Opening a restaurant! (I'm 17)

[Kung Fu Steve]

Verdict pending.


Just kidding.

My work here is done. The big guns have arrived.

Good luck with your Kabobs! I will cheer when your franchise hits the United States.

Until then...

Love you big guy!

@Tomekmeister take @Vigilante 's words as a cautionary tale, not as discouragement. There's not many people around here who are as smart or as successful as this man here.

If you're a fan of Shark Tank, Vig is an investor and at this moment, he wouldn't invest in you (neither would I). That being said, when I declared at 18 I was going to open a martial arts school of my own and make it the biggest, baddest dojo ever -- everyone thought I was insane, too.

I worked 5 jobs, 4 of which in the fitness industry, slept 2 hours a night (if that) -- built up some cash, asked 27 (28?) people for a loan. "No, you're an idiot." , "No you're too young." , "No I won't see my money again."

Looking back at it, I *WAS* an idiot. But that didn't stop me from learning what I had to learn in order to succeed. I did that exercise I just suggested to you and I found out I needed to learn how to sell, so I found a sales job. I needed to sharpen my edge teaching martial arts, which I did. I needed to learn marketing in the fitness industry, which I did. I needed to learn how to run a business, which I did.

You *CAN* do it. It wouldn't be a first time a "young punk kid" got out there and made something happen but if this is your dream, it's time to get yer shit together and get obsessed with how to make the best damn kabob hut on the planet.

 

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[Tomekmeister]

Love you big guy!

@Tomekmeister take @Vigilante 's words as a cautionary tale, not as discouragement. There's not many people around here who are as smart or as successful as this man here.

If you're a fan of Shark Tank, Vig is an investor and at this moment, he wouldn't invest in you (neither would I). That being said, when I declared at 18 I was going to open a martial arts school of my own and make it the biggest, baddest dojo ever -- everyone thought I was insane, too.

I worked 5 jobs, 4 of which in the fitness industry, slept 2 hours a night (if that) -- built up some cash, asked 27 (28?) people for a loan. "No, you're an idiot." , "No you're too young." , "No I won't see my money again."

Looking back at it, I *WAS* an idiot. But that didn't stop me from learning what I had to learn in order to succeed. I did that exercise I just suggested to you and I found out I needed to learn how to sell, so I found a sales job. I needed to sharpen my edge teaching martial arts, which I did. I needed to learn marketing in the fitness industry, which I did. I needed to learn how to run a business, which I did.

You *CAN* do it. It wouldn't be a first time a "young punk kid" got out there and made something happen but if this is your dream, it's time to get yer shit together and get obsessed with how to make the best damn kabob hut on the planet.

If you were me, would you still go against the words of all these people (in the thread)?

This is me right now:

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

If you were me, would you still go against the words of all these people (in the thread)?

This is me right nowView attachment 12826

Only you can answer that.

Will it hurt? Yes. Will you bleed? Yes. Will you cry? Yes. Will you struggle? Yes. Will it be worth it? Definitely.

 

[Vigilante]

 

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[mrarcher]

You won't find an investor if you can't even cook. What do you have to offer them. No money, no skills and no risk, do you have working capital?. Instead of wasting time trying to find and investor cool down to speed up.
You are really young (Which is great you're looking to start out at such an age) so you have plenty time. Learn to cook, Learn about food handling regulations where you are from, Learn how to CLEAN a kitchen. (This is a big one!! Many people over look it "oh that's easy")
The food industry is an absolute swine to be in and I can tell you this from personal experience (Fish & Chips (failed) and mobile catering in case you're interested). Make sure you know this business inside out before you go jumping in. The margins may look great but people don't consider the costs of running the equipment, lights, fridges and freezers 24/7, cleaning equipment and consumables etc. It isn't just as easy as finding an investor buying equipment and finding someone to cook for you.
I'm not trying to shit on your plans or anything like that far from it! If you can do it the go for it. Just make sure you know what you are getting into. Others on this thread have given you golden advice - get a job doing it even just part time or some evenings to give you an idea.

 

[Andy Black]

Hi @Tomekmeister

Good for you for having a go.

You're about the same age as my step-son, so I just wanted to add my 2c.

Take it for how it's meant.



I'm a big fan of a book called "The 7 Day Startup" by Dan Norris.

He introduces two concepts I'd never come across:



1) "Product-Founder Fit"

We know of Market-Product fit... in that there are people willing to pay for the product.

