How Seasonal is Coeur d'Alene? (Boise, Idaho Falls: ski resort, real estate, house)

[JayhawkCO]

A friend and I are in the very, very preliminary stages of looking to open a restaurant somewhere. We both live in Colorado and have run successful restaurants, and I think we have enough investors lined up to maybe think about doing it for ourselves. That said, Colorado is pretty expensive to live in and the restaurant scene is pretty saturated (especially here in Denver). So, we were giving some thought into other cities that we could move to and CDA came to mind for me. My main question is, how seasonal is it there? Obviously lots of tourist traffic in the summertime, but in the winter, is there still a decent amount of people around going out to eat? My buddy is a chef in Breckenridge, CO and has a ton of staffing issues given the seasonality of ski towns. Just curious if CDA would be the same way. (We're also loosely looking at Bozeman, Missoula, or Boise just in case anyone had additional info regarding those cities.) Thanks in advance.

Chris

[Cnynrat]

I don't have any real data, just my seat of the pants observations.

First, I think the full time, year round population of the CDA metro area is large enough to support a decent number of full time restaurants.

Second, I know of at least one restaurant in the CDA area that only operates seasonally (Tony's on The Lake). It's a very nice restaurant, great food and service every time we've been there. It is a little ways outside of town, so that may be enough to keep customers away during winter. Or it may be a personal choice of those who run the place, IDK. Outside of CDA there are other restaurants I know of that either close for winter, or reduce their hours. In all those cases that I know about it's quite obvious that their location is the issue, and they are just too far outside the primary population centers to keep a brisk business running all winter. I don't think this should be an issue for a restaurant that is centrally located in the CDA metro area.

Third, there does seem to be a fair amount of turnover in the restaurant business in the CDA area. I know the restaurant business is challenging, and failures are not uncommon. That said, it seems there are more that disappear than I'd expect when I think about my observations from other locales. There also are plenty of restaurants of different styles and price points that are open year round and from my perspective seem to be successful.

I know that's a real mixed bag of answers, but that's what I've observed in my time living in the area.

There is a North Idaho Foodies Facebook page that might be interesting for you to take a look at. It's mostly focused on the CDA area.

Dave

[JayhawkCO]

Originally Posted by Cnynrat

I don't have any real data, just my seat of the pants observations.

First, I think the full time, year round population of the CDA metro area is large enough to support a decent number of full time restaurants.

Second, I know of at least one restaurant in the CDA area that only operates seasonally (Tony's on The Lake). It's a very nice restaurant, great food and service every time we've been there. It is a little ways outside of town, so that may be enough to keep customers away during winter. Or it may be a personal choice of those who run the place, IDK. Outside of CDA there are other restaurants I know of that either close for winter, or reduce their hours. In all those cases that I know about it's quite obvious that their location is the issue, and they are just too far outside the primary population centers to keep a brisk business running all winter. I don't think this should be an issue for a restaurant that is centrally located in the CDA metro area.

Third, there does seem to be a fair amount of turnover in the restaurant business in the CDA area. I know the restaurant business is challenging, and failures are not uncommon. That said, it seems there are more that disappear than I'd expect when I think about my observations from other locales. There also are plenty of restaurants of different styles and price points that are open year round and from my perspective seem to be successful.

I know that's a real mixed bag of answers, but that's what I've observed in my time living in the area.

There is a North Idaho Foodies Facebook page that might be interesting for you to take a look at. It's mostly focused on the CDA area.

Dave

I really appreciate the thought out reply. Good to hear that at least from an "open/closed" perspective, it's not that seasonal. Do you find that restaurants are generally busy during the winter months? I'm assuming that June-August most everything is gangbusters.

Chris

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by JayhawkCO

A friend and I are in the very, very preliminary stages of looking to open a restaurant somewhere. We both live in Colorado and have run successful restaurants, and I think we have enough investors lined up to maybe think about doing it for ourselves. That said, Colorado is pretty expensive to live in and the restaurant scene is pretty saturated (especially here in Denver). So, we were giving some thought into other cities that we could move to and CDA came to mind for me. My main question is, how seasonal is it there? Obviously lots of tourist traffic in the summertime, but in the winter, is there still a decent amount of people around going out to eat? My buddy is a chef in Breckenridge, CO and has a ton of staffing issues given the seasonality of ski towns. Just curious if CDA would be the same way. (We're also loosely looking at Bozeman, Missoula, or Boise just in case anyone had additional info regarding those cities.) Thanks in advance.

