Need Help with information to open a Big , Bakery , we are relocationg from Chicago to the Southlake, keller or Grapevin (Fort Worth: condo, crime)

[5stones]

personally I wish someone in the Mid-Cities would open a kolache shop

Where is the closest one?

I miss kolaches...the cream cheese and sausage are my favorites. In HOuston we had one on our way to school, if you were late to class and brought a few kolaches in....no tardy slip!

When we lived in pittsburg I though for sure they would have kolache shops (big Chech and slovak population) but no...it was all Perogies.

As for the OP and speciality cakes...I would not suggest southlake then, I think they have 6-8 already there and 3-4 are speciality high end bakeries.

[vinmar4]

I think that we are going more into looking around the Keller area. This bakery will be high end bakery but also have the daily bread. I like the fact the tehre also a lot of people from the Chicago, Michigan IN area around. I really like Tx as I feel that I'm half from there and half from Chicago as I lived in El Paso for a while and went to school there also. What do you know, my daughter who was born here, just got married to a Texan from Garland
We are excited about the Bakery but at the same time is kind of Scary. I really apprecite all the responsesand maybe one of this days I will meet you all the our place

[vinmar4]

Well,
My husband is oficially now looking at different places in Keller for the Bakery and I'm now looking to rent either a house or apartment either in Grapevine or Keller. Any sugestions as to apartment complexes?
We want to rent for a while before we decide where to buy. Not to mention that we are going to have to rent our home here for now also. I have 2 children that need to attend the second half of 1st grade and 7th grade , if I go to TX after Christmas. I need to stay close to freeways for my job as I have to visit different hospitals and medical offices with a schedule that changes daily . I'm also looking for good schools for the children. We will really appreciate any kelp from people that live in that area. Also, does anybody know of a good , agent to help look for the best location for the Bakery?
Thanks a million again!

[loves2read]

ISDs in TX work differently than in some states--here a school district and a town may only have a partial accquaintance...one town might have 2-3 different ISDs and one ISD might be in 2-3 different towns--confusing to say the least--and sometimes only a stone's throw makes the difference...

Better school districts in NE Tarrant Co---in alpha order-- with the towns that can have homes in those ISDs (I am pretty sure)

Birdville ISD--North Richland Hills, Hurst,
Carroll ISD (some Grapevine homes are zoned for Carroll ISD)
Grapevine-Colleyville ISD--Grapevine, Colleyville, Euless,
HEB ISD--Hurst, Euless, Colleyville, Bedford, Fort Worth
Keller ISD--Keller, Colleyville, North Richland Hills, Fort Worth (uses a Keller mailing address but pays FTW city taxes)
Northwest ISD--Trophy Club, Haslet, Roanoke, Keller

this link gives map that you can link to and seach for the outline of any ISD in the Region 11 where you are considering living
School District Locator

and this link -- if you choose a particular ISD--will take you to that ISD's web site
Education Service Center Region XI | Public Schools (http://www.esc11.net/8234398102229/site/default.asp - broken link)

You can Google a map and see the major freeways--
820 Loop goes around FTW and connects to Hwy 114,
35W which goes north to Denton and S to Waco/Hillsboro,
I-20 and I-30 which run E/W across the DFW metroplex,
183 which is called the Airport Freeway since it runs E/W by DFW airport into Dallas and Fort Worth
121 runs NE/SW from McKinney, Frisco, Lewisville, Mid-Cities, Fort Worth,
114 that goes from Keller/Haslet area west 377/I-35 into Las Colinas in Dallas

there are some major surface roads that are good to use as well
Hwy 377 in Keller area is having major construction to widen it--stop lights as well in certain sections
some toll roads so you probably want a toll pass if you are traveling into the east like Lewisville, Frisco, Dallas

[vinmar4]

Thanks Loves2read
Do you know anything about the good and the bad about apartments in the Keller and Grapevine area?
How long does it take to go say from North Keller to Grapevine with all the construction going on?
Thanks in Advance

[5stones]

North Keller to Grapevine

Depends on where to where but if you go up to 114 you can to downtown Grapevine in aobut 15minutes.
Takes me about 20 minutes south of 1709 to get to the Grapevine mills mall.
30 minutes to go door to door at DFW.
20-30 minutes to south Grapevine near the GVHS since 1709 can bog you down if you hit every light!

