How do some Chinese restaurants stay in business when there are hardly any customers?
I worked at a Chinese restaurant. All the answers hit various parts of why they last when they don't seem busy.We were in a small shopping center with very little walk in traffic. If you came there for the most part, it was your destination. The best part of where we were is that we were on the road in to town, and there was a lot of grab dinner on the way home. The next part was the delivery which I did. So a lot of traffic you didn't see and very little eat in.The employees were the husband and wife, their sisters and families. I was the only one not related. I worked 5 days a week, 4 or 5 hours a day and got $5 an hour cash plus tips. Got a free meal, half the time from the special menu, half the time what they went eating, which was served family style, each person with a bowl of rice.Everything was made from scratch, as was said food costs are low. Very little waste. They made money on everything.This one rented, the rental cost was higher than some but not outrageous. All the supplies came from an "uncle" in the city.The one point made about not trying to make a lot of money is true, but making enough to live day to day with a few perks. As they usually are family, they cut both personal and business costs. They all lived in the same house, between the small group they worked most of the hours, shared a car, ate together usually at the restaurant, and didn't have a lot of what Americans call essentials. It's like a mom and pop store where they own the place, and live upstairs. The true American dream.
Is it hard to run a restaurant?
I'm not an owner, but my mom is. I work at her restaurant weekly and I see it stressing her out often. Firstly, renting/buying a place and renovating it to your needs is time/money/mind consuming. Then hiring competent employees (a lot of them will mess you up, talk trash about you, and care nothing about the restaurant except the money it brings in). Plus, since the economy is in the toilet, it's very hard to get an income solely on a restaurant. My dad does a variety of things and he gets a pretty good income, but most of that money goes into keeping the restaurant afloat and that just gives us a modest living standard. You have to pay for all food products you need to use (whether you use it all or not), pay for the paychecks of the employees (whether you have the money or not), and pay for every single repair needed because customers are extremely picky about these things. As for the computer aspect, my mom relies a lot on the computer. She uses touchscreen monitors instead of registers, but she does not use that to keep track of payroll, inventory, and income. I think she does that with good ol' notebooks! Oh, and understanding the business... I think that comes along with experience. My mom had my dad to help her with all that (tax, ordering supplies, etc). I think a restaurant isn't something you can do all on your own... or at least it's very difficult to do all on your own. I think after about six months in my mom got the hang of everything.
A man finished painting his house and went to the hardware store to buy an unidentified item in order to finish the job. The cashier said that the item was 1 for a dollar and the man replied "I need 600, here's $3". What was the item in question?
The item in the question was:"the digits in house number !"He wanted to print the house number on the address plate. So he went to buy the digits for the number plate. House number was 600, so he bought 3 different digits(digit 6 and two 0's). Hence 3 dollars.
What is the most profitable business you could start with only $5,000?
I started a business that grossed about US$300,000 some years ago with about US$3,000. I was traveling internationally quite a bit back then and came across a unique hand-crafted product that appealed to many in the gift and ethnic gift market.With a suitcase of product I spent $2500 on a trade show stall and about $500 on gas/hotel/food to attend the show. I didn't have a fancy booth and I lit my product with a few clip on lights that I had spray painted black. I also used black spray paint on cardboard that served as my displays. It may sound tacky, but it actually looked pretty nice and it helped my items stand out.So I loaded up my wares in my SUV and drove myself to the trade show. I booked a cheap motel that had free parking. I ate at burger places. I worked the two-day show by myself and made sure I was always standing and showing my goods while sharing the story of how my items were made, where they came from and what an impact the items had on the local community that made them. Since I didn't have any inventory besides what I had on display, I asked buyers to select a shipping date set for a future time that would allow me to acquire, label, pack and ship the product. I pre-booked sales of just under $30k at the show!With my pre bookings I borrowed another $5000 from family to put toward merchandise and I used credit cards for shipping materials (boxes, labels, scale, etc.) and setup shop in my garage.Within about a month I had a Fedex truck picking up from my home on a daily basis. I also put together a simply, but attractive and informative website on my own and followed up on every lead that I acquired from my initial trade show. Reorders started coming in, new orders from my follow through trickled in and before I knew it I had a real business that I was running out of my home.
Why don't black people tip at restaurants?
