Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Negotiations

We received a counter offer around 5 pm today. We are inches away from an agreement. I hope it doesn't take them another 15 days to respond.

No News

Is no news really good news? It sure doesn't feel like it.

I don't think it's any sort of power play. This property is probably paid off and these guys just don't care that much.

My issue is time. I need to be in a new place by the end of December.
So once we get a letter of intent, then we can start getting solid bids. I'm already part way through the design process.
Then the contractors put their bill onto executing the plans.
We finalize the plans pay $890.00 so the health department can sit on them for a month
Then pay more fees for each set of changes the health dept requires. Keep in mind our city is broke and changes are just money in their pockets.
Then we go to the fire marshal and get his buy in did I mention more fees?
That puts us at Mid November and leaves 6 weeks to complete the build out.
We get to wait another 2 weeks for the health dept to come out and find fault or give us an A.

It's gonna be tight AND I have the utmost confidence in my contractors.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

HOODS EXHAUST & CONVECTION OVENS

Here’s what Sam taught me about hoods:

1. More than a 12’ hood and 2 exhaust holes are needed.
2 .My convection oven needs a larger hood, as in wider so the hood can capture the heat since they are deeper than ranges & put out so much heat…
3. The used 16’4” hood I found has 2 exhaust holes but the roof currently has one which means I’d have to punch another hole in the roof for the 16 ft hood PLUS a hole for the exhaust of the hood for the convection oven.…BIG BUCKS

Sam’s got me thinking instead of a 16’ hood which requires 2 exhaust holes in the ceiling + the exhaust needed for the convection oven’s hood…making 3 holes where only 1 exists now. That I should look for a 12’ hood (1 exhaust hole) and a 5’ deep hood for the oven. That way I only punch 1 hole in the roof. Saving bucks.

So glad I have a contractor and a draftsman that have been designing/drawing restaurants for 30 plus years. They know all the rules and codes.
Wonder what I'll learn tomorrow?

Oooh, oooh , maybe we'll actually get a counter offer. Dare I dream?


CAD Drawings

Well even though the landlords are slow to action, the draftsman/kitchen architect, Sam is on top of things.
I spent a session with him today. He has an interactive program (I think it’s a CAD program) and he popped things here and there. (He’s in Oregon and I’m at home, very cool to play together on the computer)

We took all the walls out made 1 big rectangle and started there.
We moved the bathroom door made myself a nice size office with storage.

We played with combo walk-ins(cooler and freezer in 1) shapes sizes and placement.

He had the dish sink and prep sink side by side and I asked if we could move it. He created a wall and put the prep sink there, separating it from the food and dish area…only problem is I’ll have to run another plumbing line …$$$ so that’s what I’m doing now, playing with configurations, getting used to 2 dimensional plans. He showed me the elevation view as well….pretty exciting.

Oh, ….it’s really important to tell the designer ALL the equipment you intend on having in the kitchen. I slipped in at the end of this session that I have an icemaker and he about blew a gasket. I guess ya need water, drains and stuff like that with an icemaker.

FULL DISCLOSURE is important. Got it, learned that lesson.

a snail's pace

Ok well the retrograde is over and as predicted, movement. Slow but at least it’s a communication.
I received this, this morning….

Another day goes by….

I just spoke with Joel and he confirmed that he prepared the counter proposal this morning. The owners have it and told him that they would make any comments or give him approval tomorrow.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Let The Bidding begin

The bidding starts at $1000.00, I raise my hand & immediately the price jumps to $1500…( I think that was a fake bidder). Then the auctioneer tries to get me to bid $1700. I shake my head no 3 times. This is our exchange going forward

Auctioneer: if I came into your restaurant and offered you $2000 you’d laugh me out Me: absolutely I would.
Auctioneer: It’s well worth it
Me: I know but I can’t buy it. I have storage issues.
Auctioneer: I have all kinds of issues (everyone laughs)
Me: Well there’s that
John (auction boss): How long do you need storage
Me: 2 months
Auctioneer: $1700
Me: $1500
Auctioneer: $1700
Me: nope
Auctioneer: $1600
Me: Ok
Auctioneer: Sold $1600

By that time it’s almost 2 pm. I race to pay and we’re outta there by 2:10.
My hands are totally sweating. I can’t believe I just spent $1600.00 (plus sales tax and the auctioneer’s fee)
What if the restaurant deal falls through? Where will I put this monster?

