Buying or Selling your Restaurant ?

Times are tough that is for sure, here in Northern California it is a challenging time for all Restaurant owners and when push comes to shove or your just plain out of cash what do you do sell your place?

Or maybe you are looking for a new career, you love food and MAN can you grill a burger!! at least your friends think so right? and it just so happens that their is a burger stand right down the road for sale, boy its your lucky day huh!!!!!!

And yes I love a little Sarcasm but really you have no idea how many times I have heard similar comments so give me a little room to explain



Selling or Buying a Restaurant? I do not have all the answers but I can definitely give you some advice on how to get through it so here we go, does this sound familiar

"I am going to tough it out, it will change next week I am sure of it"

OK who just said that? YOUR DEAD! its not going to change next week unless you just sent out 30,000 mailers and slashed your prices by half! of course then you don't have the staff to keep up anymore because you kept it "thin to win"

Put your ego away, this is business, the economy is not your fault it just is what it is so in times like these you need to be proactive in creating options for yourself. If you are thinking about selling your restaurant or buying a restaurant then here is the first step:

1. Contact a local BUSINESS broker, WAIT, NO contact a local RESTAURANT BROKER ya that's it ! because you need a professional that understands the restaurant business climate in your area.

2. List your business right now, even if you are considering selling you can do it in a confidential way, you can keep operating while getting offers on your place, new buyers should want to see a place that is up and running because it gives them the information to either make minor changes or make major changes if needed, this also gives you the option to implement some guerrilla marketing techniques that can drive customers to you with very little cost "I have a great bunch of ideas with procedures that I am happy to share with you" as long as your restaurant is not in one of my restaurants demographic" LOL

If you are listing with a Broker to sell make sure they have ALL the facts about your place, do not hold anything back of course list all the positives but do not forget the negatives complete honesty is a must, because if the buyer is informed and smart about their decision making process they will probably seek a third party opinion! and that's where I come in, a consultant Can make or break a deal, but the fact is that consultants make their money regardless of the sale so they should be completely unbiased and deliver the facts to the potential buyer or seller and this is a good thing!

There is a lot of money out there, and everyone loves a great restaurant, I have spoken to people that have checks in hand ready to buy a restaurant and have no clue as to what they are doing. I have helped people walk away from places where the seller was not being forthright with the real information, and I have worked with buyers to see the potential in places that were losing money and still bought them because they understood "with help" that they had a great investment ahead of them.

Either way, Buying or Selling seek professional help from a Restaurant Broker, and ask that broker if they work with any consultants, then you have a team of people that know the business, can help you steer clear of the bad deals and put you into a place that will be fun to own.

When I consult with a client I use my knowledge of over 20 years in the Restaurant business in order to give them valuable information, I have opened and closed restaurants, and I know what it takes to make it out there, so hang in there and remember if you need help ask a professional there are many great people out there that love this business and would be happy to lend a hand.

Email me any questions you have regarding this post and I will recommend some resources for you to consider.

Now go get in the kitchen and make some great dishes! cooking always makes me happy

Cheers

Chef Glenn

Sooooo is business slow for you too?

That's an understatement in this economy, everyone is struggling with slow sales rising labor cost "because as soon as you send them home you will be slammed" :) so what do you do to make it though these times? that's the million dollar question and I am going to help you answer it right now!

have you checked your food cost lately? spoilage? phone bill? garbage bill? cable? lease cost? guess what!!!! your throwing away money right now!!!!!!

Lets start with your fixed cost! Rent the quickest way to improve your cash flow is ask your landlord for a temporary reduction in your rent, be prepared to address this with factual information that is direct and to the point, in other words SALES RECEIPTS, sales have slowed for most everyone but I can guarantee you that your landlord will NOT come to you and say "hey how bout I reduce your rent?" go to them and ask for a 6 month reduction, start at 20% and negotiate from there, most landlords will work with you as they certainly do not want to lose tenants and try to fill space in this economy.

