Spirito Closing
Comments
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wow, veets, that was great! i hope the new owners thank you for that well thought-out input
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Well, the best advice I can give you is to listen to veets' advice! She is the Restaurant Maven, especially concerning 9th St and environs.
Beyond that, here are my thoughts:
Your disadvantages are the huge flamin' McDonald's presence right next door, and the industrial and unwelcoming look of the street in general, what with the Mitchell-Lama housing across the street and the fugly Post Office, etc. Nothing you can do about those (except take veets' advice about your storefront), but...
Your location also provides a major advantage you can exploit, which is: Very heavy foot traffic, especially in the morning and evening.
I schlep by your place every day twice on the way to work, along with thousands of others. Here's what would make me patronize your place:
1. Be open in the morning. If you're serving "street food," as you said your concept is, think morning coffee and some kind of portable treat -- pastry or rolls, or whatever Peruvians eat in the morning. Great coffee served quickly will endear you to everyone who tastes it, and it's a high-profit item and could put you on the map quickly. People who've crossed your threshold in the morning will be comfortable crossing it in the evening.
2. Be open for lunch, as veets suggested way upthread.
3. Consider offering some kinds of takeout pre-prepared or quickly-prepared foods in the evening, and advertise them so passers-by can see them. There are a lot of hungry, tired people walking by who could be easily enticed to spend, say, 5-8 bucks on a light meal. It's an easy way to get people to sample you, which is important because, frankly, I think people perceive this location to be "cursed" and will probably be waiting to see what happens with your restaurant before they commit to a sit-down dinner. You need to break that "curse" right away and get people inside.
ETA: Chip Shop, on 5th Av & 6th St, is an example of a sit-down restaurant serving unpretentious but delicious "street food" that has prospered by offering takeout as well. They now have several locations. -
I hope they're not going to serve alpaca..... those animals are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to cute to eat.
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Hope hope hope for cuy!
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gags2008 wrote: Piero - What is South American Street food? I've only been to Venezuela so I assume arepas and empenadas, but that's about as far as my knowledge goes. I hope I'm not asking you to give away secrets.
Well in Ecuador, it's pretty much corn (sometimes available outside of the Prospect Avenue and further uptown subway stops) and guinea pig (not).
Also have some caiparinas right? THere is one restaurant down by me on fifth and like St johns - Bogota - which sounds similar to the concept perhaps - might want to see what that's like - and there is some new Peruvian place that supposedly has great chicken on fifth - i havent been and cant tell you exactly where - I want to say near 2nd street . .. -
Carnivore wrote: Hope hope hope for cuy!
Speaking of animals too cute to eat.
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Subject: hi
Hello everyone. thank you Veets for your suggestions %50% of what you wrote is what im planning to do the other %50% i definitely going to do it.
About Alpaca meat is too expensive to sell it and yeahhh they are cute, well i think cows are cute too but i keep eating them.
About Cuy (guinea pig) in Peru you only find them in either Restaurants or Pachamancas; and im pretending to sell peruvian street food.
About getting free stuff as Veets suggested, is going to happen of course after the first month of rent.
When i go to eat out i never expect something free, if i wanna try something i just order it...... its on my own risk.
I wanna open the front doors........ i think that the fact that mcdonald is next door its not going to affect the business, you people are smart enough to know how to not get confused about eating in mac and eating in this new place...... Ahhhhh if the front doors are closed is because i want to keep the air conditioned in the room.
p.s: * if is possible i will open 24/7 , anyway i have to figure out how to pay rent.
thank you again to everyone for your ideas.
I wanna hear more ideas.
thank you.
[i[/i] -
Choclo con queso!!! And salchipapas!
Also, any chance for some Chifa? -
Its already in the menu.....
Salchiratas.... digo salchipapas.
Choclo con queso sounds good....... i hope i can find a good cheese around the store.
thank you. -
Subject: Re: hi
Piero wrote: Im back, reading whats going on in the slopes!!!
Piero, I definitely want your restaurant to succeed and am looking forward to trying it. It is great that you are getting a lot of input from your customer base but it still sounds like there are a lot of things you are working on figuring out. Many new restaurants (up to 50% according to some statistics) fail within the first year, and this is especially true when they don't have a clear business plan and/or operational strategy, including contingency plans when business does not meet expectations. Additionally, you need only look at this message board to see how tough the restaurant business is in the neighborhood, even for long time businesses (Cocotte closed, Red Hot closed, Circles closed, even this very thread-Spirito closing)
When we are opening???
mmmm Spring 2008.
I am sure that you have a plan as your investors/bankers would require
it, but as someone who works in banking (I know, I know..I'm ruining PS) and someone who would love your restaurant to prosper and be an anchor for that area, I just have a little concern about how fully developed the plan is if your intention is truly to open in the spring.
With the economy a little shaky and the prices of some foods/commodities increasing rapidly (here's an example) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23415510/wid/11915829/
I just want to encourage you to plan thoroughly and make sure you can meet customer desires while accurately estimating capital needs and effectively managing costs (supplies, staff, training, insurance, etc.) and planning for growth.
