibly work if you were right next door running one place and your wife was running her shop.
If you are running a restaurant, do not give out free food and drinks to your friends and family. Ever.
You can comp customers if you want. But not your personal friends or your family.
If you want to treat them, take them out some place else and buy drinks and dinner for them. That way it is not about you not being generous, but it sends a strong signal on what is appropriate. Because people have problems with boundaries.
Rents in NYC are insane. But they are insane for everyone.
The Stage Deli closed over rents. But you know something, it was not rents. Bad lease and an asshole landlord--if you have a great place you can move it (there are plenty of restaurants going out of business all the time you can move into). The Stage Deli did not give good value. I ate there (once) and that was enough. So I am not surprised it went under. That happens all the time.
Now I love Katz's. $18 for a sandwich and a few pickles seems insane (and it is) but it is a mighty fine sandwich (that is really why Sally had that reaction there). I like going there every couple of years or so But it is surviving on memories, not value. And they are pushing the cost envelop a bit far for what was a working man's sandwich place.
You have to try Ratners on the lower east side. That is where the real hebes go for Jewish food. Ask ricpic and he will tell ya.
The rent for that space is around $10,000 a month. Or so I hear.
$10K a month nut is a bit steep for a icecream/hotdog stand. You need to be pushing bar drinks or have some serious volume to cover that.
Which is why you get small space, have the customers lined out the door and just hammer out dogs and ice cream fast and a scoop at a time. Be efficient and fast. The line acts as your advertising. Win win.
Well you see that was not what he was paying his Mom when he put in the joint. She sold out to hipsters so she is going to rape them. She has to recoup the dough they wasted here.
Trooper, My uncle who ran the family restaurant said almost exactly what you said about people thinking they can run a restaurant. The only difference was he used, "asshole." "Every ASSHOLE who has ever eaten in a restaurant thinks they know how to run one." When some customer was pontificating to him on changes Dom should make he would just give me a classic Jack Benny look. I would piss my pants laughing sometimes.
Every year we do a fund raiser for the local crisis pregnancy center. We only do lunch and dinner, so the fund raiser is a pancake breakfast. That way, the event is over about the time the crew arrives for the normal day. We work the kitchen and let the volunteers from the charity work the customers and handle the cash, since it's all going to them anyway.
Every year we get someone in the volunteer group who maybe worked in a restaurant when they were in high school, or their uncle owned one, or something other reason that makes them believe they're an expert in restaurants. They start tossing the phrase "The secret to restaurants is..." By the end of the event, they've shared about 20 "secrets."
Here's the secret to the restaurant business: there is none.
You serve good food at a good price in a clean and friendly environment that is hopefully in a good location. Open the doors and hope for the best. In short, like any other business: do your job.
windbag, All of the Spinelli cousins worked in the restaurant and catering family biz, including me. I cooked, did dishes, waited tables, set up and served catered events, etc. I respect your experience, but you don't need to take a potshot @ mine. You've expressed disdain for me in the past. To each their own. However, I had Annie "call bullshit" when we were talking food and I said my family owned a restaurant catering biz for 50 years. I don't need that here.
I agree with both you points. But I would put it like this. When I was a consultant in the rest and bar biz I asked why do want to open up a joint?
I got answers like:
"I want to get laid."
"I want a place to hang with my friends"
"I want to have a cool joint that everyone goes to."
The correct answer:
TO MAKE MONEY!
Sometimes a filthy dirty dive bar is what's called for. Some times a white table cloth joint.
I bet either Spinelli or Windbag could have turned Vinzee's into a money making operation in a month.
nd, nothing was directed at you.
I agreed with what nd and windbag said and thought it was complementary.
windbag, thanks. And thanks to Trooper and Evi for perspective. I probably have a short fuse. My mother-in-law is coming over for dinner. I just focus on the dinner. Flank steak w/ olive oil, lemon garlic, rosemary marinade. Garlic mashed and fresh sweet corn. You see, when my mother died this bitch never said anything to me. She has spent Holidays, vacations numerous times w/ my parents. Nothing, nada! She was jealous because my kids loved my mom and cringe when they have to visit Inga's twin sister! So, my apologies for the touchiness. Allow me to leave and start on bourbon.
I think spinelli's had a tough week, what with crazy Larry being like that guy in the news the other day who flung semen at the woman in wal-mart.
Althouse was in a Walmart?
Sorry to hear about that nick. I get along great with my mother in law. Of course I bust her chops unmercifully.
The town where I spend most of summer has a year- around population of maybe 1,700 and a tourist season population of 15,000 or so. Half of the bars and restaurants change hands every year. People who come here on vacation from Chicago think they should move up and buy a place. They do, then they give it to the bank and leave.
A Burger King stood empty for three years. The franchisee went bankrupt. A nice young guy, Serbian immigrant in his 30s who had busted his hump in other people's kitchens, convinced the bank to lease it to him cheap.
He used family help to remodel it, hired a Mexican crew for the kitchen and opened it. It is ALWAYS busy. Nice family restaurant.
What he did that other places don't do is (1) he greets every customer as a long lost friend and (2) he does not serve any alcohol. Strictly a family place; no drunk tourists.
Whenever I walk in he puts his arm on my shoulder, smiles and says "My friend, how are you? It's good to see you. How have you been?" He does it to everyone. He has no idea what my name is, and it doesn't matter.
