2 year Inn owner Transition Plan-Feedback?

[Morticia]

Great stuff! I guess you can plan and plan and plan but ultimately you need to be flexible to make it work! I had the red flag up for codes, but Completely forgot about sprinklers within that!
So what can you do during the process to CYA? I guess put the zoning contingencies into the sales contract? Obviously that is not the most attractive offer but after hearing most debate for years til the right opportunity comes along, if it's not meant to be move on. Can you get license while going through the purchase process?
yes, I'm looking for a commercial kitchen, something similar to 40 Putney, but on a much smaller scale. But the pub similar; not $2 pitchers for the locals, but a nice atmosphere for the guests to relax unwind and have a nice bottle of wine or beer and some high quality pub type food. I'd like to keep it fairly small...20 seats or so.
The places I am looking at have commercial kitchens and where once some type of restaurant, they are in smaller township commercial zones. So if the zoning is commercial is there still a chance to come across boarding issues making a inn? I should be good right, just have to be at the mercy of the codes for inns?
Great to hear, like anything te arsing in life, you definitely have to WANT it!.

Are you looking in the same area as 40 Putney? ie - new England?
There's a place in Maine to look at that has a similar set up. Commercial kitchen, established inn, but potential for improvement.
Won't work if you have jobs elsewhere.
.

Actually I think I know of the inn you speak off, up around Sabego lake. great inn, great opportunity, great concept, very fair price, not the best location...
.

Cornish.
Phippsburg.
Rome.
Brooklin. (I've been to this one. Interesting layout. Great views.)
There are inns with restaurants for sale in all of those towns. If nothing else, you get an idea of what's out there. Not that you want to look in Maine, it's just that we looked at the one in Cornish and wished we had the gumption to go for it.

 

[gillumhouse]

Great stuff! I guess you can plan and plan and plan but ultimately you need to be flexible to make it work! I had the red flag up for codes, but Completely forgot about sprinklers within that!
So what can you do during the process to CYA? I guess put the zoning contingencies into the sales contract? Obviously that is not the most attractive offer but after hearing most debate for years til the right opportunity comes along, if it's not meant to be move on. Can you get license while going through the purchase process?
yes, I'm looking for a commercial kitchen, something similar to 40 Putney, but on a much smaller scale. But the pub similar; not $2 pitchers for the locals, but a nice atmosphere for the guests to relax unwind and have a nice bottle of wine or beer and some high quality pub type food. I'd like to keep it fairly small...20 seats or so.
The places I am looking at have commercial kitchens and where once some type of restaurant, they are in smaller township commercial zones. So if the zoning is commercial is there still a chance to come across boarding issues making a inn? I should be good right, just have to be at the mercy of the codes for inns?
Great to hear, like anything te arsing in life, you definitely have to WANT it!.

Great stuff! I guess you can plan and plan and plan but ultimately you need to be flexible to make it work! I had the red flag up for codes, but Completely forgot about sprinklers within that!
So what can you do during the process to CYA? I guess put the zoning contingencies into the sales contract? Obviously that is not the most attractive offer but after hearing most debate for years til the right opportunity comes along, if it's not meant to be move on. Can you get license while going through the purchase process?
yes, I'm looking for a commercial kitchen, something similar to 40 Putney, but on a much smaller scale. But the pub similar; not $2 pitchers for the locals, but a nice atmosphere for the guests to relax unwind and have a nice bottle of wine or beer and some high quality pub type food. I'd like to keep it fairly small...20 seats or so.
The places I am looking at have commercial kitchens and where once some type of restaurant, they are in smaller township commercial zones. So if the zoning is commercial is there still a chance to come across boarding issues making a inn? I should be good right, just have to be at the mercy of the codes for inns?
Great to hear, like anything te arsing in life, you definitely have to WANT it!

Unless in previous life the restaurant was also a lodging, also check building codes. IF there is a change of usage, previous building codes may not count. We had an insurance office space converted to retail with apartments upstairs.(apts already there before retail) and because of usage change, new codes kicked in. It was nothing drastic in this case, but it could possibly be in yours. 2-hour fire retardant drywall in ceiling and some other stuff - but the owner of the building had a cow.
You can go to all the pertinent code offices (zoning, building, fire, health) BEFORE you purchase and get it in writing IF & what. No in any department means you look elsewhere. Do not "count" on getting a variance. Most times it ain't gonna happen.