AUCTION DAY

Ok so here we are at this big warehouse filled with used restaurant equipment. I’m kinda giddy. I love this stuff. My girly girlfriends get this way about a good sale or Nordstrom or makeup…. For me it’s restaurant equipment
John, who runs the auction and who showed me around about a week ago, urges me to pay my $200 deposit and get a bidding number anyway. I get my money back if I don’t buy anything. So I do.
My plan is to sit back and watch. I’m watching to see who’s bidding who’s a fake bidder or shill and just to see how it all works.

There were about 50 buyers and 400+ lots to sell. The only thing I thought I might really buy if it was cheap was the Montague gas fired double convection oven. Everything else I was interested in I’d just log in the sales price for future reference.
And trust me there was LOTS of stuff I’d have bought if I had a place to put it. There were some great bargains to be had.

It was pretty funny. Throughout the auction, the auctioneer had been talking to all the buyers. There was a guy who looked like he was from India and another guy whose name and his accent sounded middle eastern who were bidding against each other. The auctioneer taunted them, promising the rest of us a fist fight and keeping score on their purchasing record.


My oven was lot 210.
11 am the auction starts. It starts with all sorts of junk. Yellowed used Cambro containers, huge used pickle buckets, old menu covers from a restaurant called Islands in some Hawaiian hotel, bus tubs, which Kim and I both bought for $4.50 each… too late when I/we realized 2 things. Restaurant Depot sells them for $3.99 AND these ones are half the depth of the bus tubs I like to use. So note to self, always have a plan. Always preview and mark down the lot numbers you like and always note the “don’t cross this line” price. No impulse purchases. I don’t think fast under that kind of pressure.

Anyway, finally about 12:45 they were finished with the small wares and moving on to the good stuff like tilt skillets and ranges and stainless prep tables. But we were still only on about lot 150…Did I mention I have a catering drop off for 20 , which requires some prep and heating up at 4 pm?
So at 1:45 finally, we get to lot 210.

Onto the bidding…

Friday, September 25, 2009

AUCTION TOMORROW

Tomorrow is my first auction. (not ever in my life but my first restaurant equipment auction)
I had originally planned on going to the auction with Amy & George from Roseville but since the counter offer hasn’t shown up yet, I decided to go alone to the auction to check it all out but not buy anything and let my expert pals off the hook.

That was the plan anyway…
So my friend Kim calls and asks if I want to go to Chino’s with her first thing Sat morning. Of course I do, does she want to join me at the auction? Of course she does. Then Pam who’s visiting from Australia says she wants to go as well.

I’m not sure I’d spend the last day of my holiday half way around the world at an auction. No matter how much I wanted to see my friend, silly Pam.

So here we are, the motley crew of auction newbies ready to rock and roll tomorrow.

Still Waiting

Still waiting. So now the landlords have had my proposal for 15 or 16 days now.

I’ve known but at the same time forgot that mercury is retrograde and doesn’t go direct until Sept 29. Click here for more on the retrograde. But the long and short of it is during a mercury retrograde things stop, stall and break. Electronics, cars, appliances, phones, cameras won’t download for no explicable reason. There’s much more to this but what I’m seeing is the total, utter standstill. No progress, not even a phone call or email.

So I’ve resigned myself that nothing will happen until the 29th at the earliest.
In the meantime I’m on to other things.

Like an equipment auction tomorrow!!!!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

FRUSTRATION IS SETTING IN

I’m feeling really frustrated. The seller’s agent said we’d hear from him this morning. It’s now 2:45 and nothing.
They’ve had our proposal for 8 or 9 days now.

Yesterday we met with the draftsman, and contractor.
They’ve got pictures and measurements and will have rough draft for me to play with online. That will be fun.
I’m doing all this and we don’t even know if we’ll be able to make a deal.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

We're back...

So we're back to the abandoned Mexican restaurant.

After the Thai turn down it occurred to me that I'm not that far off on the price to get the Mexican place to code. All the bids I'd gotten were for brand spanking new stuff. So what if I found used hoods and walkins and stoves??? And what if I could get the contractors to work with me a bit. I means times are tough and isn't less profit better than no profit? I've been working that way all year in my catering business.
So to recap 1300 sq ft. hood goes, walkin goes, floor's wrong...needs some plumbing and kitchen is pretty much gutted.
Only has 1 2 compartment sink...we need a 3 compart. too.

There is a 6 burner hot plate and a 24” broiler that look good. The grill (griddle) is all rusty.
Ok so round 2. Good news is there is no purchase price only a lease agreement.
we'll ask for demo and some tenant improvements and maybe some rent credit . we'll see.
Stay tuned. I would love it if this worked out!!!!