Our first business venture - The Red House

Soldato
Joined
30 Jul 2004
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Auckland
Are you coming or have you been? If you've been, you never said anything!
Nah I was a muppet, we were in Paihia and thought you were there. We are going up to Cape Reinga Tomorrow and staying in 90 mile beach... Hope to come in on the way past the day after.
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Aug 2007
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28,594
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Auckland
Yes, it's quite a common thing, a lot of pubs have them. We've only used it once so far though for taxiing people home!

I guess it's time for a little update.

Things have gone pretty quiet since xmas. A lot of people are travelling to and from holidays, locals have gone away and to be honest, it's a bit of a low, and it's probably nothing to do with what we're doing, but it's making me wonder what we're doing wrong :(. I hope things pick up in the next week or so. We're trying new offers to try and entice people and hammering social media. One problem has become apparent in the last week or so, there are still 'for lease' signs outside the front of the property for the other building on the shared complex, and we had a customer come in last week and say to us that she didn't realise that we were open! Not sure how to approach the landlady about it as if that's the case, there could be many more that have just driven past thinking we aren't open.

Another issue which is my own fault, is the signage, it just doesn't stand out! WE have had another logo designed which is much better, but are trying to work out the best way to go with it now so it has maximum effect! We are going to use the logo that's on the van but i want to carry the recycled pallet wood theme on and paint it onto the wood (black background, red house outline in wood with red LED around it) Then text in white with red outline).

We're looking at starting a poker night which seems to be gauging interest, and also karaoke / open mic night, it costs $115 inc gst per hour to hire someone to come and do it, so we're going to buy the gear ourselves as an asset to the business as it'll only cost ~ $2k for a pair of Peavey DM115 speakers, a mixer, mics and a subscription to Sunfly Karaoke service. Hopefully, along with the free taxi service, it should bring people in, especially with the offer of a free beer to anyone who gets up to sign for the first couple of weeks :D

Apart from that, we're still getting great reviews on facebook and google, but nothing on Tripadvisor!
Oh well, i'll udpate again soon, hopefully we'll get ourselves out of this little post xmas rut soon!
Hey dude. I can't remember how well versed you are in Kiwi holiday periods but the summer holiday silly season hits NZ between mid December through to at least mid January. People are simply not around - they've gone abroad or up north or down south or wherever, and those who have returned to work will be in jandals and shorts for another week before things get almost back to normal by the end of Jan. I'm not at all surprised that you're not busy because even those people travelling will be be doing cafes on their trip back/away rather than anything like your place.

Now, if come February things are still quieter then you might have an issue but everything seemed to be going well, Christmas hit, and I'm sure you'll be back up and running like normal once everyone is back to normal :)
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
31 Jan 2004
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11,292
Location
Matakana New Zealand
Hey dude. I can't remember how well versed you are in Kiwi holiday periods but the summer holiday silly season hits NZ between mid December through to at least mid January. People are simply not around - they've gone abroad or up north or down south or wherever, and those who have returned to work will be in jandals and shorts for another week before things get almost back to normal by the end of Jan. I'm not at all surprised that you're not busy because even those people travelling will be be doing cafes on their trip back/away rather than anything like your place.

Now, if come February things are still quieter then you might have an issue but everything seemed to be going well, Christmas hit, and I'm sure you'll be back up and running like normal once everyone is back to normal :)

Really hope so!

We put an offer on tonight on our facebook page offering a free beer to anyone who can finish our full rack of ribs. Not had a single customer tonight, it's really worrying.
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Aug 2007
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28,594
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Auckland
Really hope so!

We put an offer on tonight on our facebook page offering a free beer to anyone who can finish our full rack of ribs. Not had a single customer tonight, it's really worrying.
Offers won't work when no one is there to take you up on the offer :) I know nothing about hospitality but if it were me, I'd be managing staffing levels and costs down to fit in your reduced opening hours, keeping a 'lite meal' option on the go and banging out as many flat whites as I could ... which will not be many. Let us know how the next two weeks go :)
 
Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
32,615
Really hope so!

We put an offer on tonight on our facebook page offering a free beer to anyone who can finish our full rack of ribs. Not had a single customer tonight, it's really worrying.


The issue with any restaurant/bar/cafe, especially those that are not in a very busy downtown area, is massive fluctuations in demand. As Mugnulia says, you have to optimize staffing levels and operating costs. Quiet periods are the norm, and you have to minimize losses.


