No Reservations...Except Those Around Our Potential Location

Ok, so I know we've sung this tune before -- but where do we want to be? Our location is critical, as it will be the only port from which we can sell our goods...mankind has not come so far as buying fast food online. One day, my friends...one day. And we aren't a delivery kind of place, either. So to help us critique the locations we have been considering, one of our advisers instructed us to put together a market analysis detailing the contending locations for Saus.

So far we have three spots: Newbury St., Coolidge Corner, and the Faneuil area. I will take you through some of the issues we are deliberating before making a decision: Newbury St. would allow us to become a hangout for college kids and young professionals, but would we be overshadowed by the many storefronts and dining options? Also, Newbury shuts down at a certain hour. And Coolidge Corner has the college students, but is primarily a family neighborhood. Also, the Coolidge Corner spot is way too big and would require a great deal of work. Lastly (for now) we have the Faneuil location. We would be off the Quincy Market strip and amongst the pantheon of the Faneuil bar gods. You know what I am talking about. If you are or were ever a college student in Boston you visited one of the bars at the urging of your friend from Lowell...or Quincy. The spot would do wonders for late-night volumes and could get the tourists in as well (it's right on the Freedom Trail). Sounds ideal, right? But here is the sixty four thousand dollar question: Do we really want to be positioned as a late-night food joint? A large part of our business model is that we buy locally grown produce and we make everything from scratch, and in-house! Though, after 10 Sam Adams Summer Ales can one really tell the difference between homemade and microwaved frozen food? Perhaps. But the point is we don't want to diminish the value of our offerings and the experience we wish to be creating for our customers (and no, by "experience", we do not mean projectile vomiting onto our front window).

Our search does not end here, dear friends. We shall continue on the Freedom Trail of retail space led by our good broker John (who refuses to wear a tri-corner hat when he shows us these places...we'll keep trying). In the meantime, please tell us what you think. If you can answer the sixty four thousand dollar question, or at least attempt to, we will give you a big hug. Thanks.

Storefront Shopping on Newbury Street

Yesterday afternoon we met with our broker, John, to look at some open retail spots on Newbury St. John had set up an appointment with another broker, Tom, who represents the company that owns almost all the buildings on Newbury. We were supposed to see about 5 spots, but ended up seeing only 2. Why? Tom explained to us that we were very limited in our options as a quick-service restaurant concept. He said that the Tenant Association, which approves new development projects on Newbury St. would reject us in a heartbeat (because of the nature of our food operation). Tom chimed that the process of obtaining a permit to build our restaurant on the odd side of Newbury would probably cost us about $30,000. Tom suggested one spot on Newbury (on the even side) where we actually had a chance (simply because it abuts Boylston St. and not residential property).

Let's talk about this spot. It's great, it's in our price range, and it's right next to a competitor. Drats. Who says "drats" anymore? So let's review: great location, good price, nice layout, wouldn't need too much work, right next to competitor. One can argue that on any high-traffic street such as Newbury, you are essentially always next to a competitor. If I'm not next to one, I'm down the block from one. Alright, I'll be fair: the competitor is not a direct competitor in the sense that Starbucks is to Dunkin Donuts or Trident (all on the same block). However, for a new brand as ours, we run the risk of being dwarfed by our competitor's name.

We continue our search. Choosing a location will be the most difficult decision our team must make, but as a very wise someone once told me: whatever you choose, it will have been the right decision for whatever reason. Maybe this is true, but we'll just have to make the right decision and find out. = )

Location Location Location. Location....aaand more Locations

I must say that this business of trying to start a business has taken us on many adventures, which we love to share with you.

Over the past few weeks, we have been scouring the streets of Boston for retail space. In fact, you may have seen us. We have been all over the place: through Beacon Hill and the West End, up and down Newbury St. several times, in Fenway, near Berklee, Kenmore Square...we're exhausted from all this walking. What we have found from our thorough exploration is a record number of open retail spots. We collect phone numbers from the "for lease" signs and text message them over to our broker, John, who then calls on these properties.

We have run into some interesting characters on our quest for the perfect location. For instance, Chin and I were walking through Fenway and saw a dingy looking storefront that looked like it used to be a Mediterranean cafe. There was no sign, so we went next door to a karate studio and Chin asked the owner if he had any information on this neighboring space. He then referred us to an office building next door to talk to the people who own the entire block. So we found the office and rang the bell. A frazzled woman came to the door and informed us that the spot about which we were inquiring was currently undergoing renovations to be leased out in the future. We left our contact information and bid her adieu.

And in the Back Bay, we saw a For Lease sign in front of a corner property...a convenience store. Chin decided to ask the employees about the space.

