Restaurant concept to reality?

May 14, 2007 8:58 PM

On a recent trip to Mexico I came across a restaurant with a concept that I think would do really well here in the states. I have no experience in owning or managing a restaurant. At this time, I'm not interested in the gritty details in restaurant management, I'd like to know where I could find people (or investors) who would be interested in something like this. Are there people out there looking for concepts to finance and/or start up restaurants? If so, how do I find them and present my idea to them?
posted by ieatwords to food & drink (11 comments total)

¿gazpacho guero?
posted by YoBananaBoy at 9:06 PM on May 14, 2007

While I'm sure it's a great idea, let me be the person who says that a vast majority of restaurants fail their first year.

Someone can provide the exact statistic, I'm sure, but be forewarned that restaurants have a higher rate of failure than most other industries so investors may be leery (at first, at least).

I hate to be the pessimist but I'd figure someone has to say it. But I am still rather curious what answers you get.
posted by champthom at 9:08 PM on May 14, 2007

You might want to talk to the restaurants owner and run that by him/her. He/she may have similar plans.
posted by parallax7d at 9:10 PM on May 14, 2007

Are there people out there looking for concepts...

Yeah, if you're Masaharu Morimoto, or someone like that. Otherwise, no.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 9:27 PM on May 14, 2007

Cue Charles Grodin lecturing Robert DeNiro in Midnight Run. (Am I the only one for whom this immediately came to mind?)
posted by Crotalus at 10:27 PM on May 14, 2007

I think people believe that coming up with ideas for startups is very hard-- that it must be very hard-- and so they don't try do to it. They assume ideas are like miracles: they either pop into your head or they don't.

I also have a theory about why people think this. They overvalue ideas. They think creating a startup is just a matter of implementing some fabulous initial idea. And since a successful startup is worth millions of dollars, a good idea is therefore a million dollar idea.

If coming up with an idea for a startup equals coming up with a million dollar idea, then of course it's going to seem hard. Too hard to bother trying. Our instincts tell us something so valuable would not be just lying around for anyone to discover.

Actually, startup ideas are not million dollar ideas, and here's an experiment you can try to prove it: just try to sell one. Nothing evolves faster than markets. The fact that there's no market for startup ideas suggests there's no demand. Which means, in the narrow sense of the word, that startup ideas are worthless.
-- Paul Graham, writing about software startups, but the basic concept applies.

You may have the greatest "idea" for a restaurant since the McDonald's shake, but if you aren't interesting in putting your blood sweat and tears into it, it's unlikely you'll ever get anywhere with it. The idea isn't what brings people into the store/restaurant/website. There's so much about a restaurant that is intangibles -- the courtesy of the staff, the swiftness of the kitchen, the clean plates, the pre-rolled napkins. You have to get all those things right -- for your demographic -- even before they get to taste your food. I've known people who've worked 100-hour weeks in a restaurant for three years before they begin to think they might be able to relax and delegate a little.

Restaurants are hard work. They aren't ideas.

Now, what some people do nowadays is franchise consulting and such. You would have to develop a business plan, come up with a trademark, get an architect to design your store concept (with flexibility for storefronts, for standalones, for new construction and for converted Taco Bells), create relationships with suppliers, and so forth, and then you still have to work like hell going to franchise fairs to attract franchisees to license your concept.

So, if you're looking for shortcuts, well, they probably don't exist.
posted by dhartung at 1:42 AM on May 15, 2007

I'm not sure what you think your contribution to the restaurant would be. You don't want to run the restaurant and you don't want to put money into it.

???

Lots of people have ideas. People in the restaurant business are probably already aware of the model you saw in Mexico. It's new to you because you're not in the business, that's all.

And if this is a completely new idea, don't you think the Mexican restaurant should be the one to profit by selling it?
posted by kika at 5:01 AM on May 15, 2007

Even though you're not interested in the gritty details, you'll need to be able to provide them to the investors, assuming you find some. You need a business plan.

For the sake of argument, let's say your idea is queso dip served in large sombreros with fried yucca chips. You'd need to be able to:

* source the sombreros, as well as the ingredients (can you get yucca year round from a dependable source?)
* have an easily replicatable recipe for the dip (and it goes without saying it should taste great and be unique if this is your signature dish)
* have a rough idea of the cost of the dish as well as the price point you'd serve it at (profit margin)
* have a name/concept for the restaurant and accompanying menu

Nobody's going to give you $50k - $200K and let you figure out the details later, nor will they pay you $50k for a restaurant concept. The world is full of people with "great ideas" for restaurants. If you're serious about this you'll need to do the legwork and dig into the details so you can present it as a sound concept worth investing in.
posted by Atom12 at 5:57 AM on May 15, 2007

The best restaurants in the wrong location can be noble money pits. IMHO, the biggest factors in succesful restaurants are location, excellent staff/chefs, and tapping into the right clientele.

Everybody has million dollar ideas but you have to really have hard data to back up why you think this idea would work. At the very least you are going to have to do some intense market research regarding all of the factors of a successful restaurant.
posted by JJ86 at 6:16 AM on May 15, 2007

There are no groups, organizations or angel investors interested in purchasing ideas for restaurant concepts.

If dollars are not your objective you could tell people about it.

Perhaps, one day, you might be driving down the streets of Ohio and there it will be... A taco stand where trained goats bring the main course to the table- you just never know.
posted by bkeene12 at 7:34 AM on May 15, 2007

My roommate's uncle just started a website called howsabout. The idea is that people with good ideas but no resources to act on them will interact with people who have the resources but not the ideas. The whole thing seems kind of unlikely to me (who on earth has resources but doesn't have good ideas?), but maybe you can take a look around and see if it tickles your fancy.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 12:03 PM on May 15, 2007