Does this town ring a bell with anyone?
Eddie

On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:23:05 -0800, Eddie >
wrote:

>Does this town ring a bell with anyone?
>Eddie


Of course.

Why?


Desideria

Eddie wrote:
> Does this town ring a bell with anyone?
> Eddie

I was there in the late 90's. We were in the PNW and needed a place to
go for Jewish High Holiday services. There was a group in Wenatchee who
didn't have a formal congregation but met in people's homes or public
buildings for prayer. We spent the holidays with them and they were the
nicest bunch of folks. We still have good memories of the people, their
hospitality and a great pot luck lunch on the banks of the Columbia River.

I don't recall any Q.

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.

On Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:16:20 -0600, Janet Wilder
> wrote:

>Eddie wrote:
>> Does this town ring a bell with anyone?
>> Eddie
>
>I was there in the late 90's. We were in the PNW and needed a place to
>go for Jewish High Holiday services. There was a group in Wenatchee who
>didn't have a formal congregation but met in people's homes or public
>buildings for prayer. We spent the holidays with them and they were the
>nicest bunch of folks. We still have good memories of the people, their
>hospitality and a great pot luck lunch on the banks of the Columbia River.
>
>I don't recall any Q.


Dave Bugg used to have a Q place there.


Desideria

On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:33:03 -0800, Desideria
> wrote:

>On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:23:05 -0800, Eddie >
>wrote:
>
>>Does this town ring a bell with anyone?
>>Eddie
>
>
>Of course.
>
>Why?
Met a nice fellow from that town online. We're both on a Honda CT90
yahoo group. When he told me he lived there I knew I had heard that
name before. Now I know. It was where TFM and Kili got married at
the opening of the Q joint.
I hear it's still there. Is it not?
Eddie
>
>
>Desideria

On Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:31:24 -0800, Desideria
> wrote:

>On Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:16:20 -0600, Janet Wilder
> wrote:
>
>>Eddie wrote:
>>> Does this town ring a bell with anyone?
>>> Eddie
>>
>>I was there in the late 90's. We were in the PNW and needed a place to
>>go for Jewish High Holiday services. There was a group in Wenatchee who
>>didn't have a formal congregation but met in people's homes or public
>>buildings for prayer. We spent the holidays with them and they were the
>>nicest bunch of folks. We still have good memories of the people, their
>>hospitality and a great pot luck lunch on the banks of the Columbia River.
>>
>>I don't recall any Q.
>
>
>Dave Bugg used to have a Q place there.
"Used" to have? You mean it's not there anymore? I heard it was
still there on ABF.
Eddie
>
>
>Desideria

"Eddie" > wrote in message
...

> "Used" to have? You mean it's not there anymore? I heard it was
> still there on ABF.
> Eddie

"Used to" is correct unfortunately. Speaking of which, I haven't been on in
a while, is Dave all healed up (back surgery) and driving the big truck
again?

KW

"Eddie" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:33:03 -0800, Desideria
> > wrote:
>
>>On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:23:05 -0800, Eddie >
>>wrote:
>>
>>>Does this town ring a bell with anyone?
>>>Eddie
>>
>>
>>Of course.
>>
>>Why?
> Met a nice fellow from that town online. We're both on a Honda CT90
> yahoo group. When he told me he lived there I knew I had heard that
> name before. Now I know. It was where TFM and Kili got married at
> the opening of the Q joint.
> I hear it's still there. Is it not?

Went belly up. Bad location.

Ekal Byar wrote:

> Went belly up.

LOL!!! It wasn't as bad as that. Heck, we were named 'Best New Business of
The Year' by the public the first year we were opened. After two years, I
was seeing customer growth at about 5% per year. I had projected, based on
my research, that we should see a 20% per year growth during our first 5
years of operation. We maintained customer loyalty and repeat business
(about a 92% return rate), but new customer growth was too slow for my
comfort. We had a so-so profit return: about $42,000 per year average on
about $296,000 in sales each year. That was just not sufficient enough for
my tastes, and the low percentage growth in new customers clearly
demonstrated that an increase in our profit margin was not going to happen
as fast as I wanted it to.

This was a problem for me for one very big reason.... I was running myself
ragged and literally had no time for myself or family. Then it hit me like a
bucket of icy water: I didn't own the business as much as the business owned
me. I was an employee, not a business owner. I had never planned to work
16-18 hour days, 7 days a week forever and ever. I had expected that after
the first year, I would be able to hire a chef to manage the store and
kitchen, but the profit margin didn't allow for that level of employee
expansion.

