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At $7300/month rent, you would need to average about $243.33 per day in profit just to cover the rent, not counting staff wages or other overhead. Restaurants

At $7300/month rent, you would need to average about $243.33 per day in profit just to cover the rent, not counting staff wages or other overhead. Restaurants are notoriously hard to start. They have slim profit margins and other challenges. It's part of why franchises thrive in the food industry: A franchise has a proven model that can work and, even so, it's not guaranteed to work. I know it may be due at least in part to spin -- because the article is about San Francisco and Prop H -- but not one word was said about how much research was done to pen out potential costs, demand, etc. It says he spent time looking for "the perfect" storefront and signed a lease. How perfect was it when there were two nearby competitors and a process that let them actively hinder its opening? I'm not trying to blame him. I'm kind of thinking out loud here. I'm not in San Francisco. I don't know how easy it was for any random person to be able to predict some of these critical factors. But I feel like if you actually pen this out and determine you need $xxx in daily sales in a neighborhood with two competitors, it only makes financial sense if they have lines out the door and down the block because no one can get enough ice cream in that neighborhood. Green tea ice cream is also something that sounds crazy to me. It sounds like one of those things only the person dreaming it up sees any real value in. I've never heard of green tea ice cream before. Now I'm curious where you would find solid info on how to actually plan out a restaurant opening that has some hope of success.

username90 6y ago
> but not one word was said about how much research was done to pen out potential costs, demand, etc. Because it doesn't matter, he didn't even get a chance to open before burning through those 200k on rent for two years when the legal process was blocking him from opening.
- DoreenMichele 6y ago
  He was blocked by two nearby competitors. Everyone here seems to think they are just being greedy and corrupt and don't have a valid objection. Maybe there simply isn't enough demand to support three ice cream shops. Alternate story in a universe where he got to open: "All three shops have died, unable to survive the pandemic and general lack of demand for ice cream. The other two might have survived the pandemic had a third shop not opened in the neighborhood. Now he's just as deeply in debt as in this universe and other lives were also ruined." You don't know that the alternate path is all happy, shiny success and only did not happen because evil bureaucracy, bwa ha ha.
  - glenra 6y ago
    ...or perhaps the addition of one more competitor makes this area become known as "the ice cream district", pulling in ice-cream-seeking customers from surrounding areas and attracting complementary businesses, with the new competition and higher profile making all three shops more successful and better-known than they otherwise would be.
    - DoreenMichele 6y ago
      I've never heard of an ice cream district. Supporting articles welcome. (I'm aware of, say, fashion districts or restaurant districts.) I'm genuinely interested in what kind of research one should do if they want to successfully start a restaurant. I will likely look around myself at some point, but if anyone wants to give me links to good stuff, I will totes give one whole free upvote in exchange.
glenra 6y ago
> I've never heard of green tea ice cream before. Green tea ice cream is quite popular, you should try it! It used to be something you found mostly in Japanese restaurants but nowadays you can find it in grocery stores as well. Mr. Green Tea was one of the first big US suppliers, they've been prominent since the 1990s: https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/28/dining/temptation-for-purists-green-tea-ice-cream-with-an-asian-aura.html https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/28/dining/temptation-for-pur... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Green_Tea_Ice_Cream_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Green_Tea_Ice_Cream_Compan...
- DoreenMichele 6y ago
  I'm not a big ice cream eater. That's no doubt part of why this is news to me.

username90 6y ago

> but not one word was said about how much research was done to pen out potential costs, demand, etc. Because it doesn't matter, he didn't even get a chance to open before burning through those 200k on rent for two years when the legal process was blocking him from opening.

DoreenMichele 6y ago
He was blocked by two nearby competitors. Everyone here seems to think they are just being greedy and corrupt and don't have a valid objection. Maybe there simply isn't enough demand to support three ice cream shops. Alternate story in a universe where he got to open: "All three shops have died, unable to survive the pandemic and general lack of demand for ice cream. The other two might have survived the pandemic had a third shop not opened in the neighborhood. Now he's just as deeply in debt as in this universe and other lives were also ruined." You don't know that the alternate path is all happy, shiny success and only did not happen because evil bureaucracy, bwa ha ha.
- glenra 6y ago
  ...or perhaps the addition of one more competitor makes this area become known as "the ice cream district", pulling in ice-cream-seeking customers from surrounding areas and attracting complementary businesses, with the new competition and higher profile making all three shops more successful and better-known than they otherwise would be.
  - DoreenMichele 6y ago
    I've never heard of an ice cream district. Supporting articles welcome. (I'm aware of, say, fashion districts or restaurant districts.) I'm genuinely interested in what kind of research one should do if they want to successfully start a restaurant. I will likely look around myself at some point, but if anyone wants to give me links to good stuff, I will totes give one whole free upvote in exchange.

glenra 6y ago

> I've never heard of green tea ice cream before. Green tea ice cream is quite popular, you should try it! It used to be something you found mostly in Japanese restaurants but nowadays you can find it in grocery stores as well. Mr. Green Tea was one of the first big US suppliers, they've been prominent since the 1990s: https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/28/dining/temptation-for-purists-green-tea-ice-cream-with-an-asian-aura.html https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/28/dining/temptation-for-pur... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Green_Tea_Ice_Cream_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Green_Tea_Ice_Cream_Compan...

DoreenMichele 6y ago
I'm not a big ice cream eater. That's no doubt part of why this is news to me.