Food Cost: in Pizza you should be running about a 22-25 % food cost depending on your menu, KNOW YOUR FOOD COST is is vital to your existence, and make sure your measuring out all your products that go on your pizzas, this will create a consistent product that your customers will love and assure that you have your monthly expenditures in check

Labor Cost: this is a big one because you do not want to be understaffed and you certainly do not want to have people standing around doing nothing right? so check your order flow and make sure you are optimizing your opening time and closing time, check your hourly sales and adjust accordingly.

you might be saying "how do I do these things? opening times against hourly sales and such? you should have a Point Of Sale System in your store, if you are still using a cash register for sales then it will be a lot of work to get this information, that is why every consulting gig I do and the restaurants I open have POS systems in them, it keeps all of your sales information at your fingertips and allows you to know exactly what your costs are related to your cash flow, I cannot stress this enough, call me if you need a referral on a great POS system I do not get paid to refer customers to Revention POS but it is the BEST system on the market!

call your phone company, call your cable company call all your vendors and ask them to lower your prices at least for six months, saving money NOW will help you weather the sluggish cycle we are in, and if you need help evaluating your business to see if it is even viable then do not hesitate to call me 707-774-1668 I can look at it for you FREE, no charge for an evaluation, the more restaurants that keep there doors open and thrive the better for ALL of us so if you need help then just ask!

good luck and I will post more on how to beat the recession and create sales out of $100.00 and a little foot work!

Cheers, Chef Glenn

Down and Out in Ann Arbor

As a rule I usually will not paste and cut a new blog, however today is different, this email came to me and thousands of other subscribers of Pizza Today Magazine. As a owner of Pizza Restaurants this is a timely message, I know Jeremy from working with him at the Pizza expo, his staff at Pizza Today are wonderful, please take a moment to read this, and please know that Fregene's Pizza is committed to quality service and products with every pizza that our customers order!

June 2, 2009

Pizza Today Magazine http://www.pizzatoday.com/


All restaurants are facing a public indictment - yours included this past spring wasn't an overly joyous time for Domino's Pizza. In April, an employee at a franchised store in Conover, North Carolina, used a video camera to document her co-worker in the act of violating numerous food safety measures. The pizza maker - actually, he was constructing sandwiches at the time - made hundreds of thousands of stomachs turn in the video that quickly went viral on YouTube.It was a nightmare for the delivery giant, which already was struggling with lackluster sales in its U.S. stores. Thanks to the action of two wayward individuals, a brand that has built a reputation over half a century was quickly and severely damaged. That's the power of the Internet. That's the power sites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube wield.Though it's now June, I am writing this column in April. Domino's is getting mixed reviews for its response to the crisis, and rightfully so. While I sympathize with the position in which Domino's found itself after the video got traction, I can't understand why it took the company so long to go into crisis-response mode. We now live in an age where information hits the masses instantaneously - but Domino's didn't have any meaningful response to the video until two days after it was first posted on YouTube. In the meantime, the problem only worsened as more people viewed the video and blogged about it online.Perhaps the Domino's braintrust hoped the video would go unnoticed if they didn't draw attention to it. Perhaps, being a giant, the company simply moves slowly by virtue of the amount of red tape it has to cut to get anything accomplished. I don't know. But I do know this: for consumers, the video was the ultimate scarecrow. "How often does that happen in other Domino's stores?" Americans logically wondered. But the video didn't just taint the Michigan-based franchise - it tainted all restaurants, in my opinion. If this can happen in a Domino's store in North Carolina, is it out of the question that it can also happen in an independent pizzeria in Des Moines or a seafood restaurant in Portland?It's no secret that things like this occur from time to time in professional kitchens. Though the food service industry does its best to hide such cases, I've worked in enough restaurants and have watched enough hidden-camera television shows to know that the public can't always trust those who handle its food.Thankfully, acts of this nature are few and far between. The overwhelming majority of food service workers are honest, safety-conscious people who realize their actions can affect the health of others. But the hoards that viewed the embarrassing Domino's video can't be faulted for wondering how prevalent these acts are within the food service industry. Right or wrong, all restaurants are facing a public indictment over this - yours included. You can't be in your restaurant at all times, but you are responsible for what happens in it, even while you're away. If you've not already taken steps to ensure something like this doesn't happen to you, do so now, before it's too late.