Dan brings up the idea that not all businesses will suit all people.

If you're an experienced entrepreneur with a tech background than you might make a SaaS idea work.

If you've no experience as an entrepreneur, and no tech background, then your chances of making the same SaaS idea work are much slimmer.

Is there Product-Founder fit?



2) "It should take you no more than 7 days to make your first sale."

I'm paraphrasing Dan here as I can't remember how he exactly phrases this.

His thinking is... "it should take you no more than 7 days to make your first sale."

Some people have more money, resources, and slicker processes, and can therefore tackle bigger challenges.

If you need $10k to make your first sale, and you don't already have access to that $10k, then maybe it's not the right idea to follow?




Do the above ideas/advice seem sensible to you?

I know that there are always exceptions, and that "where there's a will there's a way".

I also know that "failure" is just learnings.

Yet thinking of 1) and 2) above, how would you view the following statements?

it's my first (legal) business.

The kind of "restaurant" I'm planning to open is a pretty unique. There isn't any of these in Poland.

I have not [worked in a restaurant].

the costs of starting this business is around $10,000 (which is A LOT here)

My plan is to find an investor to cover all the costs, as it's nearly impossible for someone my age to do it.

...


You also say you want to:

gather enough knowledge and create an amazing business plan.

An amazing business plan isn't as important as real-world track record of the jockey.


...


I see where @Kung Fu Steve is coming from. He was a young martial artist with a vision of building Martial Arts business. His passion and vision overcame his youth and kept him going on 2 hours of sleep a night.

From the statements below, it doesn't appear that building a Kebab business has been your dream for the past few years though.

It looks more like you think you've stumbled across a good business idea and you want to pursue it before the opportunity disappears?

2 of my friends told me that they have the same idea without me even mentioning it. That means it's a huge demand and sooner or later someone with knowledge and money will come up with it.

The longer I wait, the less chance I have of it succeeding.

Aw man! For months I was looking for decent "business ideas" with no special luck, and now you guys are flooding my mind with them. Right now I'm lost.

Many people think opportunity knocks only once, and they'd better grab it with both hands when it does.

This is a scarcity mindset.

When you're tuned to hearing opportunity knock, then it's like a drumroll on your door. There's opportunity everywhere!

This is an abundance mindset.



What I think @Vigilante is trying to say is that you can slow down.

Pursue your entrepreneurial/life dreams, but maybe pick a horse that's less likely to throw you, so that you can get more experience as a jockey.

If it was my 18 yo stepson who was contemplating this, I'd suggest he find a route where he can get a sale within the next 7 days, and not have to borrow money to do so.



Here's a ramble I did along a canal that might help you:

• You can go slower than you think

And here's a great thread by @biophase :

• Why does everyone want to get there so fast?

 

[Tomekmeister]

Hi @Tomekmeister

Good for you for having a go.

You're about the same age as my step-son, so I just wanted to add my 2c.

Take it for how it's meant.



I'm a big fan of a book called "The 7 Day Startup" by Dan Norris.

He introduces two concepts I'd never come across:



1) "Product-Founder Fit"

We know of Market-Product fit... in that there are people willing to pay for the product.

Dan brings up the idea that not all businesses will suit all people.

If you're an experienced entrepreneur with a tech background than you might make a SaaS idea work.

If you've no experience as an entrepreneur, and no tech background, then your chances of making the same SaaS idea work are much slimmer.

Is there Product-Founder fit?



2) "It should take you no more than 7 days to make your first sale."

I'm paraphrasing Dan here as I can't remember how he exactly phrases this.

His thinking is... "it should take you no more than 7 days to make your first sale."

Some people have more money, resources, and slicker processes, and can therefore tackle bigger challenges.

If you need $10k to make your first sale, and you don't already have access to that $10k, then maybe it's not the right idea to follow?




Do the above ideas/advice seem sensible to you?

I know that there are always exceptions, and that "where there's a will there's a way".

I also know that "failure" is just learnings.

Yet thinking of 1) and 2) above, how would you view the following statements?












...




An amazing business plan isn't as important as real-world track record of the jockey.


...


I see where @Kung Fu Steve is coming from. He was a young martial artist with a vision of building Martial Arts business. His passion and vision overcame his youth and kept him going on 2 hours of sleep a night.

From the statements below, it doesn't appear that building a Kebab business has been your dream for the past few years though.

