This month has been hectic!
 

Well Im just gonna vent here.

This month has been crazy for me so far.As some of you may know(and for those of you who didnt) my next project has nothing to do with cars.
My brother and I are opening up a Mexican food restaurant.This is some scarry ----.We signed the lease today on the place.Its in a really good spot right off the freeway.There are no other restaurants(of anny kind) near us and its about 5 minutes from my house.
Here is the scarry part.Its a 5 year lease worth $80k.So far we have invested $10 in to the kithcen equipment and expect to spend a minumun of $40k on construction.This will take up most of my time now and I dont think ill have a chance to get to work on a new turbo project in a while.But hopefuly my next project will be factory turbo charged ;)
So if any one is ever near north Dallas and hungry,hit me up and ill hook you up with some good Mexican food and a frozen margarita!....
......wish me luck guys :-\

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

Good luck man, you made that first step into owning your own business that no one really dares to do much. Glad you had teh balls to do it and do what you want in life ;)

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

5 year lease for 80k? that's nothin', my rent alone for 5 years would be more than that.

Good luck on the business man, hope that ---- works out well! I would imagine it would, some good ole mexican food, for some lazy white men, hire some sexy latina waitreses and cashiers, and I'll drive down there and eat.

mmmmmmm... mexican, sexy mexican hotties.

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

sicc. if I'm in town I'll stop by for sure. I used to have 2 cousins that lived in the dfw area, but now one lives right down I10 in el paso, and the other lives way the ---- in san francisco, a block away from the haight/ashbury intersection, bunch of weirdos running around.

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

fly me in, ill cook......stir ur drink with ma dick also :P

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

Thanks guys.

Murdoc that may not sound like much but we all know that a new buisness has a 50-50% success/failure rate.So on the wost part I would be stuck with a lease and I would have to go back to being an electrician and still be responsable for paying $1450 a month for an empty suite plus the money invested.I guess I'm scared couse at the end my brother and I will have over $130k riding on this "idea".Thats the scary part. :-\

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

Sounds like a plan!Illl make your fajitas with extra protein :-*

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

You don't sound to positive about this whole deal. :-\

I hope it all works out for you. Business is risky, especially with family. :-\
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Re:This month has been hectic!
 

congrats... yeah, august of last year i helped open and manage one of my uncles sushi restaruants. all i can say is... holly ----! There are all kinds of ---- that you got to take care of that you would never think of. One that i will share with you is the importance of designing a operations manual for every station. I don't know how big your restaurant is gonna be, but i think any new business will benefit from a very well thought out operations manual.

also another is... working with family... that can be really good or really bad. it was really bad in my case...

anyhow... good luck!

another thing... just pay an accountant to take care of your money, it will save you a huge ------- head ache.

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

If you guys have good food no worries. It will make money. Only places that close down just have bad service/food just long hours if you guys get succesful. I have been plannin a trip this summer to either the Northwest or Texas so I may stop in by

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

you and your brother are both very brave, I don't know very many people that would go into business with a mexican 8) ;D

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

that's very true raffi. just make sure you guys have a clean and tidy business and serve good food, you should have no problem.

If this may be some words of encouragement for you, there is a resturant around the corner. Over the span of 15 years, there have been 4 different resturants there, a something, a thai, a something and a mexican, for the last 5 years it has been a mexican resturant. My buddy who lives in compton drives all the way down here to buy food, because it's just that good.

Just common business advice,
1- be nice
2- clean facility
3- serve good food
4- be ------ nice, no matter how much of an ass the person is

I hope nothing but the best for you guys! :)

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

Im positive Justin.It may not seem like it couse Im expressing that im scared but I have to be realistic about what Im doing.Ive never been a person that does things in the blind.But the success rate for restaurants here in Texas is pretty high.All people do here is eat :P.If I was'nt shure about this venture I wouldnt be doing it.Ive come to far to fail now.

Plus my brother an I have been "researching" the competition(other mexican food joints)up and down the freeway.So far the food sucks and we've gotten sick a couple of times :-X...I think well do ok ;)

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

130k, ya that is scary. but like chris said, if you have good food, youll do fine, then you can start franchising and ---- like king taco cabron!

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

Good mexican food :)

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

Word. I have a few places I go to eat that either have really good food, or the waiters/waitresses are very nice that I go to eat at. Make sure your employees(if you plan on hiring any right now?)are very nice and friendly.

One place I really like is a shithole looking place with a dirt driveway that has killed just about every Honda I've driven into it, but the ------- steak is so damn good. That place fills up with people just because of the bitchin' food.
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Re:This month has been hectic!
 

Thats funny that you mention that.The food service industry usually levaes you with about 60% profit.We plan on making about45-50% because we will be using superior(compared to others)ingredients(no ground beef in our tacos ;))and we will have the best service possible.All of our meats will be cokked with mesquite char coal for that real gangsta Mexican flavor 8).

And as far as cleanlyness,well in kind of a germaphobe.I carry antibacterial gell in my pocket(the little tiney bottle) so you know the place will be spotless :P ;)

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

maybe we can have a hmt meet there and do burnouts! ya burnout! ya

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

Haha, you ------- weirdo. :P


I'm kinda the same way, except I don't carry a bottle of soap in my pocket :P
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Re:This month has been hectic!
 

My wife says Im like the guy from the movie "cat in the hat".But that guy was pretty bad.He had a side holdster for the antibacterial gel :P.