Best,
Jeremy White, editor-in-chief Pizza Today Magazine

It's not all about pizza! or is it?

Like anything else, too much of one thing is boring, ok significant others excluded! LOL I am talking about food of course, and the fact of the matter is there are all kinds of great restaurants in the North bay here are a couple for you to enjoy



Super Burger: has two locations on in Santa Rossa and the new location in Penngrove. I had lunch at the new Penngrove location and I have to tell ya the place is really cool, decor and the staff were great its a cozy little place, of course Penngrove is a great little town, now for the food.

I had the Cheese Burger and it was really good, cooked perfectly! the bun was fresh and it came with all the fixins, the only thing I would say is a littel more FAT please, ya thats right I am a firm believer that the best burger you can get is a 20/80 chuck burger, its juicy and flavorful and for most line cooks its a easy burger to cook. I also tried the Chili, its home made and to tell you the truth it was nothing special, thick and spicy but missing the mark in texture and flavor, now the Cole Slaw was somthing entirely different, it was great! the sauce was perfect crisp cabbage and perfectly seasoned VERY GOOD! back to the fries and Onion rings? hmm frozen :( with that said though they were good, I just prefer fresh dipped rings and french fries that are pressed fresh! I spoke to the owner and he is a great guy, and takes pride in his places and it shows, the staff is great! the place is clean and the prices are reasonable, GO GET A SUPER BURGER and tell em Chef Glenn sent you!

1501 4th StSanta Rosa, CA 95404
(707) 546-4016‎ and in Penngrove!



Bianchini's Sandwich and Salad Market: So you think making sandwiches is easy huh? well you would think it is but very few places make a great sandwich, Bianchini's is the exception! Steve and Debbie Bianchini are no strangers to great food, Steves Grandfather founded Scottys Market in Marin and now they are bringing that same love of food to little ol Petaluma THANK YOU! seriously we needed this place! Ok I had the Pastrami sandwich and it was great, fresh pastrami, the rolls are all baked in house and then made it to order! no problem adding or taking certain ingredients off if you like, I also had the Macaroni Salad and it was good too. You have got to try the Spinach Salad, fresh baby Spinach, candied walnuts cranberries and the dressing was excellent, the Sante Fe Chicken Sando was awesome too, fresh sliced chicken breast, pepper jack chees and a nice Chilli! The prices are very reasonable, teh Sante Fe Chicken sando was $6.99 and the Spinach Salad $7.25 you cannot get the quality of these items for that price anywhere! I think one of the nicest things about Bianchini's is the fact that you can watch your sando being made, everything is fresh and the place is very clean, Steve and Deb are true professionals and a very welcome addition to North East P town, see you soon for another great sandwich!

1367 N. McDowell BlvdSuite 100Petaluma, CA 94954(707) 776-4570

Iron Chef Wine Collection

I am very happy to announce that I have been asked to represent Iron Chef and thier new Wine Collection, this is a great honor to be associated with such a well respected name in the food industry. The wine speaks for itself! it is great and I am already working on pairings for the D.O.C.G. Chianti, Un-Oaked Chardonnay, Merlot and the Pino Grigio.

Along with the other World Pizza Champion members, we will be working on Distribution through out the US and abroad! for more information on Iron Chef Wine Collection please contact myself at chef@fregenes.com

Fresh is Fresh , but there is so much more

I had dinner last night in San Rafael, at a restaurant that will remain anonymous " If I was reviewing this place it would not be good" but that's not the point I am trying to get at, the owner was talking to myself and my friend and complaining about all the other restaurants in the town and how they do not use fresh ingredients, cans in the kitchen, distributors delivering heat and eat products you know the places I am talking about!!!! and she said shes "dying" not sure she will make it

It is too bad that a people accept that kind of food preparation, we have become LAZY when it comes to eating out, and yet we expect low prices and great food or we jump on YELP and become half assed critics!!

Now this restaurant owner has got to get her kitchen together, we paid $18.00 for a bowl of Bucatini that was so small I was shocked, and while the food was fresh the portions were VERY SMALL

No restaurant will survive if the local diners do not come back and eat on a regular basis, FRESH OR NOT, if the portions are small and expensive then the place will be closed in no time, so what do I do?