It looks more like you think you've stumbled across a good business idea and you want to pursue it before the opportunity disappears?








Many people think opportunity knocks only once, and they'd better grab it with both hands when it does.

This is a scarcity mindset.

When you're tuned to hearing opportunity knock, then it's like a drumroll on your door. There's opportunity everywhere!

This is an abundance mindset.



What I think @Vigilante is trying to say is that you can slow down.

Pursue your entrepreneurial/life dreams, but maybe pick a horse that's less likely to throw you, so that you can get more experience as a jockey.

If it was my 18 yo stepson who was contemplating this, I'd suggest he find a route where he can get a sale within the next 7 days, and not have to borrow money to do so.



Here's a ramble I did along a canal that might help you:

• You can go slower than you think

And here's a great thread by @biophase :

• Why does everyone want to get there so fast?

Trully brilliant post. It really did help me a lot, although I'd like to extend an invitation to stop by the new thread I created to clear things up, as this thread is one big mess.
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/something-that-i-learned-today.69024/

 

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[DaRK9]

Coming from someone who works in the restaurant industry (started as prep-cook, then line cook, now I'm a bartender/marketer.)...

Run the F*ck away from this idea. I get first-hand knowledge on every restaurant or pop-up in town. Half the restaurants are 1m+ in debt, the other half are 30 days away from shutting down from lack of funds.

I work at one of the more successful places, but it took 20+ years for the owner to get there.

I've worked at 4 other restaurants, all have shut down and the owners were left in massive debt.

If you have zero food service experience, just no. Sorry. There are just too many things to manage and get right.

 

[Andy Black]

Trully brilliant post. It really did help me a lot, although I'd like to extend an invitation to stop by the new thread I created to clear things up, as this thread is one big mess.
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/something-that-i-learned-today.69024/

This thread isn't one big mess... You've got some great feedback, input, and insights. It's all part of the learning curve.

It would be better to continue your posts in this thread rather than create another one.

Think of how it would help your past self?

 

[Fox]

Trully brilliant post. It really did help me a lot, although I'd like to extend an invitation to stop by the new thread I created to clear things up, as this thread is one big mess.
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/something-that-i-learned-today.69024/

Hey you asked me in the PM but I have only gotten to check it now. I would agree with Andy and keep it all here. People don;t like to chance across different threads and lots of good info has been posted here already. Don't worry - lots of threads started off like this and went on to be huge success stories. Keep it all here and just change direction if needed.

 

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[Tomekmeister]

@Vigilante I'd really appreciate if you've had another look at what I have to say
Thanks to @Fox I realised that you can't really get a fair feedback if you don't explain things directly.

A little introduction:
I'm 17 year old male from Poland with no business experience nor money.

My previous posts were just a big misunderstanding and my business idea turned into "kabob huts". Let me have a fresh start and enlighten the whole concept.

The whole idea is about making a chain of huts with healthy food and supplements close to gyms. All the nearby restaurants consist of unhealthy food. If you work out, you probably know the struggle. This type of business exists and works really well in US / Canada and probably all over the world.

I plan on educating myself into managing this business and turning it into pure fastlane. I will not work there myself, I will hire a few chefs.

Please have in mind that it's not just some "young punk kid" with some crazy idea. I'm going to copy the idea in 90% from a reliable source that proves what I stated above.

My job will be to find a nice place to rent, create a business as well as a marketing plan, work up deals with supplement providers / gyms, hire staff, manage the whole place and convince an investor that this is not a bad idea. I will do basically everything that needs to be done in order for this to succeed.

Please do not judge me by previous posts and let me know what do you think about that.

 

[Fox]

Please do not judge me by previous posts and let me know what do you think about that.

Don't stress it man, my earlier posts were all over the place.

I think the idea is good but I would prefer to see you do it without huge business plans, investments, partners etc. As @Andy_Black would say start start with one person (really simplifying all his great posts on this).

Is there someone at your local gym that you can make food for after they finish their workout?

Is there a a busy time of day (spinning class, yoga, peak hours) that you could see if 10-20 would maybe want you to cook a healthy, nutritious meal ready for when people finish working out?

Is there a gym with a little extra space to set up a small kitchen and get started as quickly as possible?


Don't over complicate it with business plans, investors etc. Start small, start soon. Start with one person and treat that as your business. if you can get to two people in a week/month then you are already growing. Sounds too simple to work and thats why so few do it. It works though.

