Tag: plan

Why Am I Telling You This?

After reading through my blog, you’re probably wondering why I’m telling you all of this. My hope is that it will inspire you to think past Murphy’s Law and be prepared for anything. So many horrible, unforeseen things happened with my restaurant and I don’t want that to be your experience. If I save even one person by helping them see a red flag before they sign their first contract, I will be thrilled. And it will make all my tears and embarrassment fall a little softer.

Sometimes the smallest thing can be the most inconvenient. Dr Pepper was a sponsor. Their name was on the side of the building and in the arena name and logo. So we were required to sell Dr Pepper products. I can’t tell you how many people got angry because we didn’t have Diet Coke. Even when I reminded them it was a Dr Pepper arena, they didn’t get it. Other people just said “duh”. And even though Dr Pepper expected us to comply, they didn’t take care of us. You’d think they would want to look good to the public when their name was on the building, but they did nothing to help us. We didn’t even get a good break on cost. We were supposed to use their styrofoam cups, but it got to the point where they let us run out all the time. We would order cups every week and they wouldn’t send any. Or they would send cups but no lids. So I finally started ordering plain cups from Sysco. You can’t sell fountain drinks without cups and when you ordered something from Sysco, you got it. The only problem we had with Sysco was sometimes they would send expired products. They didn’t have a very good system for rotating or return-to-vendor or something. So we had to look carefully when we checked in our orders.

Before you start a business, make sure you look at each piece and think of a backup plan if that piece doesn’t go as expected. Watch for red flags as you proceed. Make sure you have plenty of cash. Have a bailout plan. Talk to as many people as possible in as much detail as possible. Be prepared and knock ’em dead.

Get It In Writing

Surprise, surprise, the rink called to see if we were still interested in opening a restaurant. The big food service company had moved out on January 1, 2015 as planned and now the snack bar was empty and closed. Pierre, Robbie and I talked and decided we were interested. Pierre suggested we use his CPA because the CPA would do our books and payroll for a reasonable monthly fee. All 3 of us met with the CPA and discussed the plan. We would each put in $12,500.00 to start the restaurant. We agreed upon a name. The CPA suggested he set us up as an LLC.

The rink gave us a 5 year contract. For some reason they had put in the contract that we had to open as a Great Outdoors franchise. I was surprised that was in the contract. We explained we would be a pizza and burger place like all previous food providers. The rink was hesitant at first but agreed. I don’t know why they cared. Pierre still wanted to remain invisible, so Robbie and I would sign the contract. The rink had one stipulation. We had to open in time for a February hockey tournament. If we signed the contract, we would have 2 weeks to open a restaurant.

I had researched retail space in 2008 so I believed Pierre when he told us the rent was a good deal. It looked like a great deal. For a monthly fee, all utilities were included and we could use all the equipment in the space. There were 2 pizza ovens, 2 fryers, a burger griddle, an ice machine, refrigerators, a walk-in refrigerator freezer, a full bar with 2 stations and 2 taps, about 20 tables with 4 chairs each and bar stools, a Dr Pepper soda fountain, lots of shelves and cabinets, a 3 compartment sink, hand washing stations, and plenty of work space. No build-out would be needed.

Then we committed the ultimate sin. We didn’t put it in writing. Everything was happening so fast, we didn’t draw a contract with our plan to put in $12,500.00 each and each person’s responsibilities. The CPA would set up our LLC with each of us as 1/3 partners and I’m sure he put something in his hard-bound notebook as we described our plan, but we never wrote down our plan and signed it. WE NEVER WROTE DOWN THE PLAN!