Also, i don't know what it is like in NZ, but in Europe restaurants are closing down in record numbers. It is certainly not a business I would enter expecting success to be straightforward. Ypou also have to make sure you sell a service that the public wants, not what you personally would like. You seem very motivated to try out new things to attract customers. But how much market research have you done on this? Do people really want a karaoke? I would certainly avoid any place that even advertises karaoke. Live bands sound good, but not everyone wants loud music. For those that do, how many want to drive out to your restaurant?
 
Associate
Joined
4 Jan 2010
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603
Have you thought of offering free flights from the UK to forum members with every meal bought? I'm sure that some of us might take up on that offer :)
 
Man of Honour
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
29,509
Location
Surrey
Yes, it's quite a common thing, a lot of pubs have them. We've only used it once so far though for taxiing people home!

I guess it's time for a little update.

Things have gone pretty quiet since xmas. A lot of people are travelling to and from holidays, locals have gone away and to be honest, it's a bit of a low, and it's probably nothing to do with what we're doing, but it's making me wonder what we're doing wrong :(. I hope things pick up in the next week or so. We're trying new offers to try and entice people and hammering social media. One problem has become apparent in the last week or so, there are still 'for lease' signs outside the front of the property for the other building on the shared complex, and we had a customer come in last week and say to us that she didn't realise that we were open! Not sure how to approach the landlady about it as if that's the case, there could be many more that have just driven past thinking we aren't open.

Another issue which is my own fault, is the signage, it just doesn't stand out! WE have had another logo designed which is much better, but are trying to work out the best way to go with it now so it has maximum effect! We are going to use the logo that's on the van but i want to carry the recycled pallet wood theme on and paint it onto the wood (black background, red house outline in wood with red LED around it) Then text in white with red outline).

We're looking at starting a poker night which seems to be gauging interest, and also karaoke / open mic night, it costs $115 inc gst per hour to hire someone to come and do it, so we're going to buy the gear ourselves as an asset to the business as it'll only cost ~ $2k for a pair of Peavey DM115 speakers, a mixer, mics and a subscription to Sunfly Karaoke service. Hopefully, along with the free taxi service, it should bring people in, especially with the offer of a free beer to anyone who gets up to sign for the first couple of weeks :D

Apart from that, we're still getting great reviews on facebook and google, but nothing on Tripadvisor!
Oh well, i'll udpate again soon, hopefully we'll get ourselves out of this little post xmas rut soon!
Whereabouts are you located? Is there any other trade you could attract? For example renting the space out during the day to someone to host a yoga class, etc? Or offering coffees and sandwiches for commuters passing in the mornings? There is quite a trend for digital nomads nowadays so how about advertising to that market to get some people using your tables and wifi during the day while selling them food and coffee? Is there any spare storage space you could rent out?
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
31 Jan 2004
Posts
11,292
Location
Matakana New Zealand
Whereabouts are you located? Is there any other trade you could attract? For example renting the space out during the day to someone to host a yoga class, etc? Or offering coffees and sandwiches for commuters passing in the mornings? There is quite a trend for digital nomads nowadays so how about advertising to that market to get some people using your tables and wifi during the day while selling them food and coffee? Is there any spare storage space you could rent out?

We are trying all sorts of ideas, i'm hosting a poker night next Thursday which should be fun, had some interest in that so we'll see. We've been doing flyer drops and we are trying our best to improve the kerb appeal outside on the road too. We're reaching out to mums, looking at a 'doggy day care' thing for dogs and their owners, anything that will work.

Had a bit of a better day today, still nothing to shout about but on a par of what we'd usually do on a Thursday i guess. Social media interest is up there but not many seem to follow through for some reason, maybe i'm spamming it too much! We had a guy come in before xmas enquiring about subleasing some land off us which would have been great for us but the landlady has put a top to that for some reason.

Yeah that was muppet features truly. Going to head up to you in the weekend instead all being even.

Haha

Just be aware, we've got 2 massive 30+ cover tables on Saturday so i'm going to be really busy. However, we've got live music on Sunday afternoon from about 4.30pm if that interests you :)
 
Soldato
Joined
2 May 2011
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11,868
Location
Woking
We're looking at starting a poker night which seems to be gauging interest, and also karaoke / open mic night, it costs $115 inc gst per hour to hire someone to come and do it, so we're going to buy the gear ourselves as an asset to the business as it'll only cost ~ $2k for a pair of Peavey DM115 speakers, a mixer, mics and a subscription to Sunfly Karaoke service. Hopefully, along with the free taxi service, it should bring people in, especially with the offer of a free beer to anyone who gets up to sign for the first couple of weeks :D

Regarding the karaoke, I'm no business expert but would it not make more sense to hire someone to do it once or twice, and if it builds traction then purchase the gear yourself? Could be a $700 investment instead of $2k, and someone professional to show you the ropes.

