Thread of local businesses that don't survive the coronavirus

[Lhorn 4907]

That’s pretty obnoxious to be so inflexible to customers in this setting. I guess they must be confident chicken wing business won’t be affected much.

[BabaYaga 15286]

Or some millennial asshole that would rather collect UE than work and gives zero shits about the welfare of the company or his coworkers.  

[victory88 5663]

19 hours ago, StruggleBus said:

My wife just lost her job and my startup has lost 50% of its revenue in the last three days.

Three months ago life was great and we didn’t have a worry in the world. Shit happens fast.

Sorry to hear this man.  Live frugally and limit all your expenses.  Collect unemployment.  

 My practice is dead as well.   We're a startup in month 5.  We were on track to have our busiest month and now I'm shutting it down for 2-3 weeks.  Calls have stopped.  I'm about to let go one of my 3 staff members and told the other two I can give them 20 hours each for 2 weeks and then from there, it's anyone's guess.  Pretty sure my wife will be fired at her corporate gig.  Their company was struggling with mass layoffs the last 4-5 years.  Their retail stores are struggling and this obviously will be the nail in the coffin.  She's mentally prepped to be fired along with probably half the company.  

[Hank Scorpio 17729]

I just saw the Pluckers CEO on TV and he was crying and saying that they have to shut down all their stores permanently because they were one lunch order of wings short for their quota today and they defaulted on all their loans. 

[bluto 4912]

I just saw the Pluckers CEO on TV and he was crying and saying that they have to shut down all their stores permanently because they were one lunch order of wings short for their quota today and they defaulted on all their loans. 

I coulda been a hero but they just didn’t let me!!

[Storm the Field 5289]

For selfish reasons, I'm really hoping the kennel where we've been leaving our dogs for the last 5+ years can survive until things improve. Hadn't thought about it affecting a place like that, but they had a FB post yesterday talking about how 90% of their spring break boarding reservations had cancelled and daycare numbers were way down with everyone working from home. 

[NeverMarryAStripper 21864]

32 minutes ago, bluto said:

Called pluckers for to-go, help a smaller restaurant group even tho still a chain

"I need to place a to go order"
'We're only taking online orders'
"Ya, the lunch special isn't on there so I wanted to call it in"
'Oh that's for dine in only so we can’t do that'
"That’s kinda impossible but thanks, I’ll go somewhere else”

They stick to their principles, guess I gotta give em some credit for that

You sound like one of those people that go into a restaurant and order the daily special, except substitute rice for mashed potatoes, and put the sauce on the side, and oh can you make it without garlic.  Then when it comes you bitch because it took too long.

[BonzoMontreaux 1036]

My one business that I hope makes it is Hays City Store: https://hayscitystoretx.com/

If you are in the Kyle, Wimberley, and Driftwood areas, you probably know about them.  If not, they are are doing delivery to the area I just mentioned for a 20 dollar minimum and curbside.

The owners there work their asses off.  No task is beneath them when it comes to keeping things moving there.

[David Dennison 18837]

5 hours ago, DalTxHornFan said:

https://thefederalist.com/2020/03/19/will-the-costs-of-a-great-depression-outweigh-the-risks-of-coronavirus/

Well, we're going to find out.

[LTtxfan 49141]

16 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

You sound like one of those people that go into a restaurant and order the daily special, except substitute rice for mashed potatoes, and put the sauce on the side, and oh can you make it without garlic.  Then when it comes you bitch because it took too long.

 

[bluto 4912]

Ha! Nah, I worked in food service.

[AUS-97HORN 11756]

48 minutes ago, bluto said:

Called pluckers for to-go, help a smaller restaurant group even tho still a chain

"I need to place a to go order"
'We're only taking online orders'
"Ya, the lunch special isn't on there so I wanted to call it in"
'Oh that's for dine in only so we can’t do that'
"That’s kinda impossible but thanks, I’ll go somewhere else”

They stick to their principles, guess I gotta give em some credit for that

 

just so we are clear here. you are pissed Pluckers wont sell you an item that is either a loss-leader, or a breakeven lunch special (which is clearly marked as a dine-in only option)?

the reason they offer that deal is because 90% of the folks who come in order a beer, or soda with that deal.     

so they should honor a loss leader lunch special?    The take out boxes and plasticware also cost money.  

The only way they can stay open is by making money.  if they sell you that lunch special at best they are breaking even. at worst, its a loss.

