Hey Guys,
I was just wondering if some of you can shed some light, give some advice/input, and relate some of the things to expect when opening a new store.
Here’s my scenario:
PROS:
*Open for 35 days, DEL/CO only
*Awesome location
*Great visibility
*75k population in our town w/ roughly 7-9k resident addresses within 1 mile
*100’s and 100’s of business within a 3 mile radius
*Sent out 2500 postcards for our soft opening, and seeing about a 3-5% return
*I’m a working partner, 25 y.o., been in the restaurant and pizza biz for at least 8 years, business/manager experience with at least 10 weeks of corporate training that includes traveling around the US to see how others operate, extremely passionate and proud of my product and services I offer.
*Getting very positive feedback from my customers, a lot of repeat customers, and surprisingly, at least 10 customers so far that took the time to call back and compliment us. Which to me is huge.
*0 complaints and 0 mistakes/remakes so far (knock on wood)
CONS:
*Went WAY over budget for final build out costs. (easily 30% over budget) - Right now running VERY lean
*HUGE road construction project that stretches for 3 miles on our major road, sometimes with NO turning into our parking lot coming from the north.
*Bad timing with the economy
*My partner REFUSES to do any type of advertising
*He has NEVER been in the restaurant industry, let alone the pizza biz.
*He’s NEVER at the store, only looks at the numbers
*His theory is “build it and they will come”
*He is ready to give up already and refuses to put any more money into the place, even if its a necessity and could benefit the company
*Working 100+ hours a week as an actual worker (because I just let my key employee go, and his first thought was not to replace him and let me do the work), no days off, no time off. It’s wake up, work, sleep, wake up, work, sleep EVERY SINGLE DAY.
*For the first month, our front pick up area was unfinished as far as decor and the walls are concerned. Very boring and awkward for the pick up’ers. It took this long to squeeze a tv out of him and some pictures/pizza related knick knacks. (not sure if that is relevant or not)
*Our average weekly net sales is about $1500 (which I know is almost nothing) Our busiest week so far was our opening week.
But anyways, how were your sales for the first month? First 6 months? About when did you start seeing some kind of break even points, profits? Did you advertise, if so what did you do? Were there any days that were just completely dead?
It’s really getting to me to have to deal with the lack of sales, and then him on my back making stupid comments that either ends up making me upset and/or makes me lose my motivation/morale. Should I keep my chin up or just let him and this place get the best of me and just close up now?
I’m not sure what kind of help I’m looking for but it would be much appreciated if I can hear some of your success/failure stories.
Thanks everyone!
I was just wondering if some of you can shed some light, give some advice/input, and relate some of the things to expect when opening a new store.
Here’s my scenario:
PROS:
*Open for 35 days, DEL/CO only
*Awesome location
*Great visibility
*75k population in our town w/ roughly 7-9k resident addresses within 1 mile
*100’s and 100’s of business within a 3 mile radius
*Sent out 2500 postcards for our soft opening, and seeing about a 3-5% return
*I’m a working partner, 25 y.o., been in the restaurant and pizza biz for at least 8 years, business/manager experience with at least 10 weeks of corporate training that includes traveling around the US to see how others operate, extremely passionate and proud of my product and services I offer.
*Getting very positive feedback from my customers, a lot of repeat customers, and surprisingly, at least 10 customers so far that took the time to call back and compliment us. Which to me is huge.
*0 complaints and 0 mistakes/remakes so far (knock on wood)
CONS:
*Went WAY over budget for final build out costs. (easily 30% over budget) - Right now running VERY lean
*HUGE road construction project that stretches for 3 miles on our major road, sometimes with NO turning into our parking lot coming from the north.
*Bad timing with the economy
*My partner REFUSES to do any type of advertising
*He has NEVER been in the restaurant industry, let alone the pizza biz.
*He’s NEVER at the store, only looks at the numbers
*His theory is “build it and they will come”
*He is ready to give up already and refuses to put any more money into the place, even if its a necessity and could benefit the company
*Working 100+ hours a week as an actual worker (because I just let my key employee go, and his first thought was not to replace him and let me do the work), no days off, no time off. It’s wake up, work, sleep, wake up, work, sleep EVERY SINGLE DAY.
*For the first month, our front pick up area was unfinished as far as decor and the walls are concerned. Very boring and awkward for the pick up’ers. It took this long to squeeze a tv out of him and some pictures/pizza related knick knacks. (not sure if that is relevant or not)
*Our average weekly net sales is about $1500 (which I know is almost nothing) Our busiest week so far was our opening week.
But anyways, how were your sales for the first month? First 6 months? About when did you start seeing some kind of break even points, profits? Did you advertise, if so what did you do? Were there any days that were just completely dead?
It’s really getting to me to have to deal with the lack of sales, and then him on my back making stupid comments that either ends up making me upset and/or makes me lose my motivation/morale. Should I keep my chin up or just let him and this place get the best of me and just close up now?
I’m not sure what kind of help I’m looking for but it would be much appreciated if I can hear some of your success/failure stories.
Thanks everyone!
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