techiedude:
I would love to here the story of how that decision came about. what were you doing befor you bought the store?
Is it what you thought it would be? would you do it again?
It’s a long one, but…since you asked.
I’m a local kid and have always been a fan of the shop. I sold my bar last summer after I got married to spend more time with her and our two year old. The owner of the shop had closed over the summer because he had to move 12 hours away for his wife’s job and employees were robbing him blind, so he reopened in Sept. and put it up for sale. My wife’s boss approached me in October about wanting to buy this shop and offered me 50% ownership + a small salary to operate it for him. We signed a contract that allowed him to go back home while I took over operations and we would make payments while working to secure loans. This was about one week before the huge financial collapse, and my partner ended up not being worth as much as he once was and had to back out. We approached my wife’s parents, but the bank was now looking for a huge down payment, so they backed out too.
The owner wanted a local family to carry on the tradition he had built who would care about it as much as he did. So, he offered me a chance to buy it on contract for two years with a balloon payment due then. As frustrating and stressful as it has been, it is turning out to be a huge opportunity for our young family. We’re getting the most respected pizza name in town, with a downtown location that has huge visibility, and next to the city auditorium, a building we own instead of rent, equipment and opening inventory for less than $8K start up money.
Now, the reality of the situation is that I have no restaurant experience (let alone pizza experience). I am gifted at operational and financial efficiency, but not in marketing or networking. Also, because of the lack of a business partner that we expected to have, there is no net under us right now. So, if something goes wrong, there is no excess funds to rely on. It’s been a huge learning curve to fight off all the competition here while maintaining (actually, vastly improving) product quality. The Think Tank has been an invaluable resource so far, and I’m sure will continue to be so.
It has absolutely not what I originally thought it would be and there were days that I felt like an absolute fool, but I have learned and grown so much, I would do it again in an instant. I’d be glad to discuss openly any experiences we’ve had to someone who is considering opening a independent pizzeria. Our path has been extremely unique, but I would be thrilled if our story helped or encouraged someone else.