 

maybe you need to stick to your principles and actually spend the extra $2 that the non-lunch special would have cost there cupcake.

 

 

[deadshank 24652]

45 minutes ago, AUS-97HORN said:

 

just so we are clear here. you are pissed Pluckers wont sell you an item that is either a loss-leader, or a breakeven lunch special (which is clearly marked as a dine-in only option)?

the reason they offer that deal is because 90% of the folks who come in order a beer, or soda with that deal.     

so they should honor a loss leader lunch special?    The take out boxes and plasticware also cost money.  

The only way they can stay open is by making money.  if they sell you that lunch special at best they are breaking even. at worst, its a loss.

 

maybe you need to stick to your principles and actually spend the extra $2 that the non-lunch special would have cost there cupcake.

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2020 by deadshank

[Jameslaw121 4448]

On 3/18/2020 at 2:47 PM, Penelope said:

I was struggling before the pandemic. Seems like I was finally turning the corner, and now this. I was in the beginning  of my third year and I don’t know if I can recover being closed for 6 to 8 weeks. I did close my bar voluntarily prior to the mandates. I hope that doesn’t bite me in the ass when it comes to any kind of aid. 

Where is your bar at again?

[Penelope 416]

2 minutes ago, Jameslaw121 said:

Where is your bar at again?

Jarrell

[Gourmand 7774]

Called pluckers for to-go, help a smaller restaurant group even tho still a chain

"I need to place a to go order"
'We're only taking online orders'
"Ya, the lunch special isn't on there so I wanted to call it in"
'Oh that's for dine in only so we can’t do that'
"That’s kinda impossible but thanks, I’ll go somewhere else”

They stick to their principles, guess I gotta give em some credit for that

If there's not already an internet meme for the male Karen, there should be.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[WBT 20559]

2 hours ago, AUS-97HORN said:

 

just so we are clear here. you are pissed Pluckers wont sell you an item that is either a loss-leader, or a breakeven lunch special (which is clearly marked as a dine-in only option)?

the reason they offer that deal is because 90% of the folks who come in order a beer, or soda with that deal.     

so they should honor a loss leader lunch special?    The take out boxes and plasticware also cost money.  

The only way they can stay open is by making money.  if they sell you that lunch special at best they are breaking even. at worst, its a loss.

 

maybe you need to stick to your principles and actually spend the extra $2 that the non-lunch special would have cost there cupcake.

 

 

Or they could charge $2 more rather than telling a customer he can't have what he wants and they won't take his money.

[Gourmand 7774]

3 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

Or some millennial asshole that would rather collect UE than work and gives zero shits about the welfare of the company or his coworkers.  

seriously? go fuck yourself. you have no idea what sacrifices most restaurant employees make for the "welfare of their company" at $2.13/hr, all of which come with negligible benefits and no ownership in the company. And you expect them to suddenly have some crazy fucking loyalty in the middle of a global pandemic and economic meltdown?

How goddamn tone deaf can you be?

[BabaYaga 15286]

34 minutes ago, Gourmand said:

seriously? go fuck yourself. you have no idea what sacrifices most restaurant employees make for the "welfare of their company" at $2.13/hr, all of which come with negligible benefits and no ownership in the company. And you expect them to suddenly have some crazy fucking loyalty in the middle of a global pandemic and economic meltdown?

How goddamn tone deaf can you be?

About the same as your sarcasm meter you giant bleeding gash.....

[Larry T. Spider 1746]

This thread is getting quite.....surly.

[Poolflood 845]

I'm in year 3 of my business.  I've shut down all advertising and non-essential expenditures.   I'm probably good for 6 months with the contracts I have.   But it's the heart of my selling season.   I'm going to go to local restaurants and start having them deliver food to local first responders and hope the social media attention may drum up business.   

Cops and firefighters aren't going to lose their jobs.   May pick up some business that way. 

I figure the business will be ok (I'm an eternal optimist) but if it does go down I'll be helping other local businesses and first responders on the way out. 

