THE JEM DIGEST

In association with StudioBook.io

Last year, I got the opportunity to get into a historical Baltimore restaurant brand for really low upfront costs. The brand, a bit removed from it’s heyday, had been running a little retail shop on the South-East side of Baltimore.

In the 2010’s they had shut down all of their restaurants to focus on a new business model; Distribution. They were really making a killing on the distribution side, but the shop was really bleeding money and it had been for years. After getting to know the owner for about a year, we decided that we should go for it and open a new spot. I was completely fueled by the nostalgia of the arrangement. I have never actually worked in a restaurant in my life. Growing up, when most kids worked in restaurants for the summer, I was generally working construction with my Uncle. We opened the store last June, and the nostalgia also powered us through with a big and I mean BIG first couple of months. We were making money hand over fist. Then, reality sank in and we realized we had made some major mistakes.

1. We chose a terrible location. When having the conversation about opening, we decided that keeping the shop in the same location was going to be the easiest situation for us. It was close to our homes, it had already been there for about 10 years, and we wouldn't have to go through the process of finding a new place with the health department. This was a mistake. We quickly realized why this place was bleeding money. The buying window was just a very small one (11am-2pm).

2. We over complicated our menu. The brand we got into specializes in Polish Sausages and Hotdogs. In the beginning, my idea was to be the “In-n-Out” of hotdogs. In hindsight, that was the right decision. We had some people asking for specific items, so we just started adding them, soon we realized that those same people who were asking for those items were only coming in once a month. It wasn’t sustainable.

3. We over staffed. We always wanted there to be a couple folks at the shop at all times. We quickly realized that wasn’t needed.

We made huge overestimations based on the first month. After realizing that profits were going down, I made some major changes that helped us 8x the location’s revenue revenue in the first year. This is what we did:

1. I cut hours and worked I the shop myself all winter. It sucked. Luckily most of my other business ventures are remote or online based, so I was able to still be productive, but winter was long and hard and we didn't really know at times if we were going to quite make it.

2. I renegotiated our agreement with the mother company. We got into an agreement based on unrealistic numbers. I was able to express that and put together a new plan that was more reasonable for both parties.

3. When summer came along, we diversified our revenue streams. We got a food cart, a canopy tent, and started doing events. This allowed us to give out employees more hours and have some major wins.

4. We simplified out menu, shortened our operating hours, and staffed only one person a day. We accepted the fact that we were a lunch spot and that our sales window was 11am-2pm. We put ALL of our resources into maximizing those three hours. Social media posts, ads, you name it we did it.

All in all, at our one year anniversary event, after a year of major ups and downs we were able to say that we made it. We made it while 8x’ing the shop’s revenue from the year before. It didn't always feel glamorous, but we put an old, tired brand back on the map in Baltimore and we are expecting many more year of a successful, albeit hopefully a little more hands off, tenure for years to come.

Keep pushing, you’ll get there. Consistency is key.