I think anyone that has been in the restaurant business for any length of time would simply say....DON'T DO IT!

i should not have said restaurant, more like hotdog stand only instead of hotdogs it's gyros which is not that much more complicated. if i do this, i will definitely start by doing it in flea markets and fairs like the guy above suggested. the place i was looking at was <300 ft2

Why can you not just get a job in a restaurant and see if you like it or not? Seriously... What is so hard about this idea? I mean you're guaranteed to come out at least slightly richer than when you started... you won't get paid much but you WILL get paid. Opening any sort of business without experience is just very likely to end in being a huge money pit.

You're like that guy who plays 200nl online instead of 25nl because '25nl isn't worth my time'... even though you're a massively losing player at 200nl AND 25nl. You would literally rather lose 2000 than 200.

Nobody really sets out to do a hole in the wall type establishment...these are established places typically around for many years.

Not likely if you want to be compliant with the food/health department.

Great!...re-heated 5 day old curry, sounds delicious.

It says online it costs about $4k to wrap a food truck. how much does a food truck cost? quick googling says to figure starting prices around $25k bare bones for a used truck.

my price estimates for what i would need to open a brick n mortar are as follows:

get 3 fridge/freezer off craiglist $150

buy 1 gyro machine to start about $1000

materials to a build a counter to separate area $150

security camera that i can hook to my computer $50

materials to build a bar counter on one side of customer area $150

stools (have to check craig list)

3 sink and work space $600



materials to make shelves for storage purposes $60

Signs to advertise on side of road $7/each

Sign for the shop itself (dunno)

Money for Rent and deposit (have not rented commercial space before so not sure how that works. (figure rent $1000 a month )

how is that any way comparable to a food truck?

if the biz were to fail i could flip most of the stuff i am buying if i can find it all on c'list.

actually seeing used gyro machines now for as low as $300

I am not well versed in commercial leases, and price will obviously depend upon location/market etc....but suffice to say you are not going to be able to find a lease term for less then a year, nor should you want to sign one for shorter imo.

You have a better negotiating position to try and enter a longer term lease, that perhaps is a pro-rated, smaller cost at the initial start (6 months/1-year) and increases over time, lets say over a 3-year term.

So if you are anticipating $1,000 per month in rent you will be looking at $12,000 for just a lease on a building on a yearly route.....I would have to assume deposits would be required as well.

You can get a food truck from anywhere from $5k - $100K. If you are handy you can do a lot of the work yourself in terms of signage, fixing it up, retro fitting things etc.

If your venture goes bust you have a tangible asset you can sell at that point and wipe your hands, hopefully not losing your ass. Financing this and making payments if need be will also be much less of a problem even if you purchase a nice $20K truck, versus having to come out of pocket for a lease you can't keep and any pitfalls that might come of that.

A lot of people do this for this exact reason. The economies of scale and flexibility of a mobile food truck vs. jumping into a leased space provide a much lower risk and cost, and you have an unproven concept.

This being said, this is just my common sense perception with no experience at all, and in my city I have seen many successful food trucks turn into multiple restaurant locations (some very very successful), and many restaurant start up locations go under after a few short years all the same.

I think the risk adverse approach to doing an unproven culinary concept should be started as a minimal approach. Maybe even figure out a way to do this without having to even buy a truck (small food cart etc.)

This was a point I was trying to make with an earlier post.

Right now, OP does not even know if there is real local consistent demand for his ethnic food in a white neighborhood. He should get the schedules for art fairs, craft festivals, farmer's markets, first fridays, swap meets, etc. Then open up a stall with the absolute minimum in cost.

The purpose is to test, test, test, test, test OP's hypothesis. He should do this for 10 months minimum before pot committing himself with bigger bets (food truck, fixed location). There is absolutely no need to cross the commitment threshold without real feedback about demand in this case.

Find the minimum version of your vision and test that. And based on the feedback, keep iterating quick and cheap. Play small ball. Chance enough to go all-in (10 months later) once all the required feedback are out.

Also, by doing this OP will also get a feel for what it would actually be like to be in action. Maybe he winds up hating it. If so, then he can just move on with minimal loss but with new found wisdom.

In the first fridays and farmer's markets in California and Nevada, I've seen stalls where the vendors only had three folding tables, a cooking thing in the back, and a u-haul truck. I don't know if this can be done where OP wants to do business. But this is what I suggest. Bet small, be totally open to feedback (this is best done with an attitude that he absolutely does not know what he's doing but is more than willing to learn very quickly and humbly), keep iterating behavior based on the feedback.

A few months down the road, once OP has done enough iterations to the point that he is 80% sure more or less what vision he's willing to pot commit to, then he can begin to develop a social media presence and gain followers. This is what a Vegas food truck called Fukuburger has done. They don't need to rent (if they rent at all) in a high foot traffic location because their "fans" on facebook and twitter follow them to where they are located physically.

Of course, if the people in OP's area are old, maybe they don't do social media. In that case, OP can collect emails so that he can keep them updated about a future food truck or fixed location.

But my main point is to test first. For 10 months. Get feedback cheap. Iterate cheap. Experiment cheap. Play small ball. Min-raise. Pot commit later, once enough real life info is in. No need to speculate when you can get the facts and act based on them rather than to inside the brain only hypothesizing.

Yea, cause it's impossible to finance a food truck right?

And LOL at OP being open to feedback. LOL

If you do open a shwarma place, IMO do it like Verts from Austin (google them). They were 2 UT students started in a tiny food truck had a bunch of success and snap opened 5 restaurants now all at once and seem to be crushing, v busy / etc., obv Austin is a bit different than a city of 40k people, and I think you can get away w/it cheaper than they do, but they seem to be much much much more popular than like 95% of the strictly street-vendor style shwarma places you'd find in major euro cities. I grew up in a town of 900 people in New Hampshire and i'm pretty sure this place would have been pretty popular in the surrounding area there if that's any help

I'm in the process of finishing a website I made for a friend on the cheap whose Dad just opened a shawarma place outside of Boston, MA.

They are the 3rd (or 4th?) in that city and business is going well. I personally think they would be doing better if they only did prepared foods and not the market as well.

Even with competition people absolutely love it and they are busy, but with so much inventory with the market it changes things. I think with just prepared foods it is a slam dunk after my experience with this place.

The guy said earlier indian food is not difficult to prepare. Sounds about right.

I wonder why there is so much used restaurant equipment available for cheap on Craigslist? Hmmm......