I've been working at a full service restaurant for over a year now. to give a hint, it's one of the following: Applebees, Chilis, TGIF. its a typical, sit-in american restaurant. i also work in the south, Texas to be exact. i have served literally thousands of different tables and guests, and BY FAR BLACK PEOPLE ARE THE WORST TIPPERS! working in a restaurant has made me very judgmental about blacks as well as many other servers at my restaurant. (even though we DO have black servers at our restaurant) but seriously, for blacks, it seems like 8% or LESS is a standard tip. I have to rely on good natured white folk to leave me a 15%-20% tip in order to pay my bills and make any decent money. BTW I work for a $2.13 hourly wage. the worst part is, not only do blacks tip the least, but they also give THE MOST ATTITUDE and WORK ME THE HARDEST!! you have no idea how many angry black tables I have dealt with, or the requests I receive from them, only to be compensated ALMOST NOTHING! i also hate how black people will order expensive things off the menu such as alcoholic beverages, appetizers, expensive entrees, etc, so their final bill is $40+ and then they leave $2. for a while, i tried to give black people a break by not charging for their drinks, hoping they would tip me more, but that didn't happen, so now I charge them for every single thing they order. Why are blacks so resistant to accept our culture of standard tipping? When I go out to eat and I'm low on cash, I will either: 1. order moderately at the restaurant SO I CAN STILL AFFORD TO TIP 2. GO EAT FAST FOOD! something needs to change. I don't know if it's because blacks aren't aware of the tipping system here(which I'm skeptical of) or if it's just they're too cheap (much more likely) because of black people, I have worked an 8 hour dinner shift, had net sales of over $600 and walked out of the store with less than $50. That's a wage of under $6/hr and an average tip of 8.3%
Where can I purchase spray paint in or around Chicago ?
It is illegal to sell spray paint in chicago. You can go to a close suburb and purchase it from Home Depot or Lowe's or Ace Hardware (probably Target and WalMart too). I don't know what side of town you are on but if you are near the south you can try OakLawn (W. on 95th), Orland Park (south suburb), or any other south suburb. Oak Lawn is the closest for me.
How much money do I need to open a small restaurant?
Startup cost for a restaurant can be $40k and it can be $1 million. Let's discuss the lower end figure. If you find a location for rent that is already outfitted as a restaurant something like what you intend to operate you can be on the low end. I opened a burrito shop in 1995 for 25k in an ideal situation with a small location that only needed minor changes. The rent was $1200 per month. My dad put in 20k because he liked the idea of me trying something on my own.Here is a rough outline of my costs. 3000 Used walk-in cooler 500 used chargrill500 used refrigerator500 paint and inexpensive flooring1000 pay for friends to help paint etc. 3600 three months rent, first, deposit, and security3500 up front insurance cost (liability insurance)2000 plumbing (minimal)2000 electrical work (minimal)1500 exhaust system / fire suppression update5000 carpentry - counter area construction1500 food1000 furniture500 admin cost for licenses etc. When we opened we were losing money on operations for about a month. So I had to ask a few relatives for small amounts of about $500 each. I "sold" part of the company to them for the money. Later, when I set up a corporation, I made the ownership official. Those investors made out well, later on, when I eventually bought them out. Our restaurant is counter service burritos. The staff when we opened was no more than three people at a time at first.The most we've spent on a new place was 500k about a year ago. We had a designer and architect and built a fancy burrito shop from scratch inside an empty space.
I am 14 years old and have $700 saved up and I want to start a business. Can someone give me general or specific advice?
Yes.Keep your powder dry. Do not shoot just bc you want to start.You must acquire specialized knowledge of an area (like how to run a restaurant) and whether it is a good type of work (like how are those kind of restaurants doing right now) before investing.When we were kids, we cut grass. The mower cost $100, and gas was less than .20 cents (I am old). It took little training, other than proving I had enough body mass to push the mower. My brother was bigger. We mowed all the yards on our street.Years later, I heard someone say how much it cost to paint their house. I printed flyers that said, "We will paint your house for 50% of your current bid, or we will quote our own price." Investment was $100 for a ladder & $50 for drop cloths. We needed no training. We made more on one house than we did all summer cutting yards.Then we became lifeguards. Training: YMCA course ($150).You get the idea …Do not use all of your money and just do something … 90% of new businesses fail in the first year. Be the 10% that make it! Look. Listen. Learn. Identify demand for something and then fill that need. Pick something that does not require a lot of capital.Good luck! You can do this, IF you are smart and thoughtful.Jim