“Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.” John Lennon
After six years on the mountain, Linda came home from work and said, “I’ve had it. After nine years of teaching junior high students, I have finally cracked. This class is the worst class in the history of junior high. They are disrespectful, self-centered, and lazy. I love teaching, but this class is pushing me over the edge. I know you have wanted to open a restaurant and if that’s what you really want to do, then you should do it and do it now before our kids get any older.”
Holy cow! Talk about mixed emotions. We lived in a spectacularly beautiful area. We both had decent jobs, even if there were moments of frustration. We were finally getting our budget under control. Life was good. But Linda was right. I had always wanted to open a restaurant. So, I thought very carefully for a second or two and blurted out, “yes, let’s do it.”
Research and Development
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
I discussed the possibility of resigning my position and opening a restaurant with my boss, George. George’s advice consisted of the following. 5% of restaurants are successful. Nearly all fail because they are under-capitalized. If you choose to do this foolhardy adventure, be sure to have at least one year’s worth of expenses as a back-up fund. Great advice. Completely unrealistic in our case. We had no where near that kind of start-up capital. But, never-the-less, good advice.
Linda and I talked about possible locations. We liked living in north Idaho. The mountains, lakes, rivers, and streams were spectacular. We first looked at Coeur d’Alene. We had friends in Coeur d’Alene and arranged to meet them to get their ideas on suggested possible locations. We met with a commercial realtor to see what restaurants might be for sale, and toured various properties; none of which seemed right for what we wanted to do. The realtor suggested we talk to the Coeur d’Alene Economic Develop Office for additional suggestions. We made an appointment and had a very helpful meeting. The gentleman we met with suggested we walk across Sherman Avenue, Coeur d’Alene’s main street, and talk with a developer who was renovating the old city hall building. They also offered to help with financing when we were ready to go.
The developer was converting the classic, brick building with high arching windows into 4 floors of luxury condos and two floors of retail space and was looking for a restaurant to anchor the retail space. The timing was perfect. The agreement was contingent upon financing, and we went to work designing, Chelsea’s Restaurant. The design team understood what we wanted to do. Maintaining the old brick, and adding finishes of etched glass and brass. We wanted the space to be light and airy.
Once the design was completed, we put it out to bid. The bids came back and were within the expected cost range. The Economic Development Office helped us put together a financing package to take to the bank with proforma financial statements, marketing strategies, graphs, and charts. We met with a local banker, presented him with our financing package and I’ll be damned if he didn’t approve us for a Small Business Administration Guaranteed Loan.
After reviewing our revenue projections and the cyclical nature of Coeur d’Alene’s tourism business, we decided the venture was going to be too risky and we backed out of the deal. The risk was not perfect.
Our disappointment was quickly dissipated by a call from Linda’s brother-in-law, who discovered an existing restaurant in Mukilteo, Washington that was for sale, for cheap, fully furnished, and ready to walk in and operate. We tweaked our financing package, sold our house and in a matter of months we were in the restaurant business.
Husbandry 