I am poking around at the idea of opening a small restaurant in Santiago and I have a few questions. I have little biz experience and so could benefit from a clear understanding of how it works...
1. If I find a small commercial space to house my restaurant...how possible, here, would it be to have the lease contract give me 10 years with the option of ending the lease at any time during the first three years. That is just an example. Please explain lease options. In other words...if my biz fails it will probably fail during the first three years and I would want to be able to easily exit the lease. On the other hand if it is successful...I would want an assurance that the owner will not snatch the property out from under me or decide to triple the rent after a couple years. Also, if I spend money up front to decorate the place and then the owner decides to take the space back, I would lose.
2. I would want to buy USED ovens, stoves, and other big ticket kitchenware items. Anyone know of a good source in the DR.
3. Some food items may need to be imported. How easy is it to import food items for your restaurant. Any details would be appreciated.
4. I notice in Santiago there are restaurants that charge you 20something% sales tax and then there are others that charge no tax at all. It seems to be the rule that if you sit down and are waited on at the table...you are charged the 20%. If your name is called and you get up and go get your order...no tax is charged. Any rules on taxes would be nice and where would I get tax documentation from the gov.
5. What type licenses are required.
6. Am I going to get honest pricing from food item suppliers in the D.R. or is it your experience that I will need do some serious haggling with them...which I really hate to do.
7. Friends in the DR have told me that Dominicans really don't appreciate food prepared carefully, clean, fresh, and hot. They just want to fill their stomachs. They don't like to wait for well-prepared food. So, is my idea of offering well-prepared and hot food which would take a little longer to serve...really a bad idea.
8. Along those same lines Dominicans don't have a discerning pallete. A pizza is a pizza and the bigger and more for their money the better. But taste is not so important. Please explain this to me.
9. If I hire some young girl to handle the register...cash...am I alway going to need to look over her shoulder or have a camera installed. What has been your experience in your business here.
That is good to start. I know I sound paranoid and to not have much confidence in the people here....it just is that my experience here has proven to me that one must be very very careful.
Thanks for all your replies.
1. If I find a small commercial space to house my restaurant...how possible, here, would it be to have the lease contract give me 10 years with the option of ending the lease at any time during the first three years. That is just an example. Please explain lease options. In other words...if my biz fails it will probably fail during the first three years and I would want to be able to easily exit the lease. On the other hand if it is successful...I would want an assurance that the owner will not snatch the property out from under me or decide to triple the rent after a couple years. Also, if I spend money up front to decorate the place and then the owner decides to take the space back, I would lose.
2. I would want to buy USED ovens, stoves, and other big ticket kitchenware items. Anyone know of a good source in the DR.
3. Some food items may need to be imported. How easy is it to import food items for your restaurant. Any details would be appreciated.
4. I notice in Santiago there are restaurants that charge you 20something% sales tax and then there are others that charge no tax at all. It seems to be the rule that if you sit down and are waited on at the table...you are charged the 20%. If your name is called and you get up and go get your order...no tax is charged. Any rules on taxes would be nice and where would I get tax documentation from the gov.
5. What type licenses are required.
6. Am I going to get honest pricing from food item suppliers in the D.R. or is it your experience that I will need do some serious haggling with them...which I really hate to do.
7. Friends in the DR have told me that Dominicans really don't appreciate food prepared carefully, clean, fresh, and hot. They just want to fill their stomachs. They don't like to wait for well-prepared food. So, is my idea of offering well-prepared and hot food which would take a little longer to serve...really a bad idea.
8. Along those same lines Dominicans don't have a discerning pallete. A pizza is a pizza and the bigger and more for their money the better. But taste is not so important. Please explain this to me.
9. If I hire some young girl to handle the register...cash...am I alway going to need to look over her shoulder or have a camera installed. What has been your experience in your business here.
That is good to start. I know I sound paranoid and to not have much confidence in the people here....it just is that my experience here has proven to me that one must be very very careful.
Thanks for all your replies.