Chris

While Sandpoint is definitely much smaller than CdA, it has a vibrant restaurant scene, plus it has the Schweitzer ski resort right outside of town, so you may want to at least take a look at Sandpoint as an option.

[JayhawkCO]

Originally Posted by Clark Fork Fantast

While Sandpoint is definitely much smaller than CdA, it has a vibrant restaurant scene, plus it has the Schweitzer ski resort right outside of town, so you may want to at least take a look at Sandpoint as an option.

I will look into it more. Thanks!

Chris

[volosong]

I'm not a big restaurant going person, but I do know that when there is snow and ice on the roadways, I'd be less likely to venture out unless I have to. Maybe a Sunday lunch after church since I'm out anyway, but mid-week, probably not.

Bozeman will have the same weather issues, but generally a little bit colder and windier. At least there you have the university. Boise has much more mild winters than either CdA or Bozangeles, and a more favorable economic threshold, (i.e., more people).

p.s. In the areas I haunt, I really haven't seen much evidence of "seasonality". The roads I travel seem to be crowded and busy, no matter what month of the year. I was hoping that after the schools started back up, things would quiet down. Haven't seen it.

[banjomike]

I can't say much about CDA, but Bozeman has a lot of higher end restaurants. The town became one of the 'glamor girls' of the mountain west beginning over 20 years ago, and in my observation, grew way too fast and too large. (I lived there twice, 10 years apart, so I saw the changes).

The sudden growth left Bozeman pretty much a mess, as it overwhelmed the city planners. As a result, the real estate there is sky-high, but the wages haven't kept up with the costs of living, and Bozeman's location tends to limit the size the city can grow.

It's surrounded by extremely beautiful landscape with mountains in 3 directions, so it's still attracting newcomers every day, but when they move there, the problems of life tend to make a lot of them leave within 18 months. That churn seems to be severe to me, but it may be similar to Breckenridge or Vail; I don't know those places, so that's only my guess.

The only way you would know if it is a fit for you would be to go check it out for a week or two. The growth extends into the entire county, and there are a couple of nearby smaller towns that might possibly be as good as Bozeman as a choice. Livingston, the hub city of the Paradise Valley, the home of all the movie stars who moved to Montana, is about 30 miles away, over the Bozeman Pass. It's also worth a look if you intend to check Boze out.

You might want to check Idaho Falls out, as it's another hub city that has a lot of year-round tourist traffic. I.F. is 200 miles west of Bozeman, on the west side of the divide, and is similar to Bozeman in attracting tourists. I.F. is undergoing its own boom, too, but it's not like Bozeman's. I.F. is a larger city, more economically diverse, and may be more business-friendly. It's about the same size as Coeur d'Alene.

Depending on which route you take, I.F. could be checked out on your way to Bozeman, as one of the roads is the most direct route to that area in W. Montana.

If you post a query about Boise in the Boise sub-forum, you'll get better answers to your questions there. Boise is Idaho's largest and most metropolitan city, and as the state capital, is it's own thing. It's hard to honestly compare Boise to any other city in the state unless you live there.

[Cnynrat]

Originally Posted by JayhawkCO

I really appreciate the thought out reply. Good to hear that at least from an "open/closed" perspective, it's not that seasonal. Do you find that restaurants are generally busy during the winter months? I'm assuming that June-August most everything is gangbusters.

Chris

We live in Sagle, and from our house CDA is about a 1:15 drive. We have friends who live down that way, and get together with them for dinner 1-2 times per month, but always on weekends. Places seem to be a little less crowded during winter, but it's not a night and day difference. You won't walk into a good restaurant during winter and find it empty during prime hours.

We are much closer to Sandpoint (30 minutes from our house), so we eat there fairly often. All the restaurants in town are open year round, and on weekends at least are busy throughout the year. Some places outside of town either close for winter or reduce their hours, but it's pretty clear location is the issue.

Dave

[oregonwoodsmoke]

CDA has really heavy tourist traffic in the summer and they are tourists with money. Things are a lot quieter in winter, but there are plenty of local residents who have plenty of disposible income.

CDA is chock full of national chain restaurants, but any good restaurant with good fresh food can compete easily with the chains.

[jadbad2004]

I think Cda is large enough for year round but also keep in mind those living in Plummer, Rose lake area, Silver Valley and St Maries all travel there for appts and grocery shopping every week and most of those dine while there or even make trips to Cda just for dinner.