New restaurant neal Lehigh U Campus (Bethlehem, South Bethlehem: how much, neighborhood, university)

[mo1991]

Hey everyone, my best friend and I are thinking of opening a restaurant in the Lehigh University area. We're kinda looking for suggestions on what kind of food to serve (we have a whole menu in mind , but are trying to find out what the neighborhood is lacking) and what kind of decorating theme or style to go with.
All suggestions are welcome & thanks in advance.

[toobusytoday]

Good luck with your new venture! Are you planning to cater mostly to the Lehigh students local people? I would think that the students would want something that is cheap, ethnic and open late.

For myself, I would like a really good Chinese or Italian place that is authentic and friendly.

[loose cannon]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

Good luck with your new venture! Are you planning to cater mostly to the Lehigh students local people? I would think that the students would want something that is cheap, ethnic and open late.

For myself, I would like a really good Chinese or Italian place that is authentic and friendly.

There's enough Italian restaurants. Another diner with late hrs. would be fine.

[toobusytoday]

That's funny, loose cannon because I was thinking about my answer as I was driving to work this morning and I came to the same conclusion. A good diner is a much better idea - with some vegetarian selections would attract everyone. My daughter and a few of her friends are vegetarians and that's the big disappointment at diners - eveything except the basic vegetable side dishes has a meat component, even if it's just the pasta sauce. Late hours too - that would be great.

[urban analysis therapist]

A 24 hour diner would be great, as you can tell by my other thread. Alexandra's Bistro is a decent diner in South Bethlehem, but their hours suck. You'd get a ton of hungry students iy you opened up a 24 hour diner.

Don't know about how much the rents are here, but the recently closed Sandwich Garden/Quiznos across from Lehigh's Campus Square would make a great location.....provided you offered something cheap, filling, but most of all different. I mean, Quiznos I can sort of understand - well-known franchise. Their downfall?

- Goosey Gander is literally a block away, and serves ridiculously cheap and filling sandwiches - it's totally packed at noontime and on weekends with Lehigh students.
- Subway is even closer, and serves much cheaper (albeit lower quality) sandwiches. They have respectable business from those who don't want to wait at the Goose.

Quiznos was lucky to have 15 people during lunchtime. If that's what you're getting at a prime location during lunch, you're going out of business. Surprisingly, they were around for at least for years.

So Sandwich Garden, some premium sandwich place in the LV area, decides to open up a restaurant in the same prime location that Quiznos failed at.....using the exact same business model that Quiznos failed at. No surprise that they have closed in less than a year. Can you say EPIC FAIL?

So this is a prime location waiting for a good idea that's different. I can tell you what NOT to put in:
1) a sandwich place that fails to undercut the Goose or Subway in terms of price
2) another pizza place
3) a cheesesteak place that claims to be 'authentic', but is way too expensive. Yes - I'm looking at you Michael's Steaks.
4) anything else that puts quality over price.

I'm not saying that college students will eat anything as long as it's cheap. On the contrary, the Goose has such a loyal following because it's cheap AND it's good.

So what do I suggest? Look to NYC for inspiration:
1) Chinese Noodle stands/cheap AND decent Chinese food/a cheap dumpling place
2) Cheap ethnic sandwiches
2) Cheap ethnic restaurant that's short order and quick

It's really not that difficult of an idea to grasp. The execution, however, is immensely difficult.