On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 09:24:22 -0700, Gerry
wrote:

On 2007-03-18 18:50:51 -0700, said:

I am interested in opening a little sushi bar (just sushi, nothing
else) in a summer community that does not have one. How difficult is
this compared to a full restaurant? Anyone with any experience???

Finding a good sushi chef is about 95% of the process. And that is a
very difficult task now-a-days. They are very much in demand, and
regardless of talent they can be very expensive indeed.

Purchasing in places that specialize in fresh seafood can be very
tricky. If you buy too much you throw it a way in a couple of days as
inedible. Which can be very expensive. Or you serve it to your
clientele, which can be very damaging to business.

I personally find it heartening in a fairly busy place to find they
have no uni or shellfish on a Wednesday night and are quick to point
out they'll have it tomorrow. It tells me that they sold out, and they
don't over-extend their purchasing. In this way I can feel fairly
comfortable that what fish they *do* have is quite fresh.

But others see this another way and think that if they order a number
of items and the restaurant doesn't have them, that the place is
lack-luster and imcompetent. Such perceptions, too, can be
clientele-shaping for the worse.

this leads to another point - taking into account the demographics of
this summer community to get an idea of the average palate; IMO it's
better to tell an informed customer that there's very little demand
for a particular item vs. buying it and watching it spoil because no
one will order it - unless you can palm it off in an order of
moriawase.

if you can't be certain of the clientele this sounds like a dicey
proposition.

if you end up selling mainly tekka maki & california rolls

"i can spell. i just can't type."