 

[Tomekmeister]

Don't stress it man, my earlier posts were all over the place.

I think the idea is good but I would prefer to see you do it without huge business plans, investments, partners etc. As @Andy_Black would say start start with one person (really simplifying all his great posts on this).

Is there someone at your local gym that you can make food for after they finish their workout?

Is there a a busy time of day (spinning class, yoga, peak hours) that you could see if 10-20 would maybe want you to cook a healthy, nutritious meal ready for when people finish working out?

Is there a gym with a little extra space to set up a small kitchen and get started as quickly as possible?


Don't over complicate it with business plans, investors etc. Start small, start soon. Start with one person and treat that as your business. if you can get to two people in a week/month then you are already growing. Sounds too simple to work and thats why so few do it. It works though.

But would that work in this case? Since I do not plan on preparing meals myself, I'd need to hire someone and that wouldn't be profitable on such small scale.

 

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[mrarcher]

But would that work in this case? Since I do not plan on preparing meals myself, I'd need to hire someone and that wouldn't be profitable on such small scale.

You'll have to do the work. You can't decide to throw a big business together with no money and it will all work out.
Cant Cook? Learn!

 

[Tomekmeister]

You'll have to do the work. You can't decide to throw a big business together with no money and it will all work out.
Cant Cook? Learn!

Isn't it exactly like startups work?

 

[The-J]

This post has only been up for 6 1/2 hours and there are already a bunch of people running to tell this kid exactly what I would have said: "NOOOOOO!"

Gotta love this forum.

Seriously, you're 17. Don't go hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt to start a thin-margin, heavy human resource intensive, locally-restricted, highly temperamental business.

Do literally anything else. Please.

 

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[jon.a]

I'm missing the part about how YOU add value to this deal?

 

[Vigilante]

I'm missing the part about how YOU add value to this deal?

Jon. @mrarcher

It's HIS idea.

He's the IDEA guy. The investors can PAY to hire the workers.

He's not going to do the WORK.

He's going to hire the people to do the work.

It's a venture backed start up.

In Poland.

@The-J who said anything about hundreds of thousands in debt? He said he was looking for INVESTORS.

 

[Guest34764]

Geez, I was only gone for a few hours.

I think and many others who have posted here believe you should for now drop the idea of doing anything involving meats.Too much risk involved and it can cause major trouble down the line.

However, If you want to make some Icecream go for it man.Do anything else than getting into meats.

Set-up a ice-cream shop and put some lures down for Pokemon Go'ers and reap the cash.

 

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[TKDTyler]

Can you validate your idea by providing a smaller service to only 1 gym location for a prolonged period of time? Healthy food cart with fresh kabobs? Much less capital. Instant validation. Let's you work on your interpersonal skills and have direct feedback with your target market on whether or not they like the service and product you offer.

grow with your business and get some skin in the game so you know what you are doing. Managing with experience is a whole lot easier than without because you can relate with your workers and be able to provide solutions to everyday problems that you have already experience.

 

[RussRussman18]

Any food based business is opening an enormous can of worms.... good luck

 

[ZCP]

How hard is it to cook kabobs?!?!
Scoop ice cream?

Start by getting a gym to have you cater one night a week. Then two.

Cook. Perfect your recipes. Learn from your customers what they want.

Then cater multiple gyms. Then open your own place, hire, systemtize, grow.......

 

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[Fox]

You have nothing to lose by starting small.

- Experience in the real world
- Instant feedback on your idea
- Future knowledge on how to manage staff
- Connections for later
- Real life data for investors
- Real data on how to move forwards

Groupon, one the the worlds fastest growing businesses ever, started with printing off coupons for 20 discount pizzas. Whatsapp was a simple app to show if you were unavailable to take a call by having a "status". No one is above starting small. It's usually the fastest way forwards.

 

[The-J]

@The-J who said anything about hundreds of thousands in debt? He said he was looking for INVESTORS.

I couldn't tell if he was being serious. But I have no experience or knowledge about investors and restaurants, or why an investor would invest in one. I've just known restaurant owners when I was a kid, and they just seemed like the most overworked, unhappy people. What they described to me was a low margin environment and very little opportunity for profit.

 

[Vigilante]

I couldn't tell if he was being serious. But I have no experience or knowledge about investors and restaurants, or why an investor would invest in one. I've just known restaurant owners when I was a kid, and they just seemed like the most overworked, unhappy people. What they described to me was a low margin environment and very little opportunity for profit.