 

[DalTxHornFan 3097]

Good to see that the Wall Street Journal editorial board has finally seen the light:

Rethinking the Coronavirus Shutdown

No society can safeguard public health for long at the cost of its economic health.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/rethinking-the-coronavirus-shutdown-11584659154?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

[Incredulity 11643]

19 minutes ago, DalTxHornFan said:

Good to see that the Wall Street Journal editorial board has finally seen the light:

Rethinking the Coronavirus Shutdown

No society can safeguard public health for long at the cost of its economic health.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/rethinking-the-coronavirus-shutdown-11584659154?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

Paywall

 

please paste

[Francisco 2.0 32385]

Not local to Texas, but the NYTimes food critic wrote a great article on restaurants and what kind of future awaits:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/16/dining/restaurants-coronavirus.html

 

Quote

I had a real peach of a review lined up for this week, too.

Last Wednesday, when I finished it, I still imagined that New York City’s restaurants would continue to look and act in some recognizable manner through March and maybe April, if only we could slow the spread of the new, terrifyingly contagious coronavirus. The next day brought the news that the state had ordered them to cut their crowds to half of the legal capacity.

 

Quote

The review I had ready to go was about a below-ground sushi counter with eight seats. Was it going to become a four-seat sushi counter? Would a review of such a place look weird in a week? Was there any restaurant review that wouldn’t look weird in a week?

My editors and I wondered about all this in emails that make surreal reading now. I still ate out that night at a restaurant I was getting ready to review. Reservations there had been hard to come by for the past couple of months, and the place was full when I got there, although later in the night the table next to me sat empty for a while. I remember feeling relieved. If restaurants began seating every other table, maybe we could all keep acting as if it was all going to be fine.

 

 

Quote

It was Friday afternoon when we decided to hold the review. Friday night, I stayed home. People who went out reported that, despite the 50 percent rule, many restaurants were full and bars were packed, some of them with lines out the door.

I always knew that when the end came, New Yorkers would watch it from a bar. But this was not the end any of us had imagined. Crowding together, not just a survival skill but an engine of the city in normal times, was the most dangerous thing of all.

 

Spoiler

I spent the weekend chasing rumors and talking to bar and restaurant owners. The crash of stocks and the violent plunge into a bear market, which in another time would have these owners in a panic, barely came up. Instead they talked about surviving. Or not surviving.

“I’ve been telling my staff for three weeks, guys, get ready for a big hit,” Tom Colicchio said. “This is terrible. This is the end of the restaurant business as we know it.”

I spoke with Mr. Colicchio before the city announced the closing of all restaurants and bars for the time being, but after he’d announced that the restaurants he owned in New York were going to shut down for now. When it became clear to him that there was no way to keep them open, he’d been planning to call all his employees in for a company meeting so he could tell them in person. That would be the humane thing to do in any other time. This was a week, he decided, when bad news was best delivered by a mass email.

But there was no way to soften the blow for the city’s 250,000 or so restaurant workers. (The number comes from a 2019 study by the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School and the National Employment Law Project.) Most jobs are gone for now. Nobody knows how long the city will wait before allowing restaurants to open fully again, but many places won’t be able to survive even a short closure. The business is hand-to-mouth even in the best of times; last night’s receipts go straight into tomorrow’s payroll.

Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are full of appeals to diners to funnel restaurant workers a little cash by buying gift certificates or branded T-shirts, or by sending money directly or indirectly. Restaurants are for-profit operations, at least in theory, but, for those of us who can’t imagine life without them, they act more like cultural institutions. If you’d give money to keep the opera going, why not pay a little to keep the restaurant workers afloat?

People have been giving. There’s a lot of talk about supporting takeout and delivery, which are still legal in New York. This is wonderful. And it won’t be enough. It won’t even come close.

Because many of the fixed expenses of operating a restaurant haven’t stopped. There is still rent to pay, and taxes, like the New York State sales tax bill due on Friday. Those bills alone could crush restaurants in a matter of weeks, unless they have heaps of cash in reserve.

“Postponing or waiving the sales tax would be the fastest way to prop these businesses up without the government going out of pocket,” Jonathan Butler, a founder of Smorgasburg and Brooklyn Flea, said on Sunday. “The other huge factor is how they treat leases. Most people have some form of personal guarantee on their leases. I can’t imagine as a policy standpoint they want to come out of this crisis and have small business owners losing their homes because they had a personal guarantee. That’s an issue that could be addressed by policy in some fashion.”

In New York City, the de Blasio administration has made interest-free loans of up to $75,000 available to businesses with fewer than 100 employees if they can prove they’ve lost 25 percent of their revenue. This is a bit of a terrible-food-and-such-small-portions situation, some restaurateurs say; $75,000 won’t get most restaurants very far, and yet repaying it could be a major burden for owners, particularly if they have personally guaranteed the loan.