Good food, well prepared, great staff, attentive owner. Probably the same things that make nay joint work.
Oh yeah, every Thanksgiving since he opened, dinner is free for anyone and everyone until he runs out of food, usually about 4PM. He tells people he does it because he is thankful for his customers.
LOL Sixty.
A guy that had a very successful restaurant, Dressler, that was right down the street from where I used to live in Williamsburg, just killed himself the other day. He lost the lease on the Dressler space and even though he had another couple of restaurants that were still operating and doing well (Dumont & Dumont Burger) I guess the loss was too much for him.
All his restaurants were great, but they were/are expensive. What made them work was that he was a pioneer in the neighborhoods. Aside from Peter Luger (across the street) Dressler was one of the only "fine dining" places in that part of South Williamsburg when he opened up, so all the young stock brokers and business people who had just moved into the Gretsch building, and who were buying up all the crumbling buildings that they could get their hands on, had an upscale place to eat. His other place, Dumont, was the same. Dumont Burger catered to hipsters who couldn't afford Dressler.
Sixty Grit said...
Althouse was in a Walmart?
She was waiting in the car, sighing and drumming her fingertips on the steering while while she sent Larraboy in for a box of panty liners so she could wear the same underpants 2-3 days in a row. Just put in a new liner and it's all good.
The best burger I ever had in New York is one I ate at the Brooklyn Shake Shack on Fulton Street, right after sitting in housing court for 6 hours.
I do know one secret to a successful restaurant: have a limited menu with just a few items that you do really, really well.
Palladian said...
"I do know one secret to a successful restaurant: have a limited menu with just a few items that you do really, really well."
Just like McDonalds!
Just like McDonalds!
Nah, too large a menu, and they don't do anything well anymore. The one good thing they had left was their fries, but they swapped out the beef tallow for vegetable oil and ruined those too.
Chipotle (now owned, at least partially, by McDonald's) is a good example of a limited-menu success.
Krispy Kreme is a good example of killing a restaurant by expanding the menu.
Why the ____ would he want to re-do their business after going to medical school in the first place? He wasn't making enough money and spending enough time doctoring? Weird.
Philly thanks you for devising and exporting the Shake Shack concept, BTW. The Smoke Shack is what I go for.
I used to love Ted's Montana Grill before the classless yips over here decided not to frequent it enough to keep it running. It was pretty much the best burger I'd had lately. There are a few others, though, (locally owned), and also a Bobby Flay's that's not the worst. Not the best but not the worst. I'll probably be there tonight.
And then there was my time in Chicago, when I was introduced to John Barleycorn.
Man, those fuckers know how to eat. But deep-dish pizza is a bit extreme, though, I'll tell you. I don't miss that.
Seems like its better to rent space to restaurants then own one.
A guy I know at work's a decent cook and we'll jerk around with a lot of common humor when we've got the time. Since he's still accessible by tee vee, he'll tell me about all the shows I'm missing, including things like Extreme Eats. Or maybe it was a YouTube channel. Anyway, we caught one of those World's Biggest Burger episodes, (or was it a lasagna?), where they take trays and trays and trays and come up with a burger/lasagna fit for the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk.
If I had cable I'd be watching that crap all day long.
Did anyone ever catch that parody of Guy Fieri's menu?
Geez...Ritmo stumbles in...
Hey Ritzy! Good to see you. Hugs, kisses and other forms of affection!
Well, uh, thanks I guess.
I've actually been around here since like the 1960s. Or whenever it was that Troop first opened the place.
I know. I meant today, actually. Or more accurately, since I've been here. Late last night while I was sleeping--or trying to sleep--doesn't count.
I've been waiting for you to show up, since you're never around at Lemmy's while I'm there either.
I missed you is all.
Don't piss on me because I have feelings.
Hey CEO. I won't piss on your feelings. Pity we keep missing each other at Lemmy's. But I'm really not such a bad guy, as Troop will vouch for.
When I'm not being an asshole, that is. ;-)
Salutations.
I never really thought you were an asshole. I thought sometimes you acted like one--then again, there's something toxic about TOP and I was behaving badly too.
But mostly I thought you were funny--even if you maybe didn't know when to quit. But my little terrier doesn't know when to quit either, and I like her okay. LOL
The only time I actually had an issue with you was when you were teamed up with Inga.
So anyway, salutations right back atcha.
And I don't go to Lem's much.
Well, good thing that's over, right? ;-)
Inga freaked me out a bit at first (temporarily) but after finding out that she burned her bridges here I really had my guard up a bit more. And seeing how much she likes to "switch sides" and make everything about herself is bad and just kind of seals my impression.
Thanks for turning the chapter and realizing that TOP was its own place where you could only find out so much about the people. It was like Vegas. Or the island where Pinocchio's friends turn into donkeys. It's own, toxic place.
I'd like to think me and Troop were just onto that part earlier. I might have been louder about it, but we both knew what was up. And then more of us did a couple years ago. And then many more now.
That's what gave me hope that Lem's would be better. The interesting commenters without the narcissist at the center pulling the strings. But we'll see how far away the puppeteer can be kept.
nd, glad that's cleared up. Hey, you know me, if I'm serving up a dish of "Fuck you" there's no mistaking it.
That Guy Fiore menu is funny, but could be real!
windbag, Me too. The witch just left. Bourbon helped. But if she keeps ticking much longer I might need heroin.
I like a good game of Restaurant Empire.
That about does it for me.
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