Don't overcomplicate it.

1. Find someone with money
2. Find someone that can cook
3. Find a location, and rent it with investor money

4. LAMBO

 

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[BlakeRVA]

Don't overcomplicate it.

1. Find someone with money
2. Find someone that can cook
3. Find a location, and rent it with investor money

4. LAMBO

What Vigilante, Jon and others are trying to figure out is... what exactly are YOU bringing to this business? What do you bring to the table that an investor would be hard pressed to find anywhere else? If you want investor money, you need to be able to answer this.

You have presented yourself as being a middle man. You are bringing the investor and cook together. This is valuable until they find out they don't need you, then they will get rid of you. You are cutting into their profit and not providing any value.

Think of each person who has posted so far as an investor. You have received numerous people giving a firm "No."

Take this as feedback. Alter your pitch to demonstrate that YOU provide value to the business and generate PROFIT to an investor.

 

[Scot]

@Vigilante I'd really appreciate if you've had another look at what I have to say
Thanks to @Fox I realised that you can't really get a fair feedback if you don't explain things directly.

A little introduction:
I'm 17 year old male from Poland with no business experience nor money.

My previous posts were just a big misunderstanding and my business idea turned into "kabob huts". Let me have a fresh start and enlighten the whole concept.

The whole idea is about making a chain of huts with healthy food and supplements close to gyms. All the nearby restaurants consist of unhealthy food. If you work out, you probably know the struggle. This type of business exists and works really well in US / Canada and probably all over the world.

I plan on educating myself into managing this business and turning it into pure fastlane. I will not work there myself, I will hire a few chefs.

Please have in mind that it's not just some "young punk kid" with some crazy idea. I'm going to copy the idea in 90% from a reliable source that proves what I stated above.

My job will be to find a nice place to rent, create a business as well as a marketing plan, work up deals with supplement providers / gyms, hire staff, manage the whole place and convince an investor that this is not a bad idea. I will do basically everything that needs to be done in order for this to succeed.

Please do not judge me by previous posts and let me know what do you think about that.

See, this actually makes sense. I had a similar idea here in the States, but it's quickly becoming saturated and frankly, I don't want to do anything food based.

Could this work? Yes. Start small. Buy a couple of blenders, a bunch of good protein powders from the Internet and find a gym who's willing to let you set up a small table and sell smoothies and shakes. Start small, prove yourself. Reinvest the money to start selling rice bowls. Then buy supplements in bulk and sell those. Then start selling protien bars. Then, once you're so busy and making money, hire a helper. Etc etc etc.

What I'm saying is, start small, start slow. There's a saying in the military over here "slow is smooth, and smooth is fast." Basically, don't trip over your own feet.

You're excited. I get it. You see the end of the race, but you can't start at the finish line. You've got to start on the treadmill and get ready for the race.


Go buy a blender, a card table, some juice and some powder. Get started.

 

[Eric10x10]

I'd never encourage a 17 year old kid to open the most volatile, non-fastlane types of businesses there is to open. When you take the failure rate of restaurants, blend it with his inexperience, lack of capital, and the need for restaurateurs to do the opposite of separating time from income, we would be doing him the best service we could by dissuading him from this.

I'm all for business, but not suicide missions. Some times, common sense needs to prevail. His market validation is that two of his buddies that like kabobs think it's a good idea.

But, I have said my peace. We'll likely never hear the results.

Does the opposite of separating time from income? How so?

Beauty of owning a successful restaurant lies in the fact that once you go famous, you can hire people to do the hard work for you.

 

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[craig1928]

Beauty of owning a successful restaurant lies in the fact that once you go famous, you can hire people to do the hard work for you.

lolwut

1: Open restaurant
2: Become Gordon Ramsay
3: ???
4: Profit

 

[Tomekmeister]

What Vigilante, Jon and others are trying to figure out is... what exactly are YOU bringing to this business? What do you bring to the table that an investor would be hard pressed to find anywhere else? If you want investor money, you need to be able to answer this.

You have presented yourself as being a middle man. You are bringing the investor and cook together. This is valuable until they find out they don't need you, then they will get rid of you. You are cutting into their profit and not providing any value.

Think of each person who has posted so far as an investor. You have received numerous people giving a firm "No."

Take this as feedback. Alter your pitch to demonstrate that YOU provide value to the business and generate PROFIT to an investor.

Thank you very much. This is something that I'll have to think about.