“There’s going to have to be a huge stimulus behind this to bail out small businesses,” Mr. Colicchio said. Industry leaders seem to be coalescing around asking for cash, perhaps in grants targeted to individual businesses, as well as aid for the hundreds of thousands of restaurant workers who suddenly have no income.

The major policy decisions of the past two weeks have been made in the interest of public health. But those decisions, combined with an economic crisis that is only in its early stages, could wipe out thousands of restaurants and bars, along with the farmers and florists and linen services they support.

I see two possible futures for restaurants. In one, state and local governments across the country move rapidly to help them survive the closings and get going again when that’s safe. In the other, bankruptcies cascade across the economy, and people are out of work in numbers this country has not seen since the 1930s.

Will a country that is still bitter about bailing out banks and airlines in the last financial crisis be ready to bail out ramen-yas, pupuserias, vegan sandwich counters, dosa vendors and natural wine bars? It depends on whether politicians and the public see the money as handouts to people who made bad business decisions (beginning, I suppose, with the decision to get into the restaurant business) or as a triage measure that will save the life of a national industry with sales of more than $800 billion last year.

If the world needed the banks in 2008, it needs the restaurants this year — as soon as it’s safe to leave our homes again. David Changhas a slogan to help sell America on the big fix we need. As he wrote in a tweet addressed to the mayor, the governor, New York’s two U.S. senators and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:

“Restaurants are too small to fail.

Please act quickly.

Thank you.”

 

[DalTxHornFan 3097]

12 minutes ago, Incredulity said:

Paywall

 

please paste

Rethinking the Coronavirus Shutdown

No society can safeguard public health for long at the cost of its economic health.

 

 

By The Editorial Board

Updated March 19, 2020 7:40 pm ET

Financial markets paused their slide Thursday, but no one should think this rolling economic calamity is over. If this government-ordered shutdown continues for much more than another week or two, the human cost of job losses and bankruptcies will exceed what most Americans imagine. This won’t be popular to read in some quarters, but federal and state officials need to start adjusting their anti-virus strategy now to avoid an economic recession that will dwarf the harm from 2008-2009.

The vast social-distancing project of the last 10 days or so has been necessary and has done much good. Warnings about large gatherings of more than 10 people and limiting access to nursing homes will save lives. The public has received a crucial education in hygiene and disease prevention, and even young people may get the message. With any luck, this behavior change will reduce the coronavirus spread enough that our hospitals won’t be overwhelmed with patients. Anthony Fauci, Scott Gottlieb and other disease experts are buying crucial time for government and private industry to marshal resources against the virus.

***

Yet the costs of this national shutdown are growing by the hour, and we don’t mean federal spending. We mean a tsunami of economic destruction that will cause tens of millions to lose their jobs as commerce and production simply cease. Many large companies can withstand a few weeks without revenue but that isn’t true of millions of small and mid-sized firms.

Even cash-rich businesses operate on a thin margin and can bleed through reserves in a month. First they will lay off employees and then out of necessity they will shut down. Another month like this week and the layoffs will be measured in millions of people.

The deadweight loss in production will be profound and take years to rebuild. In a normal recession the U.S. loses about 5% of national output over the course of a year or so. In this case we may lose that much, or twice as much, in a month.

 

Our friend Ed Hyman, the Wall Street economist, on Thursday adjusted his estimate for the second quarter to an annual rate loss in GDP of minus-20%. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s assertion on Fox Business Thursday that the economy will power through all this is happy talk if this continues for much longer.

If GDP seems abstract, consider the human cost. Think about the entrepreneur who has invested his life in his Memphis ribs joint only to see his customers vanish in a week. Or the retail chain of 30 stores that employs hundreds but sees no sales and must shut its doors.

Or the recent graduate with $20,000 in student-loan debt—taken on with the encouragement of politicians—who finds herself laid off from her first job. Perhaps she can return home and live with her parents, but what if they’re laid off too? How do you measure the human cost of these crushed dreams, lives upended, or mental-health damage that result from the orders of federal and state governments?

