- Thread starter mike l
- Start date
What advice would you give to a new Restauranteer...in Sosusa
- Status
The secret to success in Sosua is be popular with the expat mob, network, promote and keep everyone as a friend, upset no one. Keep them happy and they will keep you advertised and promote the place better than any investment. Start small, raise with stealth and stick to your business plan, I reckon getting excited, taking it forgranted and jumping the gun is responsible for the majority of downfalls. Along with those unfamiliar with resort towns, not used to accepting quiet periods as given life and saving during quiet months, accepting a cutback rather than throwing money into an empty Market.
People move to Sosua and open up a restaurant or bar with no previous experience, not seeing how tough and cutthroat business is in that little town. Competition is fierce in Sosua, even experienced restauranteurs find it difficult, you need balls and experience.
I am sure a few are thinking that!
When I pass by " Cheros " , the old Pedro Mc Murphy place, there is not one person in the place.
No wonder as there are no pretty girls selling drinks, just the owner I am assuming and it looks like they have a hot dog machine.
Fail to plan ...plan to fail !!
Same with the pizza guy near the little Playero.
Build a better mousetrap ! Ha Ha !
Pedro used to do amazing fish and chips, he should have managed to keep that place going on that alone. But even back 4 years ago he had more staff than clients. The little woman with the van on the waste land next door did better business than he did. No need to have 6 staff iC you only have 6 clients, redic!!
difficult to cook something that people want to eat at the price they want to pay....you also have to advertise, I have no idea what some places have to offer and havent a lot of interest in finding out judging by the scruffy appearance .Plastic table decorations should be outlawed in a place where fresh flowers grow all year long
Charge NYC prices, serve USDA PRIME beef burgers with hand cut papas, give free drinks to the Sosua tranny's .....make the place look like Fortaleza and they will be 4 deep at the bar!
Restaurants are one of the most difficult businesses to operate...IF you know what you're doing.
They are nearly impossible to survive if you don't.
In the states less than 10% of restaurants survive one year, 5% two years. Mine survived 4 years but it was the hardest 4 years of my life. The guy I sold it to survived not even 7 months.
The secret in a seasonal environment is to establish your planned profitability during the off-season. If you can make it then, the high season is pure gold. If you plan your budget on high season you're doomed.
One of the issues I see is there is little margin in liquor and beer. The distributors/brewers here make good margins and the retailer makes scraps-and they pretty much tell you what your price and profitability will be. I would buy bottled Busweiser for $1.00 and sell it for $1.75. I could buy keg Bud for $0.14 an 10oz. mug and sell it for $1.15. No way bars here make that. I bought well vodka for $0.25 a 1.5oz. shot and sold it for $1.95.
I'll bet food costs are high also, seeing how there is no real wholesale distribution system. I see restuaranteers buying food at grocery stores and PriceSmart instead of a truck pulling up and delivering everything they need. And if food costs exceed 40%, the restaurant will be in trouble sooner or later.
They are nearly impossible to survive if you don't.
In the states less than 10% of restaurants survive one year, 5% two years. Mine survived 4 years but it was the hardest 4 years of my life. The guy I sold it to survived not even 7 months.
The secret in a seasonal environment is to establish your planned profitability during the off-season. If you can make it then, the high season is pure gold. If you plan your budget on high season you're doomed.
One of the issues I see is there is little margin in liquor and beer. The distributors/brewers here make good margins and the retailer makes scraps-and they pretty much tell you what your price and profitability will be. I would buy bottled Busweiser for $1.00 and sell it for $1.75. I could buy keg Bud for $0.14 an 10oz. mug and sell it for $1.15. No way bars here make that. I bought well vodka for $0.25 a 1.5oz. shot and sold it for $1.95.
I'll bet food costs are high also, seeing how there is no real wholesale distribution system. I see restuaranteers buying food at grocery stores and PriceSmart instead of a truck pulling up and delivering everything they need. And if food costs exceed 40%, the restaurant will be in trouble sooner or later.
My advise; Get a Dominican partner then open a Mc D's or a KFC in the building between Texaco and Metro
My advise; Get a Dominican partner then open a Mc D's or a KFC in the building between Texaco and Metro
I was thinking, too, that one of the fast foods chains that Dominicans like could be successful.
But getting a Dominican partner is something else.
The most important thing for any foreigner opening a restaurant or other business here is to be here to run the business and supervise. Do not invest in a business that you intend to have run by someone else. That is almost 100% certain disaster.
The best way to figure out how to run a restaurant in Sosua is to look at the ones which are already succesful. Baileys is probably the most succesful in town. I have spent many hours there and it seems to me they do many things right:
-Location
- Well trained staff
- Consistant quality food
- Mid range pricing
- Probably most important, they always seem to have one of the owners on site overseeing everything.
- Clean washrooms
It always amazes me how little thought many new bar and restaurant owners in Sosua put into there businesses. I have never owned either but I can usually tell within a few minutes of being there if it will make it.
-Location
- Well trained staff
- Consistant quality food
- Mid range pricing
- Probably most important, they always seem to have one of the owners on site overseeing everything.
- Clean washrooms
It always amazes me how little thought many new bar and restaurant owners in Sosua put into there businesses. I have never owned either but I can usually tell within a few minutes of being there if it will make it.
Last edited:
Is that, go for it and lose as you have, or go for it and make enough money in 2 years to beable to retire?
2 years isn't a long stint in the restaurant business unless it is a failure.
The customers probably got tired of waiting for their food to be cooked on the solar stove. Rainy season was hard on the business.
Ok, on special nights we can add cheese to the menu....
Lemme guess, this was the only thing on the menu.......
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51418611@N05/5566575674/" title="istock_000006623591xsmall by bocachica64, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5257/5566575674_4b299042a9.jpg" width="406" height="296" alt="istock_000006623591xsmall" /></a>
Lemme guess, this was the only thing on the menu.......
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51418611@N05/5566575674/" title="istock_000006623591xsmall by bocachica64, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5257/5566575674_4b299042a9.jpg" width="406" height="296" alt="istock_000006623591xsmall" /></a>
- Status