Thanks for the book mention. I read it yesterday/last night. I enjoyed it but he was discussing higher end places, not sure that translates well into the low/mid end sit down restaurants. His examples were pretty straight up stupid ideas to begin with.

Ok round 2

So the wife has been asked to run a food stall for a local cultural food fair. They want her to do it and are providing incentives because they have mostly mexican/tex-mex entries as the only non-american cuisine. This is a new event but based on last years success they are ramping things up and are expecting a turnout of about 5k maybe as many as 7k.

This has led to some rethinking on our part. What she wants to do now is use this to gauge support for the type of cuisine she wants to have in the restaurant eventually. So the plan is to serve up some singapore hawker food and get some surveys returned by offering a free dessert with a returned survey.

The plan from there is to buy a small low end food trailer IF the support is there AND she can manage to get agreements with a few owners to lease a spot. I have my reservations about a food truck/trailer working in a smaller town like this but this is much preferable to jumping into a restaurant as the potential money loss is much much lower. After successfully running the trailer for a while we would then look to move into a brick store.

My questions concerns.

For the fair i figure out of 5k people about half are going to buy a meal and out of that i figure about 60% are going to opt for standard fair food (bbq, hot dogs, burgers). So we would be competing for that 40% left out of 50% with the other "unique" stalls. Tacos arent really unique around here so i am guessing that we will be directly competing with 2 other stalls. So that should leave us with about 400 as a target. Now my wife has come up with some ideas to drive that number up.

First her goal here is to put her food in as many peoples hands as possible, not to make money. So she is going to set up the pricing below what you would typically expect to pay at a fair (charge less than the avg burger n chips for a comparable size meal). She has come up with a menu of a few itens that she can do this and still make enough to cover expenses.

Secondly she wants to sell bottled water at cost (water + cooling) to attract people.

Third she is going to be dishing up a curry to sell specifically because of the aroma it generates.

I am guessing that even with all of this we would be doing great to get 500 in. She is thinking more like 700 to 1000. While it would be bad to run out of food, i know that buying to much would wind up costing us over 1000 in unsold food. She doesnt care about that because she says that it would be worth spending 1000 to get the feedback and that if it looks like we are going to be low on sales she will cut the price until it moves.

Another concern i have is it feasible to move from a trailer to a brick store (fast casual) or would it be better to just wait and eventually open the brick store?

Right now she has 4 finger foods that are extremely quick frying, 2 main dishes, 2 desserts and 2 drinks + bottled water. Oh and satay, easily the biggest pain/ time consumer but something we both feel is required. The 2 main dishes kind of go hand in hand so that very little effort is required to do one if you are already doing the other. And she is going to have a sampler that consists of a mix of the items that are the quickest and easiest to turn out (she plans on adjusting this to include any under selling item). We have thought about sliming this down but they are all easy and quick to serve up if the prep work is done ahead of time.

We do have an inspected portable stall sourced from a friend. We have an appt to meet with the health inspector who agreed to go over what will be expected. The committee put us in touch with an advisor they have that has 50 yrs catering experience in dfw and okc. We will also get a nailed down list off exactly haow many food stalls and types when it becomes available. Its 2 mths away so its not crunch time yet, still lots of room left to move things around.

All opinions on this are much appreciated. Oh and if you are wondering how did i ever get myself into this, its because i said yes, like a retard, thinking about serving 100 people a little food if we were lucky. Then after talking to the city officials i learn its 5k people not 500.

I know, i know. What happenned to the get experience thing right.

Ok, my thinking on this, which I didnt express clearly, was to use this to expose as many people as possible to the products so that when/if they see the food truck they will not hesitate to stop because they are thinking about that thing they ate at the fair. They will already have an idea of what she is offering, instead of flying blind. If they didn't try it at the fair hopefully someone they know did and will recommend it.




I agree. Ideally I would like to be able to determine which items were favored, which werent favored and the general attitude/acceptance of the food. I would be willing to bet that if all 5000 tried it that no more than 1 or 2 have ever had anything like it before. This is the part that worries me.