Some in the media who don’t understand American business say that China managed a comparable shock to its economy and is now beginning to emerge on the other side. Why can’t the U.S. do it too? This ignores that the Chinese state owns an enormous stake in that economy and chose to absorb the losses. In the U.S. those losses will be borne by private owners and workers who rely on a functioning private economy. They have no state balance sheet to fall back on.

The politicians in Washington are telling Americans, as they always do, that they are riding to the rescue by writing checks to individuals and offering loans to business. But there is no amount of money that can make up for losses of the magnitude we are facing if this extends for several more weeks. After the first $1 trillion this month, will we have to spend another $1 trillion in April, and another in June?

By the time Treasury’s small-business lending program runs through the bureaucratic hoops—complete with ordering owners that they can’t lay off anyone as a price for getting the loan—millions of businesses will be bankrupt and tens of millions will be jobless.

***

Perhaps we will be lucky, and the human and capitalist genius for innovation will produce a vaccine faster than expected—or at least treatments that reduce Covid-19 symptoms. But barring that, our leaders and our society will very soon need to shift their virus-fighting strategy to something that is sustainable.

Dr. Fauci has explained this severe lockdown policy as lasting 14 days in its initial term. The national guidance would then be reconsidered depending on the spread of the disease. That should be the moment, if not sooner, to offer new guidance on what might be called phase two of the coronavirus pandemic campaign.

That will surely include strict measures to isolate and protect the most vulnerable—our elderly and those with underlying medical problems. This should not become a debate over how many lives to sacrifice against how many lost jobs we can tolerate. Substantial social distancing and other measures will have to continue for some time in some form, depending on how our knowledge of the virus and its effects evolves.

But no society can safeguard public health for long at the cost of its overall economic health. Even America’s resources to fight a viral plague aren’t limitless—and they will become more limited by the day as individuals lose jobs, businesses close, and American prosperity gives way to poverty. America urgently needs a pandemic strategy that is more economically and socially sustainable than the current national lockdown.

[Mach 1 1677]

^^ re the NYT article:    The personal guarantee on commercial business loans is a big deal that hasn't been discussed much to date.  It should be.  The force majeure provisions in loan documents are mostly silent on pandemics.  So lenders will soon be facing the choice of enforcing those loan terms on businesses that can't make them, or invoke a forbearance program.    

There will be extreme pressure for lenders to give their borrowers a pass until they can figure shit out - but I don't see it.  Unfortunately the big boys with future business in the offing will get a pass on their loan terms, while the little guy will get fucked.  Hope I'm wrong, but after dealing with commercial banks in 2008-09 I assume they will do everything possible to get their money regardless of personal or societal impact.

Part of the "stimulus" package shouldn't just be injecting money into the system, it should be prohibiting lenders from enforcing money out of the system.

 

Edited March 20, 2020 by Mach 1

[mchookem 16318]

well, on a positive front...Kome on Airport had at least 15-20 people picking up orders, with folks coming and going steadily...busy enough i had to wait an extra 15 mins for our order. that made me feel better 🙂

[SimonBolivar 10957]

Master Pancake has a show on twitch right now if you can donate a few $$$.

 

http://www.twitch.tv/masterpancaketheater

[Tailgate 3021]

On 3/16/2020 at 10:43 PM, Texas_Rocks said:

On the day SXSW was canceled/postponed, some poster requested that members throw some business toward a surf & turf restaurant owner buddy that relied on the event to keep afloat. He had expanded to three locations. Any news on that cat’s business? Poor guy REALLY has to be feeling it right now.

Means little in times like this, but I sincerely feel terrible for you guys/girls that have been trying to build something that also creates career opportunities for fellow Americans too. That is not easily done in the best of circumstances.

While not big on government intervention in general, I really hope they produce some emergency measures that shield small business from collapsing due to a myriad of inevitable economic blows associated with COVID-19.

I’ve seen a lot of shit in my life time, but I’ve never seen anything quite like this. Watching it all unfold in a mass flood of digital media is fascinating and overwhelming at the same time.

Anyway, I truly hope the best for you small business operators. Same goes for everyone that relies on normalcy in life to have a life.

This will be very hard for him to survive...especially with the unknown timeline. He’s only open a few hours and lunch and dinner now for takeout...but not sure his takeout is enough to sustain the business. Feel bad for him and all the other small retail businesses that are going to be empty for the next thirty plus days.