 

[Copperhead]

Great stuff! I guess you can plan and plan and plan but ultimately you need to be flexible to make it work! I had the red flag up for codes, but Completely forgot about sprinklers within that!
So what can you do during the process to CYA? I guess put the zoning contingencies into the sales contract? Obviously that is not the most attractive offer but after hearing most debate for years til the right opportunity comes along, if it's not meant to be move on. Can you get license while going through the purchase process?
yes, I'm looking for a commercial kitchen, something similar to 40 Putney, but on a much smaller scale. But the pub similar; not $2 pitchers for the locals, but a nice atmosphere for the guests to relax unwind and have a nice bottle of wine or beer and some high quality pub type food. I'd like to keep it fairly small...20 seats or so.
The places I am looking at have commercial kitchens and where once some type of restaurant, they are in smaller township commercial zones. So if the zoning is commercial is there still a chance to come across boarding issues making a inn? I should be good right, just have to be at the mercy of the codes for inns?
Great to hear, like anything te arsing in life, you definitely have to WANT it!.

So what can you do during the process to CYA? I guess put the zoning contingencies into the sales contract? Obviously that is not the most attractive offer but after hearing most debate for years til the right opportunity comes along, if it's not meant to be move on. Can you get license while going through the purchase process?

Yes you can make offers with the contingency of getting a permit to proceed. Sometimes the process is not a simple one though and could take time to be approved, that may hinder the seller to accept your offer.
As others have stated the best action would be to gather your facts from the area's zoning office. If you are looking in different counties, check with each office as the process may be different from one to another.

I see by other posts you are looking at properties that already have a commercial kitchen - good move as you would drain all of your renovation $ on that kitchen alone.

Good luck to you.

 

[happykeeper]

I am in the process of renovating and $50k is not enough. We are doing mostly cosmetic stuff and mostly ourselves (my husband happens to be very handy) but it is still expensive, and there are some bigger issues that were not immediately apparent, like the giant water leak that started a few weeks after purchase. We are also required to put hardwired smoke detectors in and *if* we opened a restaurant we would have to put a sprinkler system in the entire house (it is not required if the restaurant is freestanding but is required if there is any other business going on in the building). We don't have a Victorian, but our house is still over 80 years old and, while it did have water leaking from the ceiling, putting in an actual sprinkler system would be a major expense.
As far as making money on a restaurant, food cost typically runs 35-40%, labor might be 30-35% and overhead is usually around 30%. Which leaves, oh, basically nothing for profit. Of course, your overhead might be lower if you lean on the inn side for the mortgage and your food cost and labor can both be brought down depending on your menu and style. My background is in restaurants and while I would love to do one at our inn, it would be way to cost prohibitive for us. If you can find a place that already had a commercial kitchen that is up to code, you have knocked out most of that initial expense..

We have used the old adage about restaurants on here enough that you will find most agree that it can be more of a drag and a loser when you factor it all in.
That said, we have found that redesignating ourselves so that we have a commercial kitchen and have permission to serve dinner has had a huge impact on attracting our perfect guest. It has set us apart from the crowd and given us a niche all to ourselves. We have used it where it can work and restricted it to stay balanced.
.

We have used the old adage about restaurants on here enough that you will find most agree that it can be more of a drag and a loser when you factor it all in.
That said, we have found that redesignating ourselves so that we have a commercial kitchen and have permission to serve dinner has had a huge impact on attracting our perfect guest. It has set us apart from the crowd and given us a niche all to ourselves. We have used it where it can work and restricted it to stay balanced.

good point; this is how I am looking at the food/beverage side going into it; as more of a cost to doing business to differentiate rather than a profit center.
Can you elaborate a little more using it to "work and restricted it to stay balanced"? How have you done that? Limited days? Limited meals? Just in packages? Keeping it small? Limited employees?
.