At the point I decided to sell the land and building, I had been going at
creating and running the business for several years. Some of you may
remember my initial post here in which I announced my decision to open a bbq
joint. I had reached THAT decision after over a year of burning the midnight
oil, while working full time at the health district, researching and
drafting a rough business plan. I had been at this a loooong time, and I was
exhausted. We sold the building and, after the business loan was paid off,
came away with a decent profit . Since we owned our restaurant equipment and
furniture, we were fortunate to capture about 75% of our purchase price when
it was sold. That is an atypically high recapture percentage, but most of
the kitchen gear was purchased new and was kept in excellent condition (I
was a bear on kitchen and equipment cleanliness).

> Bad location.

It was, given the conditions that the city imposed AFTER I opened the doors.
It was a considerable factor in lower than expected new customer growth.

I had been concerned, from the beginning, that the location lacked one BIG
factor: great visibility. During the time I spent working with the city
during the building permitting process, I specifically met several times
with the city manager to obtain assurances, in writing, that we would be
able to have adequate signage, both on the property, and at other locations
throughout the city, to direct potential customers to our store. I won't go
into the whole long story and battle that occured AFTER we opened; suffice
it to say that the city decided to change its sign ordinances which
effectively blinded my location from the direct view of motorists who use
the two major streets which carry the major traffic flow. The city's
attorney held to the position that my agreement with the now EX city manager
(he left shortly after the store was built) held no weight for allowing a
grandfathering exemption to the new ordinance. He then smiled and invited me
to take it to court. I took it to the full city council, but on the advice
of the city attorney the council refused to consider exempting me from the
new ordinance. My attorney advised me that there was no certain outcome if
civil action was attempted, but that the money required to go forward with
an action would be considerable. I decided that I couldn't afford it.

In hindsight, I should not have built the store at that location. I should
not have relied on signs to overcome poor visibility. The land was a
bargain, but it turned out the old adage is true: "If you buy quality, you
only cry once". Of course at the time, the amount of money available for
construction was limited and existing lease options on existing stores in
good locations were non-existent.

The other thing was that I had never intended to close as a business, I had
wanted to relocate to another, more favorable location even if it meant
leasing a building. In fact, when we sold our building I rented it back from
the owner and continued operation for 6 months. During that time we learned
that another restaurant, which operated in an old Pizza Hut store, was
closing up shop. They had another 4 years on their lease, and were willing
to sub-lease the store to us. They would be pulling out their equipment and
furniture and we would be moving ours in. I gave notice to my building's new
owner, and set a date to move out. During the time prior to our scheduled
move, the new owner found a guy who was starting a motorcycle shop who
signed a leased to move in after our move-out.

Five days before the move, I got a call from the 'Pizza Hut' guy. I was
informed that they decided to keep the business open. So, instead of a move
to a new store, the move was made to a storage facility. Signs and ads
informing customers of our move, were changed to "keep an eye open for a new
grand opening". The "right" location never appeared; they would either be
too invisible to the public, or they lacked sufficient parking/access, or
they were a sucker's bet with high lease rates, plus triple net, plus high
multi-year (10 years was typical) contracts.

I still get calls every once in a while from customers asking when we'll be
opening again. Sigh.

I love bbq, and I loved the entire process of getting my bbq joint open and
running. I loved the vast majority of my customers and their loyalty and
enjoyment of the bbq we turned out. I enjoyed the challenge of re-educating
the community as to what bbq really is, and the pleasure at seeing the
reaction of folks, who entered our doors for the very first time, sink their
teeth into their first pulled pork sandwich or plate of brisket. It tickled
me to no end to have ex-pats from the southeast region of our country eat
our food, break out into big grins, and come up after their meal to tell me
that what they had eaten reminded them of home.

Jill and I talk about how much we have learned from owning and operating the
store, and how re-starting an eating joint would be so much easier for us
now that we have a better handle on things. One of the things we agree on is
this: the concept of a real bbq joint is a cultural thing. People in the
Pacific Northwest don't have a grasp on what bbq is or what a bbq joint is.
They generally love it once they 'discover' it, but it's not part of the
eating tradition like it is in areas like the southeast. So if I were to
open a new joint, it would be a hamburger/hotdog joint. I would do what
Danny Gaulden did and start with the expected and typical 'joint' food for
this area, and slowly-but-surely add bbq offerings to the menu. I love a
good hamburger or hotdog, and I can commercially cook a good product. Good
hamburger/hotdog joints are not plentiful around here and that would be my
hook in building customer traffic.