It is so easy to make great recipes using fresh ingrediants everyday, so write your menus utilizing your local produce meats and other ingrediants when at all possible

Be generous in your portions! go the extra step and make your pasta dishes a little bigger! add a couple of ounces to your beef dishes, unless you are a restaurant that specializes in Tappas then you better feed your customers becasue if you do not THEY WON"T COME BACK!!!! even worse is they will not "spread the word" and no matter how much marketing you do it will not help in turning tables.

I have seen this first hand in some of the restaurants I consult for, and then there are the places that are always packed and everybody loves them, go eat at one of them and see what they are doing!!!! are you listening? put your ego asid eand go learn first hand the secret to their success.

I am goign to start a series of posts that focuses on recipes that really make diners happy and are very easy to make, I will spell it all out for you, includeing food costs preperation and plating, and remember size does matter ;) in plating that is.

Ok its saturday night and I am going down to my favorite Italian Restaurant in P-Town and have nice bowl of Penne Pasta Arrabiata!!!!!

Remember everyone, PASSION make it with all the love you have and it will be great!

Chef Glenn

Passion? whats that have to do with great food!

Ok this might be a dumb question, I mean if you are a professional Chef or a weekend warrior it is that same passion that keeps you cooking right? why is it that your grand mother's soup tasted so good------------------because she loved to cook!!! it was not a chore or something she HAD to do.

So what the hell am I talking about and what does this have to do with my business? EVERYTHING "when I cap my letters THAT MEANS I AM YELLING AT YOU" :)

Seriously you need to pay attention to this, it is important, your business depends on it.

I do not have to tell you that we are in a recession, and while the fast casual segment is being impacted along with all other restaurants, Pizza is still a good seller, my personal restaurants are down about 10% and while that hurts the bottom line, I have friends in fine dinning that are getting killed!!!

I completely believe that if you are passionate about your business and LOVE to cook, you will make it through these lean times, marketing food cost and labor cost are a huge factor, but if you do not love what you do you will never survive!

The gifter of my passion is my father, I remember the BBQ's that he threw when we were young, every one would come to eat "Skis" ribs, or thanksgiving dinner on the rugged north coast of Mendocino County!

Whether pops was cooking for a few or many his passion was the same, it had to be great! and he made it look effortless.

I lost my dad to cancer this fall, I have never felt such a deep and all encompassing sadness, and at the same time so grateful for all the happy memories that will keep pops alive in my heart forever.

thanks for being such a great dad, and teaching me to be a great dad, I really miss you pops and the kids tell you they love you every night.

This is the passion that my father gave me, I will never lose it, I hope you never lose yours.

From Naples with love!

To say this trip to Naples for the " Troffeo Citta Di' Napoli World Pizza Cup-the Challenge Cup"
was special is an understatement!

On June 7th I left for the contest with high hopes and just plain ol excitement, I knew I was going to see my Chef friends from the East Coast, Dublin Ireland and of course all our friends in Napoli, the surprise was meeting all the new members of the World Pizza Champions team, Bruno Di Fabio New York, Diana Coutu Canada, and Randy Hueffmeier from Minnesota.

This trip was also special because the Food Network was in Naples with us to film a show of "Glutton For Punishment" starring Bob Blummer, the show will air early next season so keep an eye out for it! oh ya and I will be blasting the heck out of the air date too! Check out Bobs show at



www.gluttonforpunishment.tv


The challenge was to Teach Bob how to be a pizza acrobat a daunting task to say the least, but he had a GREAT! coach and our team founder Tony Gemignani 9 time World Champion Pizza Acrobat. Now I work really hard, and Tony, Bruno, Joe all of us take enormous pride in what we do but I have to take my "Chef Coat" off to Bob and the entire crew from Glutton For Punishment on how hard they work to get every shot! Vera is AMAZING, she had every detail down to the nano second, and we all learned very quickly I might add to "leave the flash off" :)
quite down or just leave the shoot!!!! Vera your great! Will behind the camera? ya he rocks too, and Francesca and Roberto pulled that equipment around like it was nothin, hell we had the easy job baking and competing!!!!! cant wait to see you all in Sonoma for the Grape Stomp