We have been working for a long time to become a destination. That means good locally sourced food. We tried a few things out and ended up with
Friday as our (very popular) pizza night. Homemade crust, homemade sauce, locally sourced salad.
Saturday as 3 course dinner
Sunday through Thursday (our choice) either our meat, cheese, and fruit platter or our main plate (entree, veg, starch)
Food in the evening has been a great revenue boost without taxing our labor or fixed costs. We limit hours and we limit our time in the kitchen. Guests get some great food. Still leaves time for a chat on the lanai. Everyone goes to bed happy.
A restaurant is a whole different animal. You can't control who will show up during your hours of operation, etc. Money pit

 

[gillumhouse]

I am in the process of renovating and $50k is not enough. We are doing mostly cosmetic stuff and mostly ourselves (my husband happens to be very handy) but it is still expensive, and there are some bigger issues that were not immediately apparent, like the giant water leak that started a few weeks after purchase. We are also required to put hardwired smoke detectors in and *if* we opened a restaurant we would have to put a sprinkler system in the entire house (it is not required if the restaurant is freestanding but is required if there is any other business going on in the building). We don't have a Victorian, but our house is still over 80 years old and, while it did have water leaking from the ceiling, putting in an actual sprinkler system would be a major expense.
As far as making money on a restaurant, food cost typically runs 35-40%, labor might be 30-35% and overhead is usually around 30%. Which leaves, oh, basically nothing for profit. Of course, your overhead might be lower if you lean on the inn side for the mortgage and your food cost and labor can both be brought down depending on your menu and style. My background is in restaurants and while I would love to do one at our inn, it would be way to cost prohibitive for us. If you can find a place that already had a commercial kitchen that is up to code, you have knocked out most of that initial expense..

We have used the old adage about restaurants on here enough that you will find most agree that it can be more of a drag and a loser when you factor it all in.
That said, we have found that redesignating ourselves so that we have a commercial kitchen and have permission to serve dinner has had a huge impact on attracting our perfect guest. It has set us apart from the crowd and given us a niche all to ourselves. We have used it where it can work and restricted it to stay balanced.
.

We have used the old adage about restaurants on here enough that you will find most agree that it can be more of a drag and a loser when you factor it all in.
That said, we have found that redesignating ourselves so that we have a commercial kitchen and have permission to serve dinner has had a huge impact on attracting our perfect guest. It has set us apart from the crowd and given us a niche all to ourselves. We have used it where it can work and restricted it to stay balanced.

good point; this is how I am looking at the food/beverage side going into it; as more of a cost to doing business to differentiate rather than a profit center.
Can you elaborate a little more using it to "work and restricted it to stay balanced"? How have you done that? Limited days? Limited meals? Just in packages? Keeping it small? Limited employees?
.

We have been working for a long time to become a destination. That means good locally sourced food. We tried a few things out and ended up with
Friday as our (very popular) pizza night. Homemade crust, homemade sauce, locally sourced salad.
Saturday as 3 course dinner
Sunday through Thursday (our choice) either our meat, cheese, and fruit platter or our main plate (entree, veg, starch)
Food in the evening has been a great revenue boost without taxing our labor or fixed costs. We limit hours and we limit our time in the kitchen. Guests get some great food. Still leaves time for a chat on the lanai. Everyone goes to bed happy.
A restaurant is a whole different animal. You can't control who will show up during your hours of operation, etc. Money pit
.

We have been working for a long time to become a destination. That means good locally sourced food. We tried a few things out and ended up with
Friday as our (very popular) pizza night. Homemade crust, homemade sauce, locally sourced salad.
Saturday as 3 course dinner
Sunday through Thursday (our choice) either our meat, cheese, and fruit platter or our main plate (entree, veg, starch)
Food in the evening has been a great revenue boost without taxing our labor or fixed costs. We limit hours and we limit our time in the kitchen. Guests get some great food. Still leaves time for a chat on the lanai. Everyone goes to bed happy.
A restaurant is a whole different animal. You can't control who will show up during your hours of operation, etc. Money pit

A few years ago I was asked to come in as a consultant for a proposed B & B. I asked, where is the kitchen? He akso owned the Hampton across the parking lot and his plan was to hot cart breakfast over to the B & B. Hmmmm, not iking that, I then asked - where is the dining room? After 3 years of 2 men renovating this house these two thing were missing. So I said, OK, let's go see what you have at the Hampton.
They had a space on the ground floor that was as of then totally unfinished. I suggested they could open that for breakfast ONLY to the B & B guests as they did not want to have it open all the time. I also suggested they could have the breakfast cooks be prep for dinners. There would be limited seating, premium pricing to make it a place people wanted to go to, suggested posting a menu with 2 or 3 choices by the month as reservation only which would limit waste with food and staff costs as they would know in advance how many. They could also offer it as a package to the hotel guests stating dinner is at ____ time. If you are not here for dinner, oh well as it is paid for. IF they did it or not, I do not know. It is in a different State and I never went back to see.