What city in Alaska for moving & opening a business?

[akck]

Originally Posted by Blind Cleric

Which restaurants have the award winning chefs? Juneau also has Domino's and Papa Murphy's Pizza franchises, FWIW.

Salt and Rookery Cafe. Chef Lionel Uddipa and chef Beau Schooler have won the Great American Seafood Cookoff in 2017 and 2015. Their backgrounds are impressive.

[Fizzik]

Thanks all for the ideas. We thought about a bigger city as well, but hoped that smaller ones might sustain year round. If not, probably have to look at Anchorage or Juneau.

[Haolejohn]

Originally Posted by Fizzik

Thanks all for the ideas. We thought about a bigger city as well, but hoped that smaller ones might sustain year round. If not, probably have to look at Anchorage or Juneau.

One thing you have to consider is that your smaller towns in AK, are often pretty remote, where year round traffic just isn't feasible.

Or they are not connected by roads.

Alaska's definition of rural is totally different than anything down south.

[AKStafford]

Originally Posted by Haolejohn

Alaska's definition of rural is totally different than anything down south.

Something that people just don't get until they visit...

[Haolejohn]

Originally Posted by AKStafford

Something that people just don't get until they visit...

Yep. My SIL was just up for a visit and she looked at our community as a 2500 person community, and thought it was going to be great. She didn't enjoy her time here, because of the isolation.

You got to put boots on the ground.

[riceme]

Originally Posted by Haolejohn

Yep. My SIL was just up for a visit and she looked at our community as a 2500 person community, and thought it was going to be great. She didn't enjoy her time here, because of the isolation.

You got to put boots on the ground.

There is truth here even in the Fairbanks area, which is decidedly urban by Alaska standards....

One of my sisters came up for Christmas last year, and of course she knows that our cousin lives outside of NP and I live outside of Fairbanks, but on opposite ends. She hears us refer to "running" to each others' houses, or quipping that they live "just down the road," so she was under some impression that it was a trip that you could make several times a day. During the winter, this is a drive that might, depending on weather, road conditions, etc. take up to an hour, but easily takes 45 minutes. I kept trying to communicate to her that no, we cannot go back and forth FOUR times in one day, that she must decide what she wants to do ahead of time and plan her days.

She got upset because I told her that she couldn't do *everything* in one day... you can't go x-country skiing at my house in the morning, then to brunch in NP, come back to downhill on Moose Mountain, go back to NP for a piano recital, go to town to see a bluegrass band in the evening, then go up to Birch Hill to a party all in one day during the winter.

Well, YOU might be able to, but I can't, and you better rent yourself a car, because I'm not driving you all those places.

I guess my point is that time and distance seems to be measured differently here. I think nothing of the fact that my drive to work during the winter is about 45 minutes. It's 20-30 min in the summer. If my sister drove 45 minutes, she would have "gone somewhere." Like, a destination. I guess I could go to Two Rivers. That's a destination, right?

[Haolejohn]

Originally Posted by riceme

There is truth here even in the Fairbanks area, which is decidedly urban by Alaska standards....

One of my sisters came up for Christmas last year, and of course she knows that our cousin lives outside of NP and I live outside of Fairbanks, but on opposite ends. She hears us refer to "running" to each others' houses, or quipping that they live "just down the road," so she was under some impression that it was a trip that you could make several times a day. During the winter, this is a drive that might, depending on weather, road conditions, etc. take up to an hour, but easily takes 45 minutes. I kept trying to communicate to her that no, we cannot go back and forth FOUR times in one day, that she must decide what she wants to do ahead of time and plan her days.

She got upset because I told her that she couldn't do *everything* in one day... you can't go x-country skiing at my house in the morning, then to brunch in NP, come back to downhill on Moose Mountain, go back to NP for a piano recital, go to town to see a bluegrass band in the evening, then go up to Birch Hill to a party all in one day during the winter.

Well, YOU might be able to, but I can't, and you better rent yourself a car, because I'm not driving you all those places.

I guess my point is that time and distance seems to be measured differently here. I think nothing of the fact that my drive to work during the winter is about 45 minutes. It's 20-30 min in the summer. If my sister drove 45 minutes, she would have "gone somewhere." Like, a destination. I guess I could go to Two Rivers. That's a destination, right?

Sure. It is a destination.
I’m going to admit that I hate commuting. I hate it so much that I overpaid for a house in wasilla so that my commute will be about 4 miles.

[mizzile]

Originally Posted by Fizzik

Hi all,

My first thought is around Anchorage, due to the higher population (planned business is a restaurant, so requires some more constant traffic), but also considering Seward, Homer & Juneau.

Other considerations: want to build a house somewhere with a mountain / sea view. Have a 10 year old child, so looking for decent schools.

Are smaller cities viable for year round restaurant businesses?

If you have a ton of money to buy the land and build the house, I'd do it in Anchorage. Seems like a restaurant cannot possibly fail there. Any other place and year round is going to have major disadvantages or obstacles.

However, consider the difficulties in getting a liquor license in Anchorage (don't know about other cities) and factor in that cost to your planning.

Also, I would recommend coming to Anchorage to live for a good while before opening a restaurant business.

I haven't lived in Juneau for a while but I recall that most restaurants boarded up for the winter. Not worth operating without the tourist traffic I guess.

[907mckenzie]

I think it would really depend on what type of restaurant as well as what location you are(not just what town, but how convenient the restaurant is within that town...if that makes sense)

What would your target demographic be? I think that will give you a lot of insight as to a location that will suite you best.