I will be getting back to driving truck in the next 12 weeks. Hell, I may
even save all of my trucker salary toward opening a 'joint' all over again,
using the lessons learned. I miss the good things about the store and its
customers. I think I learned enough to avoid what I hated most.

To Big Jim, Chef Juke (I miss seeing you here, Pat), Dave and Heather, Harry
D., TFM (and a nod toward Heaven for Christy), the Reverend Frohe and his 6"
Boner, Nick (say high to Jun for me), and those I know I'm forgetting to
include but who were part of a special memory: You all made the opening
special. It spoke volumes to the caring nature of the folks on AFB and why,
despite a very few certain characters, I love this NG. Now all I need to do
is figure a way to get back to Texas and hook up with Sqwertz and Om.


--
Dave
What is best in life? "To crush your enemies, see them driven before
you, and to hear the lamentation of the women." -- Conan

Dave Bugg wrote:
> Ekal Byar wrote:
>
>> Went belly up.
>
> LOL!!! It wasn't as bad as that. Heck, we were named 'Best New Business of
> The Year' by the public the first year we were opened. After two years, I
> was seeing customer growth at about 5% per year. I had projected, based on
> my research, that we should see a 20% per year growth during our first 5
> years of operation. We maintained customer loyalty and repeat business
> (about a 92% return rate), but new customer growth was too slow for my
> comfort. We had a so-so profit return: about $42,000 per year average on
> about $296,000 in sales each year. That was just not sufficient enough for
> my tastes, and the low percentage growth in new customers clearly
> demonstrated that an increase in our profit margin was not going to happen
> as fast as I wanted it to.
>
> This was a problem for me for one very big reason.... I was running myself
> ragged and literally had no time for myself or family. Then it hit me like a
> bucket of icy water: I didn't own the business as much as the business owned
> me. I was an employee, not a business owner. I had never planned to work
> 16-18 hour days, 7 days a week forever and ever. I had expected that after
> the first year, I would be able to hire a chef to manage the store and
> kitchen, but the profit margin didn't allow for that level of employee
> expansion.
>
> At the point I decided to sell the land and building, I had been going at
> creating and running the business for several years. Some of you may
> remember my initial post here in which I announced my decision to open a bbq
> joint. I had reached THAT decision after over a year of burning the midnight
> oil, while working full time at the health district, researching and
> drafting a rough business plan. I had been at this a loooong time, and I was
> exhausted. We sold the building and, after the business loan was paid off,
> came away with a decent profit . Since we owned our restaurant equipment and
> furniture, we were fortunate to capture about 75% of our purchase price when
> it was sold. That is an atypically high recapture percentage, but most of
> the kitchen gear was purchased new and was kept in excellent condition (I
> was a bear on kitchen and equipment cleanliness).
>
>> Bad location.
>
> It was, given the conditions that the city imposed AFTER I opened the doors.
> It was a considerable factor in lower than expected new customer growth.
>
> I had been concerned, from the beginning, that the location lacked one BIG
> factor: great visibility. During the time I spent working with the city
> during the building permitting process, I specifically met several times
> with the city manager to obtain assurances, in writing, that we would be
> able to have adequate signage, both on the property, and at other locations
> throughout the city, to direct potential customers to our store. I won't go
> into the whole long story and battle that occured AFTER we opened; suffice
> it to say that the city decided to change its sign ordinances which
> effectively blinded my location from the direct view of motorists who use
> the two major streets which carry the major traffic flow. The city's
> attorney held to the position that my agreement with the now EX city manager
> (he left shortly after the store was built) held no weight for allowing a
> grandfathering exemption to the new ordinance. He then smiled and invited me
> to take it to court. I took it to the full city council, but on the advice
> of the city attorney the council refused to consider exempting me from the
> new ordinance. My attorney advised me that there was no certain outcome if
> civil action was attempted, but that the money required to go forward with
> an action would be considerable. I decided that I couldn't afford it.
>
> In hindsight, I should not have built the store at that location. I should
> not have relied on signs to overcome poor visibility. The land was a
> bargain, but it turned out the old adage is true: "If you buy quality, you
> only cry once". Of course at the time, the amount of money available for
> construction was limited and existing lease options on existing stores in