I hate it when bathroom doors open in and the guy that just pissed next to you walks out and doest wash his hands :-X.Now I have to leave and I have to touch the smae handle :-X :-X.My bathroom doors will open out ;)

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

lol, I hate it when you just wash your hands and you go to walk out of the bathroom and you have to grab the dirty ass handle to swing the door open knowing damn well that handle is covered in penis and ass. :-X They should make them all so you can push so you don't have to use your hands to open the door. :-\
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Re:This month has been hectic!
 

that's why i get some extra paper towels to open the door with and then toss the paper towel ;)

Got out the restroom, and my hands aren't covered in hotrex's penis juice. :D So they soooo fressssh and sooo clean clean

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

lol, you MUST be my long lost mexican brother. ;)
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Re:This month has been hectic!
 

Hey murdoc,maybe Ill fly you down here and have you train my cook(me) since your so crafty with the alluminum foil and pork saw dust ;)

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

i just had a bad image come to me. what are trying to do, make me puke? dam you murdoc! dam you to hell!

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

Still waiting for the DNA test to get back ;) :-*

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

you got it brotha :D

I still have half a tub of that pork 'saw dust' :P And we all know I gots plenty of aluminum foil :D

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

if you really wanna make money, sell alcohol to minors, and sell drugs in the store, thats how you do it.

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

damn dude, good luck, i used to live in AZ and grew a huge love for mexican food.

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

Damn, Congrats. My friends father retired last year from owning several delis and italian gourmet markets in NY. Went down to FL to retire and got bored and opened up shop in a couple towns. With in the first couple days of one place being opened he had a line out the door. Literally. Opened 2 more the next month. It's all about your staff. If they're people people you're golden, especially in the food business. If customers feel comfortable at you're place you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Wish you the best of luck and congrats on that.

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

Damn, with all that overhead you shoulda just went into the oil line business. ;)

I'm a white guy from Ca, and mexican food is all we eat. (It helps I work in construction too). To me you have two type of mexican joints, sit down el torrito yuppy ----, and hole in the wall bombay ----. You'll find me at the hole in the wall bombay ---- all day if I can. Then you have some sit down yuppy type joints that have bomb ass food, and takeout.
This is just what I look for. Fried flour tortillas (either flautas or taco's) are a must.
I'll be there for sure. If you need any vinyl (advertising/signs) let me know. If you need a painter, I know one. ;D (he's good at those orange/pink/flashy mexican colors too, but no mirrols (haha, I can't even spell it))

Oh, serious business now, remember this. TARGET A MARKET. Like it's going to take time for families, regular joe's and ---- to find out about the place, so in the mean time make some flyers and ----- em out to business/industrial complexes so they can be "today customers". The regular joe's will hear about it, and then you'll be gold.

Or, go into oil lines. 8)

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

you could go to the local gym and sell my penis juice for top dolla, nigga

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

Thanks Steve.
The place will be in between an Yuppie mexican place and a fast food place.All the food will take no longer than 5-8 minutes to hit your table.Most sit down places take about 12-15(Ive timed it :P)

Ive got an pretty good I dea for marketing.The place is right outside the main entrance to my community(yuppie ville)and Ive allready contracted a printer to make me some door hangers offering 20% off with flyer.Its also across the freeway from a Dodge,Chevy,Honda,Lincon dealers.On my side there is a huge hospital,Suzuki and Kia dealer.

Im also going to print out buisness sized cards good for one free frozen margarita that I can hand out to selected people(real estate agents,insurance agents,car sales men)and such) that have big networks of people that they can recommend my place to.Every one likes free alcohol ;).I figure It will cost me a few thousnad to get people threw the door but once there in they'll be hooked.Word of mouth is the best form of advertising and its free.

Another idea I have been toying with is to advertise the grand opening on the radio and give away free food to the first 500 people that come by on opening day.It will be expensive but it will be a tax write off since I wont be making a profit.Plus I can make up some money on the drinks too. ;)

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

damn raffi, that's awesom, no more mr. mom ;) i plan on venturing out one day to start my own business, but it is scary and a big risk, i just haven't gotten the balls up yet to lay everything on the line, so congratulations for having the balls ;) i'm sure you'll do well and once you get going, the money will start rolling in ;D hey, you're house is paid for, so at least you'll always have a place to live even if the business goes under, unless you put it up for collateral :-X ;)

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

hey raff the business will go good the area is good for mex, food there is a family that started over here in mequite 2 years ago anf they opened up two new restaraunts built for the ground up trust me mex, or tex mex. is the way to go ...

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

put weed in the food that'll keep em eatin

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

The house in un touched so far.My brother sold his house in L.A and were using his cash for the place.Hes staying weith me since I had 3 empty rooms and 2 extra bathrooms ;).If I need to Ill borow some from the house I will but I dont think it will get there.

And thanks again for all the good words guys!!!

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

u guys made me hungry just got back from el azteca
had the carne asada plate but its still not real mex
food like i used to get in san diego

anyways props to u and remember anyone can make mexican
food but the real challange is in the sauce red or green
if u have a good sauce they WILL come back

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

mmmm cheeze dip. *drool* good luck with the endeavor.

Re:This month has been hectic!
 

i skipped a bunch of the thread, but like everyone said, congrats man.

It will be fun, and hard at the same time. Very time consuming, but hopefully it will all be worth it. It seems like you picked a good area for it. i usually stop at the first place near me when im hungry. If no one is around, theyll come to you. As long as the food is good and the place is clean, all the local people will make u their mexican restaruant of choice. As long as you did some homework on the place, and are going to bust your ass, youll succeed. Lack of planning is the number 1 reason a place fails.

Good luck, and Freeze some ---- and send me samples ;).

o yea, and worst case scenario, if things ever went bad, Tint the ---- outta the windows and run a prostitution ring. Youll pay off what u owe in no time :D