Commercial Construction & Renovation’s Post

Charlotte's Uptown Changes: Dandelion Market Closing and Food Truck Surge Charlotte's Uptown is experiencing some significant shifts. Here’s what’s happening: 1. Dandelion Market Closing: After 15 years of serving the community, Dandelion Market is closing its doors. Known for its vibrant atmosphere and diverse menu, this beloved establishment will be missed by many. Rising rent costs have been cited as a key factor in the decision to close. 2. Food Truck Scene Rising: As brick-and-mortar establishments face challenges, the food truck scene in Uptown is thriving. Offering a variety of cuisines and flexible locations, food trucks are becoming a popular choice for both locals and visitors, adding a dynamic culinary element to the area. These changes reflect the evolving landscape of Charlotte’s Uptown, highlighting both the challenges and new opportunities within the community. #CharlotteNC #UptownCharlotte #LocalEats #CommunityNews #FoodTrucks #RestaurantChanges

A very insightful piece on the destructive impact of private equity related to the restaurant and fast food industry. Important that current operators do not sell out to them in the quest for short term profits, as the long term result is often a death sentence.

The restaurant industry is known to be tough. The hours are long, there are staffing-related issues to manage, and the profit margins are often low … meaning, restaurants can be difficult to operate. This article from the Houston Chronicle offers a first-person perspective on the life of a restaurant owner seeking to run/maintain a profitable restaurant. I suspect you will find this article to be an interesting read if you are viewing this post. There are two outliers I will highlight for the restaurant/owner profiled in the article: (1) it is a smaller restaurant that does not have an on-site kitchen, so menu items are made at a nearby shop and transported there where the food is kept hot; and (2) the restaurant does not offer delivery via third-party delivery services like DoorDash due to the high costs. Many of the costs related to operating restaurants have increased substantially – food, labor, rent, insurance, taxes – while remaining outside of a restaurant owner’s control. Two weather events in Houston, the derecho (May) and Hurricane Beryl (July), resulted in almost $1 billion in revenue losses for restaurants, including product loss and property damage (Source: Texas Restaurant Association). Beryl left 2.2 million customers without power. Restaurant owners had to work around days of lost business while also replacing thousands of dollars of (lost) food inventory after the power came back online. Many restaurant owners are exploring new revenue streams, which can include catering, takeout, and merchandise sales. This practice began during the pandemic when restaurants were seeking creative ways to generate revenue to replace income lost from closed dining rooms. Layer on the fact that inflation-squeezed consumers have been eating at home more often. The beneficiaries of this trend have been grocery stores and food producers who have raised prices to offset rising inflation (Source: MarketWatch). At 1912 Ventures, several of our restaurant clients have pivoted their business models as a larger percentage of their customers have opted for takeout and delivery instead of traditional dine-in. In addition to traditional real estate restaurant searches for clients, this pivot has resulted in multiple client assignments related to commissaries and ghost kitchens. https://lnkd.in/gvmbdGEG #commercialrealestate #cre #restaurants #retailrealestate #houstonrealestate #payments

Few people understand the economics of restaurants. "If their RESY is booked for three weeks, and they're charging $36 for striped bass, they must be printing money!" "The owners must be greedy 1 %ers rolling in the dough!" "How dare they charge me a 20% service charge and take advantage of their workers while they're vacationing in Vail?" There seems to be a huge disconnect between those who insist on excessively and unfairly regulating how we run our restaurants and the operators who are simply trying to make people happier through food, community, and hospitality while making a living. Restaurateur, Heather Sperling, from Los Angeles laid out the cost breakdown of her upscale casual restaurant, Botanica, in this LA Times article. Spoiler alert, their pre-tax profit was 1.19%. Low profitability is nothing new for restaurants, but we all know it's gotten more difficult over the last three years due to rising costs, and having one or two locations doesn't cut it anymore. She explains all the benefits hospitality and restaurants can provide to the community, economy, and people's lives beyond eating what may feel like an indulgent meal. I appreciate this article (and I think you will too) because I feel that the public needs to understand the economics and struggles restaurateurs face so they can start passing legislation to help restaurants, not penalize them. Victimizing restaurateurs is not necessarily the strategy here, but a little bit of empathy wouldn't hurt! How many of these articles do we need to publish to change the narrative? #restaurants #restaurant #restaurantfinance #restaurantaccounting #restaurateurs https://lnkd.in/gudrg-8h?