> good locations were non-existent.
>
> The other thing was that I had never intended to close as a business, I had
> wanted to relocate to another, more favorable location even if it meant
> leasing a building. In fact, when we sold our building I rented it back from
> the owner and continued operation for 6 months. During that time we learned
> that another restaurant, which operated in an old Pizza Hut store, was
> closing up shop. They had another 4 years on their lease, and were willing
> to sub-lease the store to us. They would be pulling out their equipment and
> furniture and we would be moving ours in. I gave notice to my building's new
> owner, and set a date to move out. During the time prior to our scheduled
> move, the new owner found a guy who was starting a motorcycle shop who
> signed a leased to move in after our move-out.
>
> Five days before the move, I got a call from the 'Pizza Hut' guy. I was
> informed that they decided to keep the business open. So, instead of a move
> to a new store, the move was made to a storage facility. Signs and ads
> informing customers of our move, were changed to "keep an eye open for a new
> grand opening". The "right" location never appeared; they would either be
> too invisible to the public, or they lacked sufficient parking/access, or
> they were a sucker's bet with high lease rates, plus triple net, plus high
> multi-year (10 years was typical) contracts.
>
> I still get calls every once in a while from customers asking when we'll be
> opening again. Sigh.
>
> I love bbq, and I loved the entire process of getting my bbq joint open and
> running. I loved the vast majority of my customers and their loyalty and
> enjoyment of the bbq we turned out. I enjoyed the challenge of re-educating
> the community as to what bbq really is, and the pleasure at seeing the
> reaction of folks, who entered our doors for the very first time, sink their
> teeth into their first pulled pork sandwich or plate of brisket. It tickled
> me to no end to have ex-pats from the southeast region of our country eat
> our food, break out into big grins, and come up after their meal to tell me
> that what they had eaten reminded them of home.
>
> Jill and I talk about how much we have learned from owning and operating the
> store, and how re-starting an eating joint would be so much easier for us
> now that we have a better handle on things. One of the things we agree on is
> this: the concept of a real bbq joint is a cultural thing. People in the
> Pacific Northwest don't have a grasp on what bbq is or what a bbq joint is.
> They generally love it once they 'discover' it, but it's not part of the
> eating tradition like it is in areas like the southeast. So if I were to
> open a new joint, it would be a hamburger/hotdog joint. I would do what
> Danny Gaulden did and start with the expected and typical 'joint' food for
> this area, and slowly-but-surely add bbq offerings to the menu. I love a
> good hamburger or hotdog, and I can commercially cook a good product. Good
> hamburger/hotdog joints are not plentiful around here and that would be my
> hook in building customer traffic.
>
> I will be getting back to driving truck in the next 12 weeks. Hell, I may
> even save all of my trucker salary toward opening a 'joint' all over again,
> using the lessons learned. I miss the good things about the store and its
> customers. I think I learned enough to avoid what I hated most.
>
> To Big Jim, Chef Juke (I miss seeing you here, Pat), Dave and Heather, Harry
> D., TFM (and a nod toward Heaven for Christy), the Reverend Frohe and his 6"
> Boner, Nick (say high to Jun for me), and those I know I'm forgetting to
> include but who were part of a special memory: You all made the opening
> special. It spoke volumes to the caring nature of the folks on AFB and why,
> despite a very few certain characters, I love this NG. Now all I need to do
> is figure a way to get back to Texas and hook up with Sqwertz and Om.
>
>

Running a Q joint isn't easy. If the joint's any
good it's usually because the proprietor has to be
too hands on to leave too much to the hired help.
One of my buddies has been running a place in
Granite Falls for 7 years and he's burning out. I
help out a another friend with his BBQ catering
and it's a royal PITA working with a bare minimum
kitchen facilities. He's too anal and old school
about the process to use a Southern Pride or a
CookShack so that makes opening up a restaurant
that much more of a PITA to get past the Health
Dept. Your old location wasn't really a handicap
(IMNSHO). Word of mouth seems to inspire most
folks to seek out good Q regardless of the
frontage. What your place did do apparently was to
plant enough of a seed to give somebody else the
guts to open up a Q joint near you in Cashmere.
It's off the beaten track a bit. It's not bad but
it doesn't have the mojo your place did. Rumor has
it they're thinking about a location in Wenatchee.
I miss your place. It was a great reason to stop
in Wenatchee when riding my old Hog to Twisp. The
Q joint there sucks out loud. I'd LOVE to see you
open up again but I totally understand if you'd
don't.