Chin: Hi, could you tell us when you guys are closing? (ok, perhaps this wasn't the most sensitive of approaches)
Employee (in a thick Middle Eastern accent): What?! What makes you think we are closing?!
Chin: Uh, there's a For Lease sign out front
Employee: But what makes you think it is us??
Chin: Because the sign was in front of your store. We assumed--
Employee: No! What makes you think it was not the store above us?
Renee: Because the sign was on this property.
Employee: Why you asking?
Chin: We are trying to open a business.
Employee: What business?
Renee: None of yours.

Never in my five years of living in Boston have I seen so many empty spots on Newbury St. I never thought I would see the day. Our adviser informed us today that there was a live news cast on Newbury reporting on this anomoly, "a record number of vacancies in the last eight years," they said. Now, don't get me wrong, I think it's quite depressing that fashion and specialty retailers are being forced to close up shop because of the recession. That said, it does give new businesses an opportunity to move into a playing field that would have been a distant dream a few years ago.

Ever Wonder Why There Aren't More Late-Night Eateries in Boston?

So did we. In fact, this anomaly has bugged us for some time, probably ever since we first moved to Boston in 2004. And if you have gone to college in Boston, you have also shaken your head on occasion after a night out, wondering where the heck you could get some crab rangoon at that hour. I know of only a handful of places that are open late on weekends, including an overpriced sausage push-cart that robs unsuspecting mass-holes of their money after a night out at the Greatest Bar (I'm just bitter because I recall one night when I stood in a line for the sausage sandwich, only to get to the front and realize that they were $7...pssh...nope...what do you think you are? A large commercial lender?)

So, we really want to extend our hours of operation from 11pm on weekend nights to 1am...or even 2 or 3am. We wanted to know how this could be done, so Chin contacted one of our industry sources. First our source explained that there were late-night licenses available, ones that allow shops to be open until 1am, some until 2 and 3am, but conceded that they are available in limited quantities and cost money. He also acknowledged the old-fashioned Bostonian mentality surrounding late-night businesses, and that is that they mean nothing but trouble and noise ("those damn college kids, they've overtaken our town!")...seems a bit Puritanical doesn't it?

While there are some areas in Boston and Cambridge that have late-night activity and would support such an eatery, most of the time businesses are faced with political opposition when trying to extend their food service to the wee hours. What late-night spots do you guys know of that seem to do well?

Frustrating Realtors Pt 4

So you're probably thinking, man these guys (especially Chin) are really going overboard with the amount of posts they write about frustrating realtors. Granted, the realtors themselves are not actually that frustrating. And granted, we've hit sort of a rut with the frequency and creativity of our posts.

In all fairness, finding a location is our number one priority. It's just that the process is really frustrating and I'm choosing an opportunity to vent. I'll explain what I mean and pick up where we left off last with our star realtor, Irene.

Irene's got resources, a large network, and a nice website that provides listings that cater to our needs (including the right price, sq footage, location area, etc.). After one of our standard meetings going over priorities and our lists of things to do, we chose two spots on Newbury St and one spot in Kenmore Sq we wanted to visit (originally there were three spots on Newbury, which got us really excited, but somehow one spot was listed twice with two prices, and the excitement level dropped a tad).

Well, a little before thanksgiving weekend we emailed Irene with the places we wanted to visit and played the waiting game. The week following thanksgiving came around and there was no response. So we called Irene to follow up, she says she didn't recall any email from us, and starts looking in her email history. Sure enough, she searches by my email address (please, send fan mail to ckuo@sausinc.com), finds the elusive email with our coveted listings, and says she'll see what she can do and get back to us.

The next day (Friday) we get a call from a lady named Sharon who tells us the two Newbury listings are...... well not listed anymore, and Irene has passed us down to her- what a downer. Bummed as we are, we thought it would still be a good idea to check out the one Kenmore listing left. So Sharon schedules to meet with us at the location the coming Monday at 2:15 pm.

I mean, even though we missed a couple prime spots on Newbury, and the Kenmore area wasn't exactly at the top of our lists, at the very least we could make a make a learning experience out of it right? You know, inspect the location, see how our floor plan might fit, maybe talk about zoning the space for food retail?

Lo and behold, Sunday comes around and we receive an email from Sharon telling us the listing for the Kenmore location had been removed over the weekend. Funny how the process turned out to be a learning experience either way, just that the learning experience was more so about how fast real estate listings can turn over.

On the bright side, these listings apparently update every day, so who knows, maybe the right place will pop up tommorrow?

or maybe we'll just find more realtors