With regards to your signage, personally I'd just reach out to the landlord and tell them what effect you think it's having on you. Presumably it's in their interest that your business is strong because it ensures that you'll renew the lease next year or whenever your tenancy ends.

Very nice of you to drive people home btw. I'm convinced getting back from the pub is what motivates the self-driving car industry.

I hope it starts to build up again for you.
 
Commissario
Joined
23 Nov 2004
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41,851
Location
Herts
is it worth you sweet-talking local newspaper critics to come for a meal to get a review, or have you already done that?
To add to that, is there anyone nearby that has a good social media following who could come in and help promote it for you in return for a free meal?
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
31 Jan 2004
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11,292
Location
Matakana New Zealand
Regarding the karaoke, I'm no business expert but would it not make more sense to hire someone to do it once or twice, and if it builds traction then purchase the gear yourself? Could be a $700 investment instead of $2k, and someone professional to show you the ropes.

With regards to your signage, personally I'd just reach out to the landlord and tell them what effect you think it's having on you. Presumably it's in their interest that your business is strong because it ensures that you'll renew the lease next year or whenever your tenancy ends.

Very nice of you to drive people home btw. I'm convinced getting back from the pub is what motivates the self-driving car industry.

I hope it starts to build up again for you.

The investment - or return on investment would still be better than hiring someone a couple of times, one thing we are definitely doing is open mic, it is popular here so the gear will get used. We've been quoted from a friend $200 a time for them to host the open mic, so even that on it's own would still be worth purchasing tjhe gear. Then we've got brewers coming in to talk about their beers, and we're talking about battle of the brewers where the brewers compete against each other. There are 4 local breweries which we use, and all the brewers live in the same house so they know each other and have a good craic so that will be interesting. So all in all, the $2k investment will be worth it rather than hiring people for different events.
All in all, even if it doesn't work, we would still not lose more than $700 it would have cost to hire someone twice if we sold the gear, it holds its value very well, going from experience.
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Jul 2004
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2,836
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Auckland
Definitely, you have a really great spot there and the food was awesome.

You know about the signage, you need to get a sign up at sheepworld...

Also it doesnt cost much to print an A2 sign, the traffic really backs up into Warkworth and people are driving slow enough to read them. Pick the best review or your lunch deal and stick it far enough up the road that someone can have a quick chat with anyone else in the car (or themselves!) and decide to come in. It might seem a bit wierd to a Pom... But everyone else down SH1 is doing that.

Otherwise you have a good team a good menu and you definitely know how to cook.

Keep the faith, I know you have had a hard couple of weeks but I think you will do ok there. We will definitely be back and bringing some friends to spread the word.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
31 Jan 2004
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11,292
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Matakana New Zealand
Definitely, you have a really great spot there and the food was awesome.

You know about the signage, you need to get a sign up at sheepworld...

Also it doesnt cost much to print an A2 sign, the traffic really backs up into Warkworth and people are driving slow enough to read them. Pick the best review or your lunch deal and stick it far enough up the road that someone can have a quick chat with anyone else in the car (or themselves!) and decide to come in. It might seem a bit wierd to a Pom... But everyone else down SH1 is doing that.

Otherwise you have a good team a good menu and you definitely know how to cook.

Keep the faith, I know you have had a hard couple of weeks but I think you will do ok there. We will definitely be back and bringing some friends to spread the word.

Cheers for the kind words, we try haha. We've had a pretty good day today, it's been fun, but more importantly, we're generating more business from family of those that came today as they are planning to come back for parties too, which is great!

I hear what you're saying about the review, and we have taken it on board and it's something we will do very soon.
 
Soldato
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Auckland
Awesome, also saw that dumb review sometimes people are just idiots and the internet lets them have an opinion. Dont let them grind you down!

Jen said that perhaps you need to focus on the place having one crowd, the toys in the corner and the family fun days are pushing one way and perhaps the live music etc is going another. Not sure myself, but she is sometimes good at thos stuff.
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Feb 2014
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2,658
Awesome, also saw that dumb review sometimes people are just idiots and the internet lets them have an opinion. Dont let them grind you down!

Jen said that perhaps you need to focus on the place having one crowd, the toys in the corner and the family fun days are pushing one way and perhaps the live music etc is going another. Not sure myself, but she is sometimes good at thos stuff.
Are you referring to the facebook review ?
smacks of a false review to me. (likely from a competitor)
 
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