Considering moving/starting business there

[Dogmama50]

I'm not being negative, just realistic.

Your first post indicated that you had never been to Evergreen and I still stand by then opinion that moving to a place you have never visited to open a business is not wise. Evergreen is much more like the Cape than it is LA, you still have a 45-60 minute drive to downtown. Many of us are in or have been in the industry and speak from experience when it comes restaurants in Colorado. Good luck in your venture.

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by staceyrae08

Wow,

thanks for all the responses. Most negative, while one positive. Very interesting. I didn't really want to explain all details, but I guess I should have included the fact be would purchasing an existing business...and having all ready researched and found a few shops in evergreen for sale, with success, we started to look more into it. We also HAVE been to Colorado....had to drive through on our way out to Mass....broke down twice actually and never wanted to leave (bf had obligations to the restaurant on the cape...that would have been mean) and I understand that culture is very different...Im used to that, going from detroit, to los angeles, to the isolated way of life on cape cod....and I think everyone focused on the coffee shop more then the cafe part, and thats fine.

thanks

I'm sure you'd see it as negative because most people only want to hear the dream part not the reality part, but people are just trying to keep you from wasting your time and money. Driving through is one thing, but making a proper visit is another. I can't imagine why anyone would buy a business sight unseen, anywhere, anyplace. Makes no sense.

I'd make a proper visit, not as a tourist, but with the view of actually living there. Evergreen for instance has a very dynamic climate. It is on the crossroads between 5200 feet in elevation in Denver and the continental divide at 13000-14000 feet. It gets hammered by up and down draft winds, as air currents and rising and lowering temperatures run up and down the mountains. I've been in some of the most hellacious snowstorms and thunderstorms of my life in the Evergreen area and my family lived there all the way back in the 1950's, so I know it well enough.

I don't see it as trying to dissuade you, only point out some reality that before sinking huge amounts of time and money into a business, I'd actually figure out in person if you'd actually want to be there and if you really would be a fit for the area. If you can't plump out a couple of hundred bucks for airfare for a visit and a week of your time, you wouldn't be able to afford to buy a business anyways. "Existing" businesses are usually up for sale for a reason, not always because the owner is retiring as a multimillionaire.

[gmm_24]

Not negative, realistic. You drove through and broke down twice, that does not mean you looked around in preparation of moving here. Priced things, checked neighborhoods, spoke to locals and etc.
There are lots of places I visit that I love, like Florida and would never live there. Pretty, things to do but live there, no thanks. I come to this conclusion after having been there more than half a dozen times to visit relatives and spending an entire Summer there.

I see 3 cafe type places for sale, they are not the 7 I saw when I googled cafe in Evergreen, CO. I did not concentrate on coffee shops once you said cafe.
So why are they selling?
Is it do to lack of business?
Poor economy?
Too much competition from already well established cafes?

These are not negative questions, these are realistic questions that need to be answered in this current economy.
I have seen really cool looking, original restaurants open and sometimes before I even get to go there, they are closed. The restaurant business is hard in general and worse in this economy.

Also you say you are trapped up there on the cape and it takes you a couple of hours to get to other major cities in other states and I had said to you it is longer to get around here to other places due to state size. That is not negative that is a fact.

So much more research is needed if you want to drop everything including his job and start your own business. You are basing it on what you find on the internet and not reality.

My friend up in Canada bought a restaurant/wedding reception type place. They owners lied through their teeth about why they were sellng and how much money they made yearly, showed them doctored books. The place had tanked, even before the economy did so my friend and her husband have lost a lot of money, lost their house and etc on this business. They cannot sell it, they have tried to take the people to court and are now forced to live with in-laws till they can get anything at all back. It is not in CO but it is a lesson in doing real research before jumping at something that sounds and looks really good. Which they did based soley on the internet and the owners word/books.

If you buy a business and it does not do well at all, what will you do then? If you cannot sell it and get out and are stuck?
I would ask you these questions on any state you planned to move to without having done in person real research. Location, foot traffic, nearby competition, speaking to locals, realtors, condition of the place and equipment you are buying, eating at the other cafes are things that should be looked into before leaping blindly, and possibly losing lots of money.

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by gmm_24

There are lots of places I visit that I love, like Florida and would never live there. Pretty, things to do but live there, no thanks. I come to this conclusion after having been there more than half a dozen times to visit relatives and spending an entire Summer there.

Same here. I've been to tons of purdy places in the world, but could I or would I realistically live in many of these places? No.

I've come across many people that see stunning pictures of high elevation Colorado in the summer with nice forests and streams and mountain vistas and they think that is what Colorado is and what everyone lives in out there. The reality is that all those places can have winter for up to 10 months a year and few people really can live up in that environment.

While Evergreen is a cool area, there are good reasons why the foothills have never really taken off in a big way. Yes over the decades there has been steady real estate development and growth, but not on the scale of Denver.

[pyrotech]

Sounds like you've already made up your minds. Good luck! I take trips to Evergreen to go mountain biking in the summer; love visiting there. Let us know when you make it here, and hopefully a few of us will stop by and visit your cafe!

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by gmm_24

.

I see 3 cafe type places for sale, they are not the 7 I saw when I googled cafe in Evergreen, CO. I did not concentrate on coffee shops once you said cafe.
So why are they selling?
Is it do to lack of business?
Poor economy?
Too much competition from already well established cafes?

These are not negative questions, these are realistic questions that need to be answered in this current economy.
I have seen really cool looking, original restaurants open and sometimes before I even get to go there, they are closed. The restaurant business is hard in general and worse in this economy.