You are on the right track determining what your customers want. Good luck and keep us posted. -
Subject: Re: hi
turtle95 wrote: [quote=Piero]Im back, reading whats going on in the slopes!!!
Piero, I definitely want your restaurant to succeed and am looking forward to trying it. It is great that you are getting a lot of input from your customer base but it still sounds like there are a lot of things you are working on figuring out. Many new restaurants (up to 50% according to some statistics) fail within the first year, and this is especially true when they don't have a clear business plan and/or operational strategy, including contingency plans when business does not meet expectations. Additionally, you need only look at this message board to see how tough the restaurant business is in the neighborhood, even for long time businesses (Cocotte closed, Red Hot closed, Circles closed, even this very thread-Spirito closing)
When we are opening???
mmmm Spring 2008.
I am sure that you have a plan as your investors/bankers would require
it, but as someone who works in banking (I know, I know..I'm ruining PS) and someone who would love your restaurant to prosper and be an anchor for that area, I just have a little concern about how fully developed the plan is if your intention is truly to open in the spring.
With the economy a little shaky and the prices of some foods/commodities increasing rapidly (here's an example) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23415510/wid/11915829/
I just want to encourage you to plan thoroughly and make sure you can meet customer desires while accurately estimating capital needs and effectively managing costs (supplies, staff, training, insurance, etc.) and planning for growth.
You are on the right track determining what your customers want. Good luck and keep us posted.
Damn, turtle95. Am I glad I did not share the news of my new Cambodian cafe here and get nagged nagged nagged. Hello DadMom!
In all seriousness, you bring up good points. I have known at least two aspiring restaurant owners with big dreams that flopped within a year.
In one case, the owners did not know how to run a restaurant -- service was clunky, they never established a seamless process of basic stuff, like preparing and serving the food and cleaning the kitchen.
In another, the owner opened up an average restaurant with food you could find at other, more reputable restaurants. Sure they served an amazing bean soup that you could not get anywhere else, but one item on the menu isn't necessarily going to send the crowds running.
In both cases, the owners had romantic ideas about the restaurant industry.
Then there are the success stories of people who grow restaurant empires. -
raw
Cambodian Restaurant???? Do tell . . . -
Subject: hi
Thank turtle for sharing this recession info with me..... and yeahhhhh we have a plan.
One of the owners already have restaurants... Me lot of experience I was the managing a espresso bar in soho called Space Untitled, while i was there i finished culinary school after i grad i worken in many restaurants all over Nyc and all of them i started from the bottom as a Garde Manger.
Im 25 y/o and im not ready to fail thats why im writing on this forum, because i wanna here my future clientele opinion and because i wanna make a comfortable place for everybody.
Thank you guys and please keep going with more suggestion about what you want on this place.
chau. -
Piero,
To get people to try your new place and become familiar with your menu, think about having a prix fixe menu during the week, even if you offer small size portions of an appetizer and dessert.
Veets and Brook Lyn Knight made great suggestions.
You will be paying rent for 24/hours a day, use as many of them as possible. A breakfast cafe, takeout dinners for all of those people passing by every day are great ideas and both needed in that area.
While you are serving authentic peruvian food don't forget the people that are not adventurous eaters....have a least one item on your menu that may be boring to some like roast chicken or broiled fish but will be just the thing that grandma wants after the wake down the block at Duffys. -
Piero... Love you already and want to meet you and will when the restaurant opens but I have to be honest on this one point.
You can't ignore that Mc Donald's is next door. I wasn't suggesting that there would be a "choice" of going to your place vs. Mc Donalds but why let those yellow "arches" reflect on you. One of those other restaurants actually had 2 tables INFRONT that they served... ech.. I can't imagine that someone whould choose to eat right there outside on 9th street but just looking at someone eating outside like that put me off from going in there.
I say again.. Keep the doors closed but have enough light inside so it is clear that people are dining in there! Sandwich Boards with whatever you want to say to entice people in there would be great.. The frontage is deep enough to accomodate them.
Frankly, I don't think it would be too aggresive to actually have a staff member standing infront of the place handing out menus or whatever and trying to engage people during peek hour when people are coming or going to work and heading to or from the subway. -
Subject: hi
You are correct veet... i think we are going to keep the doors closed and if one day we open the doors we are not going to put tables in that area just will be open to get some fresh air, i hope that the fresh air doesnt smeel like a big mac.
For those who want to take out, of course that you are going to have it and while you wait for it you can grab a drink too.
Thank you to the support that you are showing to us.
cchau. -
Hopefully this is an ill-founded rumor, but you should really look into whether this is true before opening a new business on 9th St (link below).
http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=421681#421681 -
gags2008 wrote: raw
I wish!
Cambodian Restaurant???? Do tell . . .
Here's one in Manhattan that serves upscale street food :?
http://www.kampucheanyc.com/ -
Subject: hello!!!!
hello to everyone....
have been such a long time since the last time i wrote a message, but im back and this time for little while.
Just writing cause the grand opening is coming soon and of course with more questions about what you would like in this place.
Actually i am going to start a new topic for this place, because spirito is History and AJI will start to make history.
Howdy, Stranger!
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