If a food truck/trailer is born, she will most assuredly be doing all of this. It will be as much a push to find out the feasibility of the concept as her determination/motivation to see it through on a long term basis. For the fair, she will still be doing most of the prep and she will be out front taking ordering, talking to customers (which she excels at). I will be mostly taking care of getting the stuff she needs setup and running the fryer. We have 3 family members who have agreed to help, in the back.




I agree




I didn't think about the weather. Thanks for that, thats a big item. Talking to vendors is also a great idea.





Odd but this is basically what I was doing with the food truck. I was going to price out the menu, supplies (any cent spent on it), and take a guess at how many people we would expect. Double the expenses and half the expected visits and see if it would still makes money.



I agree, its just one data point and its not even really one I had planned on using to determine whether or not to open a restaurant. I was going to let the food truck determine that. If we wind up not going that route then I would have to figure some other way of determining it, before opening one. The food truck idea is growing on me though. She thinks its a great idea. I think its a cheaper way to test the idea out without going into debt and minimizing losses if it folds or doesnt pan out.

Your probably right.

I dont watch masterchef. Havent even heard of it. If I was in CA i would not be as concerned about the willingness of people to try it. I think very few people who try authentic singapore hawker food would not love at least some of it.

one more thought

what kidn of diet does it work for?????

i mean, what kind of health crap can you help point out with it?

lots of fresh veggies, or low fat or low carbs or whatever?????????

something to differentiate you in addition to the flavor (which is the main reason people eat)

Good tip, we will think on this.

I think it has been mentioned that something like 90% of restaurants fail in the first 18-24 months. If I were going to open a restaurant I would be looking to minimize my exposure through identifying a variety of finance streams, but I would more likely buy into a successful franchise that comes with name recognition.

-shooter

Restaurants are risky business. My step-father owns three and has been in business for 20 years. He does well...but I know many others who had great plans and failed due to issues that were beyond their control.

You're out of your mind.

I know the restauraunt business well... Don't.

I love running ours. My wife does the cooking and I run the office and the front. If this is what she wants to do, be prepared to put in the time. There is nothing at our place that we dont do. I work the line, the dishpit, and PR with the customers. Your staff will be so unrealiable, that you have to be able to step in and do any job at any time. Our place has been open 26 years and I couldnt see myself doing anything else. Good luck

I know a Hmong gentleman who started a stall at the local fairs and Hmong festivals. He did very well and even worked 9-5 doing HVAC work with me during the week. He made his own cooking apparatus and eventuallu all the other vendors copied him, or he sold his custom grills to them. Eventually everyone else copied him and it negatively affected his business.

Another friend started a stand at various fur rendevous here in MN. He was doing well until he actually had to buckle down and fully implement all the government regulations. He said he had to charge at least 3x cost to make money. Just family––mom, dad, kids worked the stall. He is a chef and ran a local resort's kitchen.

I, personally won't buy a product that contains pork or shellfish due to religious convictions. Other people have various allergies and dietary concerns. Can your menu accomodate this? If I can't eat at a place, even if the food is good, how can I recommend it to my sphere of influence?

Price it right, not give away. Most cheap food I have tried has been bad, so now I think "if it's that cheap, can it be any good"?

Is your market at the fair the same as what your eventual, target market will be? If not, will the info you gather be valid for the big picture?

People do restaurants all the time, some fail, some don't. I would even pay people who are successful for their advice if I were really serious. Good fortune on your endeavor.

PS––It's still not too late, even after the fair, to implement what others have said about getting the practical experience or schooling.

Add me to the list of people who say "just because you can cook a great _____, doesn't mean you can run a restaurant".

CHEF is overcharging you. For only $9k, I will come to you and slap BOTH you and your wife for thinking about opening a restaurant.

If she is really set on the idea, have her work at one for a few years to fully understand what's involved, otherwise you're setting yourself up for disappointment and big financial losses.