So late last year we bought a building for a new restaurant. Now it is mid February and thing have been progressing a little at a time. Now, you would think that I would be so excited that I would be obsessing on the thing night and day. Well, I guess I'm a little too old to do anything that fast or be that obsessed and knowing somewhat I am in for once I get open makes me not want to anything too fast. So here is what has been happening.
Demolition.
We hired a local work crew to come out and empty the restaurant of the appliances, tables etc. Had an electrician come out and remove and stub off the wiring. Hired a couple of local carpenters to tear out the hung tile ceiling, strip most of the floors to the wood, remove all the plaster from one interior wall, exposing the now 14X62 brick wall. So what we have right now is a 22x62 total floor space-1364 sq. feet, plus a 1000 sq. ft basement. So what we are looking at now is getting the interior roof and interior walls fixed, textured and finished. the now exposed brick wall has 3 windows that we will restore. We will also sand and put a sealant on the brick so they don't flake off. The floor had blown out carpeting on half of it and blown out linoleum on the kitchen side. We tore out the carpet that was glued on some old asphalt tile down to the 3" fir planks and they are in good enough shape that we can get them sanded and sealed. Under the kitchen side we found 2 layers of linoleum over some blown out 30+ year old subflooring and found another layer of asphalt tile that we need to remove.
The Rebuilding
So we are getting bids from contractors for the reconstruction. I am working with an architect friend who is doing the interior design. I'm just doing the basic layout, he is making sure that everything can work and making the plans. We have to have the plan to the building dept. Tuesday and get the building permits. So, theoretically we should be finishing the final demolition and ready to get someone in to start putting it back together in about two weeks. I am figuring the build-out to take up to 4 months, hopefully less, hopefully not more.
The Dream.
So what are we going to do? I want to capitalize on the fine dining/ catering reputation and open a dinner place. I want to be open 4 nights a week, one seating per night, write my menu weekly. Our seating plan will seat 3 eight to twelve tops, 3 four tops, and 3 two tops. One four top and one two top will be in the kitchen. Since the room is big enough, our concept will be to have the feel of being in more of a home dining room setting, with large antique hutches and buffets to help break up the room and make it feel more intimate. We have 3 large antique tables for our big tables. One was from a local historic mansion. We will have a small waiting area but no bar. We will serve beer and wine and have thought about getting a liquor license. Liquor sales are not a huge item in this part of the world.
The Reality.
This is the part where the money starts going away. We will end up paying at least 6 months of payments before we open. We have demolition costs, permit costs, and everything else. For just being in the not ready to build phase like everything else in the world it seems to cost significantly more than initially thought. We will need to put in a new hvac system return air and upgrade the existing hood, upgrade the wiring (the building now has a 100 amp service!) and buy a new fire supression system. The plumbing will be wasy to move around. The existing bathrooms will need to be remodeled and one made wheelchair acsessable. For equipment I want to buy a new charbroiler. The restaurant came with a decent 6 burner range with 24 inch grill and double oven,two gas convection ovens, a 2 door sandwich cooler, an older 4 door fridge and an ancient Univex mixer. I also own a triple sink and a two compartment stainless prep sink. I will have to buy a dishmachine, and new work tables.
The Bottom Line.
I will keep updating as we work on the project. If anyone has comments, ideas, critiques, real life experiences, questions or anything else, feel free to post.
Cheers everybody!
Demolition.
We hired a local work crew to come out and empty the restaurant of the appliances, tables etc. Had an electrician come out and remove and stub off the wiring. Hired a couple of local carpenters to tear out the hung tile ceiling, strip most of the floors to the wood, remove all the plaster from one interior wall, exposing the now 14X62 brick wall. So what we have right now is a 22x62 total floor space-1364 sq. feet, plus a 1000 sq. ft basement. So what we are looking at now is getting the interior roof and interior walls fixed, textured and finished. the now exposed brick wall has 3 windows that we will restore. We will also sand and put a sealant on the brick so they don't flake off. The floor had blown out carpeting on half of it and blown out linoleum on the kitchen side. We tore out the carpet that was glued on some old asphalt tile down to the 3" fir planks and they are in good enough shape that we can get them sanded and sealed. Under the kitchen side we found 2 layers of linoleum over some blown out 30+ year old subflooring and found another layer of asphalt tile that we need to remove.
The Rebuilding
So we are getting bids from contractors for the reconstruction. I am working with an architect friend who is doing the interior design. I'm just doing the basic layout, he is making sure that everything can work and making the plans. We have to have the plan to the building dept. Tuesday and get the building permits. So, theoretically we should be finishing the final demolition and ready to get someone in to start putting it back together in about two weeks. I am figuring the build-out to take up to 4 months, hopefully less, hopefully not more.
The Dream.
So what are we going to do? I want to capitalize on the fine dining/ catering reputation and open a dinner place. I want to be open 4 nights a week, one seating per night, write my menu weekly. Our seating plan will seat 3 eight to twelve tops, 3 four tops, and 3 two tops. One four top and one two top will be in the kitchen. Since the room is big enough, our concept will be to have the feel of being in more of a home dining room setting, with large antique hutches and buffets to help break up the room and make it feel more intimate. We have 3 large antique tables for our big tables. One was from a local historic mansion. We will have a small waiting area but no bar. We will serve beer and wine and have thought about getting a liquor license. Liquor sales are not a huge item in this part of the world.
The Reality.
This is the part where the money starts going away. We will end up paying at least 6 months of payments before we open. We have demolition costs, permit costs, and everything else. For just being in the not ready to build phase like everything else in the world it seems to cost significantly more than initially thought. We will need to put in a new hvac system return air and upgrade the existing hood, upgrade the wiring (the building now has a 100 amp service!) and buy a new fire supression system. The plumbing will be wasy to move around. The existing bathrooms will need to be remodeled and one made wheelchair acsessable. For equipment I want to buy a new charbroiler. The restaurant came with a decent 6 burner range with 24 inch grill and double oven,two gas convection ovens, a 2 door sandwich cooler, an older 4 door fridge and an ancient Univex mixer. I also own a triple sink and a two compartment stainless prep sink. I will have to buy a dishmachine, and new work tables.
The Bottom Line.
I will keep updating as we work on the project. If anyone has comments, ideas, critiques, real life experiences, questions or anything else, feel free to post.
Cheers everybody!