It is always important to find out why an owner is selling. Retirement? OK. Hems and haws and says it's time to "move on"? Look a little further.
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Visit Evergreen, OP. If you're careful, you can get some reasonably inexpensive air fares out here, and you could always camp. Ask around in Evergreen; what do people think of this cafe? Do they go there often, etc.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Katiana

....Visit Evergreen, OP. If you're careful, you can get some reasonably inexpensive air fares out here, and you could always camp. Ask around in Evergreen; what do people think of this cafe? Do they go there often, etc.

I found out yesterday that Southwest Airlines will give anyone 2 free roundtrips if they do two things: (1) Take the SWA credit card; and (2) Use that card at least one time. There are further free trips based on how much you charge on the card, etc.

[sunsprit]

sorry, but this thread has really been a laugh .... I've read that the populated areas of Colorado have some of the highest levels of restaurants per population in the country. Which is a contributing factor to why so many of them fail or are marginal financial successes at best.

The OP asserts that they've investigated buying a restaurant business in Evergreen, but:

1) Have never been there
2) Have not done basic due diligence about the business(s) they're looking at buying
3) Are apparently so tight on finances that they cannot afford to come out and verify the business activity, review the books and the circumstances/value of the offerring; IMO, that would require at least a one week on-site visit to include at least a weekend ... and that's only a minimum, not necessarily a desirable investigation
4) Have no idea if the environment, locale, or any other aspect of the Evergreen area will meet their expectations for the changes they want in life circumstances ... which again would require a visit of some duration. While all of us can express our opinions about what we've encountered and our impressions thereof ... the ultimate test of satisfaction with the area is solely the judgement of the person who moves there (beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, right?).
5) Have apparently never owned a restaurant in the past, although bf has cafe/coffee shop experience as a chef?
6) Apparently don't know if the Evergreen marketplace would be receptive to their cafe idea? This is such a basic issue ... a cafe is not a universal item, it has it's personality and it's attraction for it's area. I've seen way too many fabulous chefs whose idea of what the population should buy be total flops because they were in the wrong place with their idea ... wrong menu, wrong price points, off-putting decor/front of the house ... as well as a lot of chefs who had little business/managerial skills to undertake the business side of the business.

That's why not every CIA or J&W's graduate goes on to owning a successful restaurant business ... and so many totally inept people as cooks can own a successful roadside bathroom facility serving franchised burgers and chicken and sometimes really gross foodlike substances. All it takes is the available capital to put at risk and the franchise training, and poof ... you've a successful restaurant (Well, not always ... I've seen franchise places go out of business, too). There's a huge disconnect between being a great chef and being a profitable business ....

7) The OP seemed to be concerned about the people and the recreational opportunities present in the area. In my experience, owning and operating a small business of this type (cafe) will preclude having much time to meeting people outside of the business or time for recreation because that's when your prime business opportunities present. Serving breakfast? you'll be up in the AM way before your first clients arrive. Serving lunch? you'll be there in the hours before, cleaning and prepping, and then hustling to get as many table turns as possible in a very limited time frame. Serving dinner? you'll be there hours before, cleaning and prepping, and again hustling to get those table turns and cleaning up after the last clients leave for the evening. In between, you're working on your menu's, your food prep, ordering and receiving food ... the last thing you want is food deliveries during service times ... sorting, storing, organizing, maintaining the front and back side of the house. It's a very labor and time intensive business which doesn't necessarily have a big return on the investment, or much income for the hours worked.

There's a whole bunch more issues I can see that are present here ... but the primary problem is the position of the OP that they cannot afford to come out here to verify anything about their proposed business purchase or the realities of living here compared to their dissatisfaction with their current situation.

The second big issue is if they have the available capital to make the move and how long it would take to make the business cash flow enough so they could live on it ... a down payment is only a small portion of the business picture. No lender will finance enough money so that they have an unsecured debt, nor will they put forth capital for personal living expenses while somebody tries to make a restaurant profitable. I've seen this problem so many times with business proposals ... the would-be owner has a good idea, perhaps even buying an existing business which they believe that they can improve, and only need "x $'s" to acquire the place. What they generally leave out of the equation is the need to have operating capital, cash flow to make the debt service and taxes current, pay their hired help, and enough money to live on while they work the business. If they succeed with the business idea but don't make enough money to live on, then they've got a real problem to survive as a business. Evergreen, for example, doesn't have free rent and utilities available for new entrepreneurs ... nor a public transportation system so they can forgo their vehicles for basic necessities or for their access to recreation, medical, shopping, or other needs. Come to think of it, I don't know of anyplace in the USA where the cost of living is zero where you'd still have access to a viable business enterprise like a restaurant ....

Dreams and $1.50 will buy a cup of coffee ... but won't make rent, utilities, business purchase payments, tax payments, food suppliers, labor, disposables, business insurance, hardware, or any of the other myriad expenses of owning a small business. Nor will a big downpayment on the business suffice ... you've got to have operating capital and reserves available to have any chance at all. In my experience, it's been prudent to identify all of those costs as closely as possible from the existing business ... and then triple that dollar amount of money required for reserves ... that's in addition to having minimized my personal expenses to a point where my limited other income could support me while I built up the new business which took all of my time.

IMO, OP ... you need to do a lot more groundwork before deciding that Evergreen is the place for you ... even if owning a restaurant isn't what you and bf decide to do.