Tony G and Nancy P arranged a tour of the Buffalo Mozzarella in Salerno on Monday, so we all packed up early and drove south from Naples down the Amalfi Coast to Salerno and arrived at the Mozz facility about 10am, they were in full swing producing the freshest most unbelievable Buffalo Mozz you have ever tasted, the actual Buffalo are only 3 minutes down the road, so from milking to finish product is about 3 hours! just amazing here are a few pictures

Monday after the tour we drove a few miles to one of the best Pizzeria's in Italy owned by Vincenzo Manzi and his family, you really have to be there to feel the generosity, love and brotherhood of the Manzi Family, the pizza was great and yet another round of filming for Bob and the crew heres a few more pics!









Monday night after a great dinner we headed to the Kitchen at the Tennis Hotel www.tennishotel.it
to prepare our recipes for Tuesdays competition, and here is where it really gets fun, you have 6 different Chefs in one kitchen, just about to go head to head in the worlds best Pizza competition and everyone is helping everyone!!! Tony jumps in and starts to make dough for the team to compete in the original Margherita contest and we all start sharing whatever we have "or have forgotten" with everyone else. This is what makes the WPC the best Pizza team in the world the fact that no matter what goes on in the competition we still remain a team even in the heat "NPI" of the battle :)

The competition on Tuesday went great! my two entries were flawless!!! and I was hoping the judges would agree. The entire day was filled with seeing all our Italian Friends, baking, and all the acrobatic challenges including Bobs big show. Manzo and I did the Billy and Glenn show, color commentary for Will during the acrobatic events and yes we are working on a pilot show for future Food Network airing ;) hey dreams come true every day, why not this one lol

Jason nailed the individual freestyle, Bruno predicted and then delivered his wins in the largest dough and the fastest!!!! you Rock Bruno and Christopher "Brunos Son" rocked the house with his largest! first place and his acrobatics, made me miss my kids even more than I already did, Christopher your a pro in my book pal!!!!

On Tuesday night after the competition we all went to down town Naples to Vera Pizza, Ernesto Cacialli's pizzeria, and in my opinion the worlds best pizzeria! check out these pictures, close your eyes and you might even taste it!

















Wednesday was spent reaping the benefits of all the hard work that went into the competition, we had a chance to hang out poolside and relax a little and catch up with all our friends. The competition awards night is filled with local talent acts that were just awesome, and the Pizza? well that is the best part, all the local pizzerias start cooking and the crowds start arriving. I will try to give you a feel for what is going on here, the crowd reaches about 3ooo people, there are ten wood fired ovens with pizzioli's firing 5 to 8 pizzas at a time, now remember theses ovens are at about 800 degrees, and the pizzas cook in just one minute so they are cranking them out really fast and the lines are still 30 people deep at every oven THE ENTIRE NIGHT!!! yes its a party, lots of great TAB beer, wonderful people form Naples and all the competitors from all corners of the Globe, the best of the best are invited here to compete and it is an honor to just be here, of course its also great to come in 1st in North America and Canada but hey who's counting.

Bob was awarded his WPC Team Jacket! all of the team members that won collected there trophies, Tony Gemignani was recognized for his lifetime acheivments with a beautiful trophy and well deserved it was, in fact both Tony and Nancy Pugliesi worked tirelessly to represent the World Pizza Cup in this contest, form the bottom of my heart you guys are the best.

For a list of all the awards go to www.worldpizzachampions.com

I cannot thank everyone enough for the support in getting to Naples here is just a few, Pop's I love you! Ray and Cheri no words describe my gratitude for all your hard work and support, Michael well pal without you we would not be where we are! you are amazing. All my friends VJB winery, Henry Belmonte, Jeremy Forcier Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc. Dereck O'Connell

And my sponsors, Pepsi, Castino restaurant supply, Alcatraz SeaFood, Bank Of The West, Stinger Sportwear, La Nova Wings and Revention POS systems THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS!!!

I will leave you with a few more pics of the awards night,

Ciao