[ChickenSandwich 9824]

So it looks like the small business sick leave that was just passed will be reimbursed by at tax credit it three months time. Lmao. Lot of good that will do when the company has shut down. Bunch of folks going to get immediately let go as small businesses don’t have that kind of liquidity. 
 

Slow the fuck down and don’t create more problems than you fix. 

Edited March 20, 2020 by ChickenSandwich

[Somnio 751]

Someone I know working in a restaurant here in Austin said on Wednesday they did roughly $1500 in sales on takeout orders.  Apparently they need to do about $3500 minimum in sales to keep the lights on.

[GHOSTUSER 361]

my restaurant tenants were ecstatic and one almost burst into tears when I told them I was giving them abated rent for April and May in exchange for extending their term by 2 months. One of the things I enjoy about being a landlord is seeing the businesses of my tenants succeed and having a mutually beneficial relationship. 

[Spaulding Smails 1552]

13 minutes ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

my restaurant tenants were ecstatic and one almost burst into tears when I told them I was giving them abated rent for April and May in exchange for extending their term by 2 months. One of the things I enjoy about being a landlord is seeing the businesses of my tenants succeed and having a mutually beneficial relationship. 

That is solid all the way around.   Good moral decision.  Good business decision.  Well done. 

[GHOSTUSER 361]

18 minutes ago, Spaulding Smails said:

That is solid all the way around.   Good moral decision.  Good business decision.  Well done. 

Thank you. I want my restaurant tenants to pay their staff and keep them intact to bounce back as quickly as possible when this shit is over. Besides being the moral and right thing to do, it is pragmatic. If my tenants go out of business, I am going to be out their rental stream for a lot longer than 2 months.

[Somnio 751]

11 minutes ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

Thank you. I want my restaurant tenants to pay their staff and keep them intact to bounce back as quickly as possible when this shit is over. Besides being the moral and right thing to do, it is pragmatic. If my tenants go out of business, I am going to be out their rental stream for a lot longer than 2 months.

47 minutes ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

my restaurant tenants were ecstatic and one almost burst into tears when I told them I was giving them abated rent for April and May in exchange for extending their term by 2 months. One of the things I enjoy about being a landlord is seeing the businesses of my tenants succeed and having a mutually beneficial relationship. 

 

Thank you, sir!

[BabaYaga 15286]

31 minutes ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

my restaurant tenants were ecstatic and one almost burst into tears when I told them I was giving them abated rent for April and May in exchange for extending their term by 2 months. One of the things I enjoy about being a landlord is seeing the businesses of my tenants succeed and having a mutually beneficial relationship. 

Evil slumlord!!!!

Wait, am I doing this wrong?  Good on you Icon.  Little things matter as we all navigate this quagmire.  

[Guest Lobo]

1 hour ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

my restaurant tenants were ecstatic and one almost burst into tears when I told them I was giving them abated rent for April and May in exchange for extending their term by 2 months. One of the things I enjoy about being a landlord is seeing the businesses of my tenants succeed and having a mutually beneficial relationship. 

What city are most of your properties in, out of curiosity?  Excellent decision on your part, I wanna see who I can refer to you when this is all over.  

[GHOSTUSER 361]

1 minute ago, Lobo said:

What city are most of your properties in, out of curiosity?  Excellent decision on your part, I wanna see who I can refer to you when this is all over.  

I will DM you. 

[Larry T. Spider 1746]

3 hours ago, Somnio said:

Someone I know working in a restaurant here in Austin said on Wednesday they did roughly $1500 in sales on takeout orders.  Apparently they need to do about $3500 minimum in sales to keep the lights on.

Good lord, they need over 100k a month to break even? Even running the leanest operation possible. You could never convince me to invest a dime in the restaurant/bar business. 

I do appreciate those that take the risk though. Thoughts on me making a thread where people can post their favorite local restaurant that is doing to go/delivery right now? No clutter, just the recommendations.

 

[Spaulding Smails 1552]

12 minutes ago, Larry T. Spider said:

Good lord, they need over 100k a month to break even? Even running the leanest operation possible. You could never convince me to invest a dime in the restaurant/bar business. 

I do appreciate those that take the risk though. Thoughts on me making a thread where people can post their favorite local restaurant that is doing to go/delivery right now? No clutter, just the recommendations.