Baldor is calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to provide an exemption on congestion pricing for NYC-based food businesses. Our coalition of more than 100 businesses is asking state leadership to consider how these changes impact the entire food ecosystem - from markets to distributors to neighborhood restaurants to consumers. Let's keep NYC's food scene thriving while working toward environmental goals. Please read the coalition letter and sign the petition in the Baldor post below

Popeyes Louisiana Chicken UK continues its impressive expansion with plans to open its third Scottish location on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow next month. This new store follows successful openings in Barrhead and Aberdeen, marking the brand's 18th new location in the UK this year alone. Since entering the UK market in 2021, Popeyes has demonstrated remarkable growth, now reaching its 50th store milestone. The company's aggressive expansion strategy aims to double its UK presence by the end of 2024, with plans for additional openings in various cities including Belfast, Northern Ireland. This rapid growth showcases how a well-executed strategy, combined with a willingness to take calculated risks, can lead to significant business expansion. Popeyes' success in the UK market, evidenced by overnight queues at new store openings, highlights the potential for international brands to thrive when they effectively adapt to local markets while maintaining their core appeal. #marketexpansion #risktoreward #businessstrategy #growth #theconsultingfactory

Few people understand the economics of restaurants. "If their RESY is booked for three weeks, and they're charging $36 for striped bass, they must be printing money!" "The owners must be greedy 1 %ers rolling in the dough!" "How dare they charge me a 20% service charge and take advantage of their workers while they're vacationing in Vail?" There seems to be a huge disconnect between those who insist on excessively and unfairly regulating how we run our restaurants and the operators who are simply trying to make people happier through food, community, and hospitality while making a living. Restaurateur, Heather Sperling, from Los Angeles laid out the cost breakdown of her upscale casual restaurant, Botanica, in this LA Times article. Spoiler alert, their pre-tax profit was 1.19%. Low profitability is nothing new for restaurants, but we all know it's gotten more difficult over the last three years due to rising costs, and having one or two locations doesn't cut it anymore. She explains all the benefits hospitality and restaurants can provide to the community, economy, and people's lives beyond eating what may feel like an indulgent meal. I appreciate this article (and I think you will too) because I feel that the public needs to understand the economics and struggles restaurateurs face so they can start passing legislation to help restaurants, not penalize them. Victimizing restaurateurs is not necessarily the strategy here, but a little bit of empathy wouldn't hurt! How many of these articles do we need to publish to change the narrative? #restaurants #restaurant #restaurantfinance #restaurantaccounting #restaurateurs

Darden Restaurants, owners of Longhorn Steakhouse and the Olive Garden, among others, is paying an amazing 20X profits for Chuy's. As a strategic buyer, Darden knows that they can plug the successful 100+ restaurant chain (vs Okive Gardens 90+ locations) into their formula and turn a profit within a handful of years. The playback? Taking more of your eating out dollar. Have you noticed how you find many of these family-friendly, mid-tier restaurants all together? That's because they know you will eat a variety of foods, but if they can keep you locked into a single location, that location will win more of your dollars. The next step up from there is to own more brands in the location. And that is Dardens play. https://lnkd.in/gJhNDwrb

#FunFoodFactFriday The first Waffle House opened on September 5, 1955. The restaurant was a collaboration of neighbors in Avondale Estates, Georgia, about 10 miles outside of Atlanta. Joe Rogers Sr. and Tom Forkner decided that the area needed a 24-hour, sit-down restaurant for their friends and neighbors that combined the speed of fast food with the round-the-clock concept. They opened the first Waffle House on Labor Day in 1955. The venture was named Waffle House to promote their highest-profit item—the waffle. Because the waffle did not lend itself to takeout, the owners also thought that encouraging waffle ordering might encourage diners to stay and linger. Forker would say, “We are not in the food business. We are in the people business.” The restaurant signs were painted bright yellow to attract drivers' attention, and menu items included waffles and eggs for 40 cents, hash browns for 20 cents, Coca-Cola for 10 cents, and a filet mignon for $1.50. Waffle House continues to be an icon, with more than 2,000 locations across 25 states. Every minute, Waffle Houses serve an average of 341 bacon strips, 238 orders of hash browns, 145 waffles, and 127 cups of coffee. Other Fun Facts: *** Waffle House used to serve Chick-fil-A. The chain was once licensed to sell fellow Atlanta-based CFA sandwiches. However, the sandwiches got so popular that orders were impacting Waffle House’s regular menu, so the partnership was stopped. *** The original Waffle House location still exists, but it has now been turned into a museum containing Waffle House memorabilia. It can be toured only by appointment, and the tours fill up months in advance. *** Waffle House releases its own custom waffle-based songs, starting with “Waffle House Family.” A full selection can be found on jukeboxes in Waffle House locations. *** FEMA uses the “The Waffle House Index” to determine how hard a natural disaster has hit a town: Code Green means Waffle House is open and serving a full menu, Code Yellow means Waffle House is serving a limited menu, supplies may be low, and power may be off, and Code Red means Waffle House, Inc. is closed and the area needs immediate assistance. #cpgindustry #wafflehouse #nowyouknow #forhireresults The Newell Group