gfron1

I've never heard that sound on my machine.

The $45 is a set price that will include a diverse parings list. Ala carte options will be available as well with a wide range of prices. So this morning was interesting. A design firm reached out and said - what if they came in as an investor where their services were the investment? Not sure what this entails - is it a gift? an investment? Anyway I share it here because it's a cool idea that I hadn't thought about yet. i'm also thinking today about what happens with weather closures - St. Louis has a big ice storm coming in today. That's lost revenue. How do I handle customers who have pre-paid for a meal who can't make it in. How do I deal with the money, the rescheduling if we're fortunate enough to be booked far in advance? Can I have added seats to add them onto a sold out dinner (chairs at the end of the table to expand seating. Just thinking through at this point. Since we're closed 4 weeks a year I'm leaning toward acting like a school and adjusting snow days to our summer break to address the financial loss.

@teonzo All of the above, and with the non-alcoholic drinks, we'll be giving equal care. My starting point for wines is the portfolio of Eric Solomon/European Cellars. I love all of their stuff. For beers, St. Louis has a crazy good craft scene that includes plenty of diversity but also foraged brewers and experimental brewers. The person I'm recruiting for Beverage Manager has been making a name for himself in Texas, and was my very first high school intern, so he knows how to incorporate foraged items into cocktails. This is the area where I see the most potential revenue growth since on the restaurant side we're limited by the number of seats and days. And unlike New Mexico where I could never afford a full liquor license (most recent rate is $750k), in Missouri they are $315.

Even with this second go around I used the same strategy to keep it from feeling overwhelming. Using you as an example...how many chocolates will I really sell in one day - not Valentines, but in October. Let's say you expect to sell 10 boxes a day at $20 per box. Besides chastising you for undervaluing your chocolates I then do the math from there. 10 boxes x 5 days a week x 52 weeks. But we know that may not be realistic. Sundays may be worse. Hot summer months may be worse. Let's say we expect to sell $52,000 in chocolates per year. I then make the guess more conservative and say 60% = 31,200. So many factors though, right? Christmas, wedding catering, corporate gifts...just start breaking it down. Let me show you a few examples from my current business plan (pre-edit): Here is how I got my $45 drink pairing ticket price... $45 drink pairing breakdown Drink (71.147%) Tax (7.113%) Gratuity (20%) Bank Fee (1.74%) $34.92 $2.48 $6.98 $0.61 $45.00 Estimated alcohol sales per yr 16 ppl/stg @ $45 $720 per seating x 6 stgs/wk $4,320 per week x 48 wks of 6 stgs $207,360 per 48 week year $124,416 60% capacity Breakdown Drink $96,174 Tax $8,850 Gratuity $24,883 Bank fee $2,165 Sorry for the goofy formatting but I think you can follow my logic. The moral is...start at one bite and expand it, then apply a conservative number so you don't come up short. On the expense side I fluff things quite a bit too.

That's exactly right. Our SBDC said that they had succeeded if they helped people realize they weren't ready to start a business. Not for the faint of heart.

@MrSpiffy that's exactly right. For the Kumquat I worked through the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to assist in writing my business plan. Even with that, much of what was in there was a best guess. This go around I'm using professional contacts to review my plan - friends who are lawyers, architects, etc. (many of whom I am hoping to have as investors). Instead of my 10 page plan with demographics and all the standard stuff, I'm skipped some of the fluff and got right to business. My new plan says Here's what I did in New Mexico; Here's what I plan on doing in St. Louis; Here are the financials. Experience drives my current plan, not theoretic and hypothetic data.

and please feel free to ask questions.

Funny you should mention that because I was thinking about that too. If I could remove the graham flavor from it that could work if I could make it thicker. The cake is meant to be soaked, but still hold up structurally.

I've really been enjoying a show on Netflix called Raja Rasoi Aur Anya Kahaniyan. Subtitled into English, this show covers the history and culture of the vast array of Indian cuisine. Perfect for this crowd with its great depth of information.

I'm thinking about a thicker version of a traditional sacher maybe

Thicker, moister...but not moist.

crumblier/courser

I'm trying to create a dessert with a very specific cake component. I know I've had (maybe even made) what I'm trying to do, but can't remember what it is. Definitely not spongy like a genoise. But not meringue (daquoise) either. It needs a little texture probably from nut meal. I'm thinking of something that might be like a cake meets shortbread. The closest thing I can come up with are these dutch lady fingers I used to buy. HERE are those cookies. These are not quite what I'm looking for but close. Thoughts?

@Shalmanese Thanks for the thoughts. All of the investors are friendly investors so everyone did want simplicity, so no need for other options. The interest is simple, not compound. In New Mexico we had a separate Ltd for our Kumquat Property Group versus our S-Corp for the operational business. Since I won't own a building here we'll stick to our S-Corp, and if the investor(s) decides to buy a building for us, then it will be their decision.