 

I'm a (very small) investor in a restaurant.  They can be cash cows when run properly, but rent can be a big nut every month, especially if they have big front-end tenant improvement investments.  The restaurant I'm an investor in has rent of about $13K/mo.  Equipment lease is another $5K/mo.  $25K/mo in debt service.  Over $50K/mo in non-controllable expenses.  $100K/mo in break-even revenue is light for a larger restaurant.  

Needless to say, I'm not expecting a distribution next January for 2020 profits.  

Edited March 20, 2020 by Spaulding Smails
clarification

[StruggleBus 3922]

19 hours ago, Penelope said:

Jarrell

Hate the jarrell

[Neonmoon 38129]

My father owned 4 restaurants in his life. He always told me "don't go into the restaurant business"

 

[Somnio 751]

46 minutes ago, Larry T. Spider said:

Good lord, they need over 100k a month to break even? Even running the leanest operation possible. You could never convince me to invest a dime in the restaurant/bar business. 

I do appreciate those that take the risk though. Thoughts on me making a thread where people can post their favorite local restaurant that is doing to go/delivery right now? No clutter, just the recommendations.

 

This particular spot I referenced is the South Austin Hyde Park Bar and Grill at 290 and Westgate.

Great food, and a lot of great people.

[GHOSTUSER 361]

45 minutes ago, Spaulding Smails said:

I'm a (very small) investor in a restaurant.  They can be cash cows when run properly, but rent can be a big nut every month, especially if they have big front-end tenant improvement investments.  The restaurant I'm an investor in has rent of about $13K/mo.  Equipment lease is another $5K/mo.  $25K/mo in debt service.  Over $50K/mo in non-controllable expenses.  $100K/mo in break-even revenue is light for a larger restaurant.  

Needless to say, I'm not expecting a distribution next January for 2020 profits.  

Damn that’s a big nut for rent. Must be in a prime location or big ass space. The footprints for my restaurant tenants run between 1,300 to 2,500 SF. From the little I know about restaurants, having a guy in the back of the house who can run a tight ship and keep costs down when it comes to inventory while maintaining quality makes all the difference in the world.

Edited March 20, 2020 by Iconoclast Texan

[Spaulding Smails 1552]

2 minutes ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

Damn that’s a big nut for rent. Must be in a prime location or big ass space. The footprints for my restaurant tenants run between 1,300 to 2,500 SF

Both prime location and big space.  6,800 SF including FOH and BOH.  Plus a ton of parking which is a huge draw given their location.  

They already did a ton of take-out, so while this will sting, it won't put them under.  They're already front-of-mind for a big customer base.

[Wulaw Horn 19063]

4 hours ago, Somnio said:

Someone I know working in a restaurant here in Austin said on Wednesday they did roughly $1500 in sales on takeout orders.  Apparently they need to do about $3500 minimum in sales to keep the lights on.

Yep. I’d imagine that after they get thru whatever foodstuffs they have it’d be better to shutter the place than try to operate in these conditions. 

[Guest Lobo]

I'd be curious to hear from some higher-up at place like Sysco, Ben E. Keith, et. al.  They have a shitload of inventory and supply chain volume.  What happens to all that food?  

[blacklab 11926]

3 hours ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

my restaurant tenants were ecstatic and one almost burst into tears when I told them I was giving them abated rent for April and May in exchange for extending their term by 2 months. One of the things I enjoy about being a landlord is seeing the businesses of my tenants succeed and having a mutually beneficial relationship. 

Good for you man. If everyone can do stuff like this we should pull out of the drop much faster.

[BillyGoatHill 4312]

3 hours ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

Thank you. I want my restaurant tenants to pay their staff and keep them intact to bounce back as quickly as possible when this shit is over. Besides being the moral and right thing to do, it is pragmatic. If my tenants go out of business, I am going to be out their rental stream for a lot longer than 2 months.

Nice. Wish my wife's (no pics) landlord (corporation) had this concept....

Good for you in seeing the bigger picture.

[Zombie 284]

4 hours ago, Iconoclast Texan said:

Thank you. I want my restaurant tenants to pay their staff and keep them intact to bounce back as quickly as possible when this shit is over. Besides being the moral and right thing to do, it is pragmatic. If my tenants go out of business, I am going to be out their rental stream for a lot longer than 2 months.

I just did the same for my tenants. It builds a lot of tenant loyalty and goodwill, though doing it because it's the right thing is the main reason to do it. I hope commercial lenders will voluntarily forbear or be forced to by law if this mess stretches out more than a couple months.