OT - Anyone here own a restaurant?

So the land adjacent to the inn is for sale, and we want to put an
aviation themed restaurant on the site. It'll be the perfect fly-in
restaurant, with breakfast all day, decent prices, ugly waitresses, and
a 2nd-floor patio over-looking the airport. We want to call it "the
Tower", and it'll have a great view of the runways!

Trouble of it is, we don't know *anything* about running a restaurant.
Now, this never stopped us before -- we didn't know anything about
hotels, either -- but, hey, this sounds WAY more complicated, from my
uneducated standpoint.

Anyone here own/operate/manage a restaurant? Got any words of advice?
Any advice on finding someone who DOES know something about
restaurants?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In a previous article, "Jay Honeck" said:
Anyone here own/operate/manage a restaurant? Got any words of advice?

You know how you make a small fortune in the restaurant business? Start
with a large one.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
I have a longstanding agreement with tequila:
I won't drink it, and it won't make me sick.
-- Brian Kantor

Jay,
Fly down to Houston Co. airport in TN (M93). Just off the west end of
the runway is the Southerair motel. Not much of a motel, but they
know the restaurant business like no one else. Best food at
reasonable prices that a pilot - or anyone - could want. Talk to
Leroy (the cook) or Sandy (one of the waitresses) and find out why it
works so well. We go at lest twice a month just for breakfast, and
there's always other pilots there as well, and hunters, and locals...

I think the secret is good food, fair portions, fast service and at
least one table that will seat 4 plane's worth of pilots. But - just
the fly-in crowd won't be enough.

jb


On 10 Jan 2006 14:59:44 -0800, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

So the land adjacent to the inn is for sale, and we want to put an
aviation themed restaurant on the site. It'll be the perfect fly-in
restaurant, with breakfast all day, decent prices, ugly waitresses, and
a 2nd-floor patio over-looking the airport. We want to call it "the
Tower", and it'll have a great view of the runways!

Trouble of it is, we don't know *anything* about running a restaurant.
Now, this never stopped us before -- we didn't know anything about
hotels, either -- but, hey, this sounds WAY more complicated, from my
uneducated standpoint.

Anyone here own/operate/manage a restaurant? Got any words of advice?
Any advice on finding someone who DOES know something about
restaurants?

Never had experience running nor managing one, but I did; wash dishes,
waited tables, kitchen prepped, cooked, tended bars, delivered
foods...etc from high school to college years. I managed construction
busineses as forman, supintendent, project manager, general manager and
was even a VP of a company once, but not in the food business.
Anyways, I digress.

I ate at a lot of restaurants and have friends who own them. You're
managing the "breakfast" part of restauranteuring already "breakfast in
bed". I would imagine that the one of the forseeable problem would be
properly managing the food supply. Too much ~ spoilage, too little ~
unsatisfied guess. A good manager will have the right amount of each
ingredient on hand and be able to anticipate when/what to order. Got a
particular question?

The Monk

Jay:

The restaurant business is challenging to say the least. Make sure you know
what you're getting into. The following sites will give you proformas for
the restaurant industry.

http://www.bizstats.com/
http://sbdcnet.utsa.edu/default.htm
http://www.activemedia-guide.com/

By the way, we have a classy FBO for sale in West Tennessee if anybody is
looking for one in that area. Contact me off group for details if
interested.

William Bruce
Accredited Business Intermediary
Sunbelt Business Brokers




"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
So the land adjacent to the inn is for sale, and we want to put an
aviation themed restaurant on the site. It'll be the perfect fly-in
restaurant, with breakfast all day, decent prices, ugly waitresses, and
a 2nd-floor patio over-looking the airport. We want to call it "the
Tower", and it'll have a great view of the runways!

Trouble of it is, we don't know *anything* about running a restaurant.
Now, this never stopped us before -- we didn't know anything about
hotels, either -- but, hey, this sounds WAY more complicated, from my
uneducated standpoint.

Anyone here own/operate/manage a restaurant? Got any words of advice?
Any advice on finding someone who DOES know something about
restaurants?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Kidnap all those "babes" from LNR and move them down to IOW?
Sorry buddy,
Couldn't resist but can't help ya other than saying fresh is best, frozen
will kill ya.
Jim

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
So the land adjacent to the inn is for sale, and we want to put an
aviation themed restaurant on the site. It'll be the perfect fly-in
restaurant, with breakfast all day, decent prices, ugly waitresses, and
a 2nd-floor patio over-looking the airport. We want to call it "the
Tower", and it'll have a great view of the runways!

Trouble of it is, we don't know *anything* about running a restaurant.
Now, this never stopped us before -- we didn't know anything about
hotels, either -- but, hey, this sounds WAY more complicated, from my
uneducated standpoint.

Anyone here own/operate/manage a restaurant? Got any words of advice?
Any advice on finding someone who DOES know something about
restaurants?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"babes" at LNR??? OK...I'm assuming there's supposed to be a smiley face
somewhere!

Ahhh.... sounds like you've been there!

"John T" wrote in message
...
"babes" at LNR??? OK...I'm assuming there's supposed to be a smiley face
somewhere!

Yep, I fly at C29, not far from LNR

Yep, I fly at C29, not far from LNR

Ah, Picadilly Lilly's, home of "hubcap pancakes", ugly waitresses, and
sticky bathroom floors.

How I love the place! We go there whenever we can.

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"