There really isn't any construction between the two unless you go up 377 to get to 114.
and you can get off of 114 before the 121 interchange mess. (add 10 minutes for that) Door to door to my sis in coppell off of Denton Tapp Rd (way past Grapevine) is 45 minutes in traffic...30-35 in the afternoon.

as for apts in Keller...
The Art house is very nice and brand new... Arthouse Location, Keller Texas (http://www.arthousekeller.com/Location/tabid/817/Default.aspx - broken link)
The Dominion at town center apts on 1709 look to be very nice
Grand Estates on north Tarrant Pky
The lakes of stone glenn again new... Welcome to Whiteco Residential! (http://www.whitecoresidential.com/properties.php?id=21 - broken link)

I am sure there are more but these are ones I know are in good locations and look very nice from the outside and the grounds etc....
However I do not know anyone who lives there and I haven't been in any of them.

[vinmar4]

Thanks 5 Stones
I will look up information about the apartments. My husbad needs to find a good reliable agent to help him look for the Bakery location. Any ideas?

[loves2read]

you may have trouble finding a 3 bedroom apt that is in a good area and does not have Section 8---govt asstd renters...

there are apartments around 820/I35 Fossil Creek area but don't know if that is Keller ISD

You can Google a map of Keller/Grapevine and search for apartments and plenty will pop up...the reviews there are not that valid--lots of spam posters and such a variety of +/- opinions...

I guess about your choice of where to put the bakery that you need to consider demographics and where people are moving...but bakeries are weird...
in my area we have two very, very good "custom" bakeries that do special cakes...
Creative Memories on Bedford-Euless Rd and Texas Star on Harwood---

Creative Memories Inc - - Cakes for all occasions, weddings, birthday party and more, located in Hurst Texas
I taught with someone whose parents own Creative Memories and taught their son who is working in the business. It has been around a long time--the area it is in is older, in part of Mid-Cities with probably some demographics that don't look that positive and where there is no up-scale housing...yet it seems to be doing a big business with birthday/special occasion cakes...and other baked goods

Texas Star is in more upscale strip mall and does LOT of business...some lovely wedding cakes...
Texas Star Bakery - Wedding Cakes, Groom's Cakes, Birthday Cakes, Baby Cakes, Religious Event Cakes

if you Google Keller/Southlake/Grapevine you can also search for bakeries--there seems to be quite a few in that area--I hope you do a thorough demographic analysis and don't make a mistake setting up shop in an area that is already pretty competitive...

what type of research have you done in deciding that you will open a bakery in either of those towns? have you investigated any real figures like price of rental space, avg income for residents, cost of electricity or construction, talked to anyone with either city's economic council...
Grapevine's historic Main St gets LOT of foot traffic even in winter--a bakery in one of those shops might do well just from walk=in traffic...from what I have seen there is not a specialized cake shop in Grapevine--Southlake and Colleyville are probably closest shops--if you discount the grocery store bakeries like Tom Thumb's...

have you considered Denton as a choice--there are mostly grocery store bakeries in Denton from what comes up Googling--and that area is really seeing a lot of growth lately--some of the more creative bakeries are outside town in Lewisville or Sanger or Haslet area which is not very convenient...

[vinmar4]

The location that we need needs to be in a nice safe area, where a high number of the Hispanic population would have access to the Bakery, but we want to stay in the Keller area. We are thinking maybe in the North part of Keller?
Please help!

[loves2read]

almost any area is safe enough to open a bakery if you are outside the inner areas of FTW--but profitable is something else...

Keller has only 4% of its population that is Hispanic--4% of 30K is like 1200 people--is that is going to be enough to support your bakery

If you need large # of Hispanic customers, you need to look more at North part of FTW inside the 820 loop--FTW has about 30% Hispanic population which would be over 150K Hispanics
30% in Grand Prairie which is S of Dallas and E of FTW...38000 hispanics approx
Grapevine has less than 13% Hispanic-- about 5500 people
Hurst which is east of FTW and S of Keller has 11% Hispanic (4000) but it has two custom bakeries in that area already...the two I mentioned before...

If you want to stay in the Keller area AND have big Hispanic population...
Saginaw has 14-15% but it is a very small town so you are only talking about 600 people

check out this link and scroll down to some of the towns in Keller area
there is info about ethnic % and number of residents and per capita income
//www.city-data.com/city/Texas.html
You need to talk to someone who can give you some straight info--NOT just try to sell you a lease for a commercial bakery--a real estate person is not going to really care if your bakery works or not after the lease is negotiated...
frankly I don't know how many people you need for population density to support a custom bakery...but I imagine the household income is also something important to look at--people have to have enough income to buy your product AND take care of their other needs...