JD

On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:02:09 -0800, "Dave Bugg" >
wrote:

>Ekal Byar wrote:
>
>> Went belly up.
>
>LOL!!! It wasn't as bad as that. Heck, we were named 'Best New Business of
>The Year' by the public the first year we were opened. After two years, I
>was seeing customer growth at about 5% per year. I had projected, based on
>my research, that we should see a 20% per year growth during our first 5
>years of operation. We maintained customer loyalty and repeat business
>(about a 92% return rate), but new customer growth was too slow for my
>comfort. We had a so-so profit return: about $42,000 per year average on
>about $296,000 in sales each year. That was just not sufficient enough for
>my tastes, and the low percentage growth in new customers clearly
>demonstrated that an increase in our profit margin was not going to happen
>as fast as I wanted it to.
>

(snip of a very interesting and thorough post)

Dave, thank you VERY much for posting this!

I came into Denny's life and afb too late to sample your place, though
I really wish I could've. It helps to know what happened and why.

I forwarded your post onto Denny, who's still not back on Usenet. He
says 'hello', and he'll be certain to read it. :-)


Desideria

In article >,
Sqwertz > wrote:

> On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:02:09 -0800, Dave Bugg wrote:
>
> > I love this NG. Now all I need to do
> > is figure a way to get back to Texas and hook up
> > with Sqwertz and Om.
>
> Any time. I'm much prettier in person than on Usenet. Ther4e's a
> few other lower-profile foodies here who's names you'd recognize.
>
> -sw

The gatherings at Iron Works have been a lot of fun...

and they have killer beef ribs. I'd post the jpeg but I see this is
cross posted. ;-)
--
Peace! Om

"Human nature seems to be to control other people until they put their foot down."
--Steve Rothstein

Web Albums: <http://picasaweb.google.com/OMPOmelet>

Subscribe:

On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:02:09 -0800, "Dave Bugg" >
wrote:

>Ekal Byar wrote:
>
>> Went belly up.
>
>LOL!!! It wasn't as bad as that.

Dave, I read every word of your excellent post. I admire the way you
started, ran, and finished your business. It sounds like you came out
of a Harvard MBA program! You know your stuff pal.
I owned a business for 22 years but was a wholesaler so did not have
to worry about location, customer base, signage, and all the things
that go with a retail establishment. It sounds like you did
everything right, but at the end it was government that did you in.
But I admired your expertise.
What did me in was Asian competition. I could not compete with
competitors that worked out of their garages, with mostly family
employees and had no taxes to worry about, no insurance to deal with,
no 401, 402 taxes and endless paper work to content with. In the end
they were able to out-price me because they had little or no overhead.
But now I'm doing what your doing. Driving. And never been happier
in my life. Just bought my third home and in addition to a good
salary with excellent benefits, I'm getting more than 2K/mo combined
SS.
Plus no more working 7 days a week with no vacations (I have 9 days
vacation 5 months out of the year). and most important, more family
time with no headaches and constant worrying about whether it was
going to be too hot, too cold, too rainy, too windy, too dark, too
light, union strikes, political changes, and government regulations.
You see, I was in the flower business, and had to rely a lot on
foreign business in addition to local and national suppliers.

Eddie

Desideria wrote:

> (snip of a very interesting and thorough post)
>
> Dave, thank you VERY much for posting this!
>
> I came into Denny's life and afb too late to sample your place, though
> I really wish I could've. It helps to know what happened and why.
>
> I forwarded your post onto Denny, who's still not back on Usenet. He
> says 'hello', and he'll be certain to read it. :-)

Tell him hi for me. He's a good guy :-)
--
Dave
What is best in life? "To crush your enemies, see them driven before
you, and to hear the lamentation of the women." -- Conan

On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:53:00 -0800, "Dave Bugg" >
wrote:

