re: LSU Alum/TD Poster Opening a Nola/Cajun Restaurant in Liverpool in June update 6 pg 16

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You won’t be an onsite owner/operator, you’ll just fly across the pond and pop in every few months.

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This is concerning. Who will be there who knows what the food should taste like? Do you have a Louisiana chef? You may have addressed this earlier, but I didn't go back to look. It's scary that you won't be there much.

You mentioned baking the flour. Why not actually make the roux and in large quantities?

The thing about the food is that most of your clientele won't know if the taste is authentic since they've got nothing with which to compare it. It really has to taste good. The exact texture of the French bread may not matter, for example, since the customers don't know what to expect anyway. It's going to be interesting.

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This is concerning

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Yeah this is the biggest red flag in the whole deal. Owning a restaurant (as you well know) is a very hands on 24/7 job.

Hopefully he has the right team

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Who will be there who knows what the food should taste like?

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My business partner who moved over here has worked in restaurants along the Gulf Coast for over two decades. He is an owner, is in charge, and I completely trust him (obv).

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Do you have a Louisiana chef?

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The recipes are from Louisiana and such, but the other owner is from Mobile. He will be QC. He is back in the kitchen right now with the staff, and they're making tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, and remoulade.

I was taught Louisiana History at LSU by a dude from New Jersey. Doesn't mean he didn't know more about Louisiana than most.

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Why not actually make the roux and in large quantities?

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I don't know. We think the baking of flour makes things quicker, which is imperative due to the size of our kitchen.

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The thing about the food is that most of your clientele won't know if the taste is authentic since they've got nothing with which to compare it. It really has to taste good.

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The restaurant is named after my mother, and it would be an insult to my family and our people/heritage/state to offer anything subpar/not authentic.
Our food/taste is literally the least of our worries at this moment.

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The people shitting on you in this thread are the same people that work a dead end job for 30 years, scared to leave the warehouse.

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I don’t know, people from New Orleans can’t make authentic Cajun/NOLA restaurants work in Dallas, which is a 45 minute flight away from the city itself and the people in Dallas actually know what New Orleans is and/or have been

How many Brits know anything about the cuisine, hell a percentage of them don’t even know what “New Orleans” is? Again, I hope the dude is successful, but you got people in here saying how important it is his bread is as close to Leidenheimers as possible. That shite will matter for .001% of the customers. I’d just hope people will actually even try it. Those frickers like Sunday Roast and eating beans and mushrooms for breakfast, not jambalaya and crawfish Monica

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Curiosity will get them in the door. The food/experience will keep them coming back.

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I hope you’re right man. The only evidence you have of that so far is some hypothetical while talking to people at a table before a game.

Sounds like you were able to keep your investment low at least.

Thanks for your response. I hope it works. I'll be interested in hearing about how these flavors are received by the Brits.

Well you have that covered.

How are you sourcing your crawfish?

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Still waiting on you to ask me to extrapolate on the contingency plans you seem concerned about?

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What are you going to do if your butcher or baker closes? What are you going to do if you can’t be profitable giving away 10% of the profits to servers? Do you have any marketing, even as much as signage on the building because you’re operating in another facility? Do you even know what your profit margin is going to be on specific items?

You just seem to be operating by the seat of your pants. I hope it works out for you

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What are you going to do if your butcher or baker closes?

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Don't anticipate that one, as Bexley's (our butcher) has several locations, and Plattsville (our bakery) has expanded to a 24 hr operation, BUT if they do, we'll find another one or two...Liverpool is a town of 500k people, and 50mil visitors a year. It isn't small potatoes.

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What are you going to do if you can’t be profitable giving away 10% of the profits to servers?

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This business is "mailbox money" to me, so I really don't care. It isn't paying any of my direct living expenses. But, to use your example, how can a business NOT be profitable if it is giving away 10% of it's profits? Your math is not mathing...like, let's say that the end of Q whatever, our profits are only $100. If we give 10% away, we still make $90. Please extrapolate on your question. I'm genuinely curious.

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Do you have any marketing, even as much as signage on the building because you’re operating in another facility?

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Yes.We have 1300 followers on Fbook, 1200 insta, we've given away over 2000 fliers to local businesses, and we have another 1000 to give out to other local businesses. We are advertising with 2 local tourist groups, and giving them coupons for spending £30 to get a free dessert. We have a couple of articles coming out about the story I've told on pg 1, and other interesting things about us. This is not really a contingency question, either.

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Do you even know what your profit margin is going to be on specific items?

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Of course. Generally speaking, our food costs are under 23%. Our crabby dip is nearly 40% cost, but I don't expect that to stay on the menu long.
Have you ever made gumbo, jambalaya, or red beans for a large group of ppl? Does that cost you a lot of money? Once again, not a contingency question.

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You just seem to be operating by the seat of your pants.

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We've planned for a lot. I've sold two businesses in the US, and currently operate two more. Neither are restaurants, however. BUT, I've spent 20 years in restaurants, from high school to college to making ends meet while I build a career/other businesses.

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I hope it works out for you

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Your genuine wishes are appreciated


Can I ask you a genuine question:
What is it that you do?

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Accounting and finance. I’ve seen people lose money despite having a good business. Much less not have a good business.

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Congrats on sitting on the sidelines and making money off the balls off businessmen.
Without us, you’d have nothing.

I bet you’ve seen people make money on business too, correct?