One of my neighbours has taken the dive into the independent business world by opening up a restaurant. He knows what he is doing in the business world in a money and finance sense. But the restaurant world is so different.
Something like over 50 per cent of new restaurants fail in the first year. I can see why after a trip down to his store. He’s still getting ready to open but he has already had some problems with his industrial refrigeration equipment.
See this is were his experience in the business world collided with the reality of the restaurant world. He had saved several thousands dollars by buying something that was used. No big deal it was installed and working. It broke down after one week but he didn’t seem to care because the folks who installed it offered a warranty.
One small problem appeared when I was visiting. The repair guy had shown up and checked out the system. He saw the problem but he couldn’t solve it since he did not have the part and it would have to be ordered. He could not just use any old part since the system used ammonia refrigeration and the part had to work perfectly. No more repairs with some pipe and welding equipment. Special order all the time.
So although my neighbour saved those dollars at the start of his project he has now realized that the restaurant business operates differently. If he had been open for business he would have likely had to shut down or rent some super expensive onsite mobile system. One lesson learned and I’m sure they’ll be more in the very near future.