>Desideria wrote:
>
>> (snip of a very interesting and thorough post)
>>
>> Dave, thank you VERY much for posting this!
>>
>> I came into Denny's life and afb too late to sample your place, though
>> I really wish I could've. It helps to know what happened and why.
>>
>> I forwarded your post onto Denny, who's still not back on Usenet. He
>> says 'hello', and he'll be certain to read it. :-)
>
>Tell him hi for me. He's a good guy :-)

I'll tell him, and yeah, he is. Except when he's a bad guy, and I'd
say that's fun--but this isn't that kinda ng. ;-)


Desideria

On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:59:22 -0600, Sqwertz >
wrote:

>On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:02:09 -0800, Dave Bugg wrote:
>
>> I love this NG. Now all I need to do
>> is figure a way to get back to Texas and hook up
>> with Sqwertz and Om.
>
>Any time. I'm much prettier in person than on Usenet. Ther4e's a
>few other lower-profile foodies here who's names you'd recognize.
>
>-sw

And you ain't bad on Usenet, either.

I'm just sayin'. ;-)


Desideria

"Dave Bugg" > wrote in message
...
> Ekal Byar wrote:
>
>> Went belly up.
>
> LOL!!! It wasn't as bad as that. Heck, we were named 'Best New Business of
> The Year' by the public the first year we were opened. After two years, I
> was seeing customer growth at about 5% per year. I had projected, based on
> my research, that we should see a 20% per year growth during our first 5
> years of operation. We maintained customer loyalty and repeat business
> (about a 92% return rate), but new customer growth was too slow for my
> comfort. We had a so-so profit return: about $42,000 per year average on
> about $296,000 in sales each year. That was just not sufficient enough for
> my tastes, and the low percentage growth in new customers clearly
> demonstrated that an increase in our profit margin was not going to happen
> as fast as I wanted it to.
>
> This was a problem for me for one very big reason.... I was running myself
> ragged and literally had no time for myself or family. Then it hit me like
> a bucket of icy water: I didn't own the business as much as the business
> owned me. I was an employee, not a business owner. I had never planned to
> work 16-18 hour days, 7 days a week forever and ever. I had expected that
> after the first year, I would be able to hire a chef to manage the store
> and kitchen, but the profit margin didn't allow for that level of employee
> expansion.
>
> At the point I decided to sell the land and building, I had been going at
> creating and running the business for several years. Some of you may
> remember my initial post here in which I announced my decision to open a
> bbq joint. I had reached THAT decision after over a year of burning the
> midnight oil, while working full time at the health district, researching
> and drafting a rough business plan. I had been at this a loooong time, and
> I was exhausted. We sold the building and, after the business loan was
> paid off, came away with a decent profit . Since we owned our restaurant
> equipment and furniture, we were fortunate to capture about 75% of our
> purchase price when it was sold. That is an atypically high recapture
> percentage, but most of the kitchen gear was purchased new and was kept in
> excellent condition (I was a bear on kitchen and equipment cleanliness).
>
>> Bad location.
>
> It was, given the conditions that the city imposed AFTER I opened the
> doors. It was a considerable factor in lower than expected new customer
> growth.
>
> I had been concerned, from the beginning, that the location lacked one BIG
> factor: great visibility. During the time I spent working with the city
> during the building permitting process, I specifically met several times
> with the city manager to obtain assurances, in writing, that we would be
> able to have adequate signage, both on the property, and at other
> locations throughout the city, to direct potential customers to our store.
> I won't go into the whole long story and battle that occured AFTER we
> opened; suffice it to say that the city decided to change its sign
> ordinances which effectively blinded my location from the direct view of
> motorists who use the two major streets which carry the major traffic
> flow. The city's attorney held to the position that my agreement with the
> now EX city manager (he left shortly after the store was built) held no
> weight for allowing a grandfathering exemption to the new ordinance. He
> then smiled and invited me to take it to court. I took it to the full city
> council, but on the advice of the city attorney the council refused to
> consider exempting me from the new ordinance. My attorney advised me that
> there was no certain outcome if civil action was attempted, but that the
> money required to go forward with an action would be considerable. I
> decided that I couldn't afford it.
>
> In hindsight, I should not have built the store at that location. I should
> not have relied on signs to overcome poor visibility. The land was a
> bargain, but it turned out the old adage is true: "If you buy quality, you
> only cry once". Of course at the time, the amount of money available for