Every day a new adventure! Over the weekend one of my investors said they might prefer buying me a building. So now we're re-opening the door to looking at properties. On another front, I chatted with a friend who is a retired banker, who is a very active investor. I wanted to find the best strategy to create a win-win with my investors and so he talked me through a few options. Upfront I offered 10% simple interest no later than 3 years from opening. We talked about risk aversion, cash flow and the possibility of having shorter and longer term investment options. We also talked about the difference between a $1000 investment and a $100,000 investment in terms of what the investor could have been doing with that money had it not gone to me. I also wanted to incentivize potential investors to go a bit higher in their offering. Recognizing the current market, in the end what I've decided to do is: $1-10k 1 year return: 6% 3 year return: 10% (this was my initial offering) $10,001-$25k 1 year return: 8% 3 year return: 12.5% $25,001-above 1 year return: 10% 3 year return: 15% The natural question by my friend was - why would I go this route when I can get a bank loan around 6% and my thought is twofold. First, compound interest on the 6% is greater. Second, is freedom. I did bank and SBA loans for my previous restaurant and the paperwork was a burden - not the initial paperwork but the ongoing reporting requirements. While I appreciated that SBA loan I would not do it again. Investors with no say or control in the business allows me to do what I need to do, and with my previous track record offers them a relatively low-risk investment with a strong return. In my eyes it's a win-win.

@ChefCrash What a great idea she has! Just joking - I've been doing your method for years. A couple of thoughts. I've always used whole wheat fillo when I can find it and prefer it ten fold. Also, she said the syrup must be cold. I've never worried about that - what's the rationale?

Welcome Tom. What kind of cooking do you like to do?

Curious if anyone's thoughts have changed on the matter since the last update on this thread. I've been thinking about sourcing a traditional Indian Ghantti but the ease of the NutriMill or KoMo has me intrigued. On PHG's page the Nutri has this review which has me a bit concerned and seems to be at odds to Andiesenji's comments from a couple of years ago:

Yes, but my last place, and likely this one, will be below the square foot limit which means I won't have to pay.

I haven't been discerning in type of tree - just from an area that is off the beaten path to minimize pollutants. With all foraged ingredients you can have two identical types of trees/plants and have them produce very different tasting fruits/seeds/pods, etc. so you just need to play and know that your ingredient cost you nothing.

I haven't used one but they have great reviews apparently. The only issue I would have is that they sharpen to 20º. For me that's too wide, so it goes back to the basic question of Western (20º) or Japanese blade (15-17º). I do like simplicity however so thanks for putting it on my radar.

This whole $1000 knife discussion has led us astray. I think so many people have intense fear of knives that is unnecessary. If you're a chef and need to think about performance then care. Otherwise, go play Harry Potter, pick up a bunch of different wands/knives and see what feels best in your hand. So, going back to the mail order question. I want to propose a second option, which I know many knife geeks will argue about, but I love my EdgePro. You'll drop about $200, but it's a one-time expense. What do you get in return? A locked in angle (do the Sharpie trick once and never again), set up in less than a minute and done sharpening in less than 5 minutes, and they take hardly any space (I keep mine in its carrying case on a kitchen stool). I've had enough professional shapeners go at my knives and they don't do any better unless I've had a major trauma to the tip or heel. And to the OP I do hope you'll continue looking locally - there will undoubtedly be someone in town that does quality work. And I do agree with someone above that you want a person who uses a stone not a wheel.

I'll give it a try but I'm skeptical. I've eaten enough pine tree parts to think that this will simply be sugar with pine flavor. Pine cone syrup is common and delicious. The addition of the young cones just doesn't make sense to me. That said, I would suggest two or three quick blanches of the cones prior to the steps they suggest to remove some of the resin and residue.

Today I'm stepping back and doing something fun - working on the playlist for Bulrush. My starting point is King Krule and The XX. This will be a long running Pandora exercise. Each song needs to be enjoyable as background noise, but not having tones that are distracting. I don't want a rock concert, but I also don't want a symphonic performance. I don't want too moody, but not to techno either. Right now Pandora is giving me Radiohead's Creep, which is a song I love, but can get a bit energetic in the middle. A while back someone suggested Bjork as a starting point and I'm still on the fence because she can be very loud at times - kinda like the drunk uncle of the groups I think I would prefer. All of this brings up issues of music licensing and the hawks at BMI that hunt you down and try to get you to pay for music. I support all artists but choose to do it through either buying my music directly or through subscription services. I believe my new facility will be waived because of square footage, but that remains to be seen. For those of you not in the business, BMI and other licensing companies can be relentless in pursuit of money to feed their lawyers.

The value of a name. I'm having one heckuva a week with property discussions. On one day it's smooth sailing. The next the deal has fallen through. The next I have a major investor who wants to jump in. Then today I got this message (edited for confidentiality): Well, to say this was fun to read would be an understatement. I have been thinking about what it would mean to open in this particular neighborhood, and how it will put this area on the map for a new vision than what it currently is - and developed in a classier way than say a sports bar or pizza joint. Tyler and I have been very cognizant of not gentrifying a neighborhood, nor colonializing one. We want to be a natural fit that would improve, but not shift courses, for a neighborhood, and it's a big part of why we have been looking at this particular location despite the building needing "a ton of work."