> construction was limited and existing lease options on existing stores in
> good locations were non-existent.
>
> The other thing was that I had never intended to close as a business, I
> had wanted to relocate to another, more favorable location even if it
> meant leasing a building. In fact, when we sold our building I rented it
> back from the owner and continued operation for 6 months. During that time
> we learned that another restaurant, which operated in an old Pizza Hut
> store, was closing up shop. They had another 4 years on their lease, and
> were willing to sub-lease the store to us. They would be pulling out their
> equipment and furniture and we would be moving ours in. I gave notice to
> my building's new owner, and set a date to move out. During the time prior
> to our scheduled move, the new owner found a guy who was starting a
> motorcycle shop who signed a leased to move in after our move-out.
>
> Five days before the move, I got a call from the 'Pizza Hut' guy. I was
> informed that they decided to keep the business open. So, instead of a
> move to a new store, the move was made to a storage facility. Signs and
> ads informing customers of our move, were changed to "keep an eye open for
> a new grand opening". The "right" location never appeared; they would
> either be too invisible to the public, or they lacked sufficient
> parking/access, or they were a sucker's bet with high lease rates, plus
> triple net, plus high multi-year (10 years was typical) contracts.
>
> I still get calls every once in a while from customers asking when we'll
> be opening again. Sigh.
>
> I love bbq, and I loved the entire process of getting my bbq joint open
> and running. I loved the vast majority of my customers and their loyalty
> and enjoyment of the bbq we turned out. I enjoyed the challenge of
> re-educating the community as to what bbq really is, and the pleasure at
> seeing the reaction of folks, who entered our doors for the very first
> time, sink their teeth into their first pulled pork sandwich or plate of
> brisket. It tickled me to no end to have ex-pats from the southeast region
> of our country eat our food, break out into big grins, and come up after
> their meal to tell me that what they had eaten reminded them of home.
>
> Jill and I talk about how much we have learned from owning and operating
> the store, and how re-starting an eating joint would be so much easier for
> us now that we have a better handle on things. One of the things we agree
> on is this: the concept of a real bbq joint is a cultural thing. People in
> the Pacific Northwest don't have a grasp on what bbq is or what a bbq
> joint is. They generally love it once they 'discover' it, but it's not
> part of the eating tradition like it is in areas like the southeast. So if
> I were to open a new joint, it would be a hamburger/hotdog joint. I would
> do what Danny Gaulden did and start with the expected and typical 'joint'
> food for this area, and slowly-but-surely add bbq offerings to the menu. I
> love a good hamburger or hotdog, and I can commercially cook a good
> product. Good hamburger/hotdog joints are not plentiful around here and
> that would be my hook in building customer traffic.
>
> I will be getting back to driving truck in the next 12 weeks. Hell, I may
> even save all of my trucker salary toward opening a 'joint' all over
> again, using the lessons learned. I miss the good things about the store
> and its customers. I think I learned enough to avoid what I hated most.
>
> To Big Jim, Chef Juke (I miss seeing you here, Pat), Dave and Heather,
> Harry D., TFM (and a nod toward Heaven for Christy), the Reverend Frohe
> and his 6" Boner, Nick (say high to Jun for me), and those I know I'm
> forgetting to include but who were part of a special memory: You all made
> the opening special. It spoke volumes to the caring nature of the folks on
> AFB and why, despite a very few certain characters, I love this NG. Now
> all I need to do is figure a way to get back to Texas and hook up with
> Sqwertz and Om.


Nice post, Dave. What happened to Chef Juke? Nothing serious I hope.

TFM®

TFM® wrote:

> Nice post, Dave. What happened to Chef Juke? Nothing serious I hope.

I don't know what's going on with him. He's a terrific person. I miss
hearing from him.
--
Dave
What is best in life? "To crush your enemies, see them driven before
you, and to hear the lamentation of the women." -- Conan

"Dave Bugg" > wrote in message
>
> This was a problem for me for one very big reason.... I was running myself
> ragged and literally had no time for myself or family. Then it hit me like
> a bucket of icy water: I didn't own the business as much as the business
> owned me. I was an employee, not a business owner. I had never planned to
> work 16-18 hour days, 7 days a week forever and ever.

Often people have said to me "you are such a good cook, you should open a
restaurant". You summed up exactly why I've never considered it. I already
have a job I like, thank you. I don't want to turn a fun hobby into another
job.

If you decide to do it again, I wish you good luck and hope you prosper.
I'm grateful that people like you are willing to cook well for the rest of
us.