Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How I Built a Barbecue Restaurant in Brooklyn: The Toll of Owning Your Business

seriouseats.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 71 posts

Re: How I Built a Barbecue Restaurant in Brooklyn: The Toll of Owning Your Business

#31

Post by NaOH »

joshu wrote: post #28
NaOH wrote: post #20

I’ve worked in the food industry for quite a while, 16 years I think, often in kitchens but sometimes in other areas. About 20 months ago I launched my own food business. I’m the only employee. The few products I sell should be served fresh, so I go to the kitchen 364 days a year to prepare and deliver fresh goods. In some ways I can relate to Tyson Ho, in others I can’t, the difference being only how our work is sim…

What do you make? Where can I get it?

I intentionally omitted that information. I wasn't commenting on the article to promote my business, so I left out the specifics of what I do in favor of focusing on the article and the industry. But I don't see much harm in adding that I make Bavarian soft pretzels and a couple of other soft-pretzel products. I had the good fortune to train under a German chef whose pretzel recipe is what I use.

From that, I'll note that my strict focus on soft pretzels is another thing I learned from following tech industries. That is, do something really, really well. Don't try to do too much or be all things to all people. People I meet often seem surprised when they learn I only do pretzel products. I tell them I'm not out to become a bakery—randomly making cupcakes for someone's child's birthday, decorating cookies for some other random order, etc.

People then often say that what I do is very simple (in the basic sense, not in the easy-to-do sense). I tell them it's focused.

For me, less is more. Much more.

Re: How I Built a Barbecue Restaurant in Brooklyn: The Toll of Owning Your Business

#32

Post by rwallace »

nolok wrote: post #18
bredman wrote: post #5

The one constant that seems to come up in all these founder stories is that you better love what you're doing. There's no guarantee that your new business will be successful or profitable but it seems inevitable you will sink nearly all your time, energy, and money into it. You better be feel rewarded by the journey because that's all you can count on.

> in all these founder stories [...] you better love what you're doing I agree with you as a general point but I disagree in that you make it about founders. As a general rule, if you have the chance/education/abilities to do, you should always pick a job where you love what you're doing, whether you're the founder or an important employee or a random grunt in a giant corporation. You're going to do that for 8h+ hour…

Actually, unless you are very unusual, one kind of job you should not pick is one where you love what you're doing, because if you love that activity, so do lots of other people (again, unless you are very unusual), which means they will crowd into that occupation and bid down wages and working conditions until life for almost everyone in that occupation is shit.

Mind you, it's also bad to be in a job you hate. Forty hours a week doing something you hate is a big negative impact on quality of life.

If you're going to be working for money, what you should aim for is something that pays decently and you don't hate.

Re: How I Built a Barbecue Restaurant in Brooklyn: The Toll of Owning Your Business

#33

Post by joshu »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #30
joshu wrote: post #29

It kills me that restaurants add all the value to the area but lose almost all of it to rent. I wish I could design a town or something. Big tax break to landlords who house good restaurante long-term or or otherwise allow the restaurant to be profitable. Or maybe the town owns the town center or something.

Or the restaurant owns the building. Yeah, maybe not practical in SF, but elsewhere it works well.

Yes, that works too.

I remember when I was living in NYC when all four corners at an intersection went from restaurants to bank branches. Just awful.

Re: How I Built a Barbecue Restaurant in Brooklyn: The Toll of Owning Your Business

#34

Post by stevewillows »

A quote from a David Sedaris article [1] sums it up nicely through a conversation he had with an entrepreneur who was intending to retire at 55.

> "One burner represents your family, one is your friends, the third is your health, and the fourth is your work." The gist, she said, was that in order to be successful you have to cut off one of your burners. And in order to be really successful you have to cut off two.

[1] http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/08/24/laugh-kookaburr...

Re: How I Built a Barbecue Restaurant in Brooklyn: The Toll of Owning Your Business

#35

Post by enraged_camel »

ezl wrote: post #26
weinzierl wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true. The only founder story I can think of that doesn't fit into the pattern is Scott Adams'. Here's the counterargument: When I was a commercial loan officer for a large bank, my boss taught us that you should never make a loan to someone who is following his passion. [...] My boss, who had been a commercial lender for over 30 years, said that the best loan customer is someone who has no passion whatsoever,…

I actually side entirely with Scott Adams. I feel like it's a really cliche and popular thing to say "Do what you love and success will follow", but it seems like objectively bad advice to pick your profession based on your passion. We're all passionate about a lot of things that simply aren't commercially viable. I sell rental application software for a living. It's necessary, a part of the industry, and not somethi…

There's no one right answer. At the end of the day it is about perspective. Specifically, Scott Adams' father was loan officer at a bank. Banks are fairly conservative when it comes to giving loans. They want to see business plans and analyze hard numbers before they commit money to entrepreneurs. So when amateurs come to them asking for funding for an idea because "it is their passion," of course the bank turns them down, for passion alone is insufficient AND it has the risk of blinding someone to the reality of how commercially viable the idea really is.

On the other hand, all other things being equal, someone being passionate about basket weaving is more likely to make a successful business out of it than someone who is in it just for the money. Passion can be a nearly bottomless source of motivation, which helps people stick it out when things get rough. After all, starting and running a business is like a roller-coaster ride: one needs to endure the lows to enjoy the highs.

I think that could be a successful formula for co-founding teams: you need one person who is deeply passionate about the topic and another whose main strength is figuring out how to monetize it. That's how Apple became successful.

Re: How I Built a Barbecue Restaurant in Brooklyn: The Toll of Owning Your Business

#36

Post by joshu »

NaOH wrote: post #31
joshu wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you make? Where can I get it?

I intentionally omitted that information. I wasn't commenting on the article to promote my business, so I left out the specifics of what I do in favor of focusing on the article and the industry. But I don't see much harm in adding that I make Bavarian soft pretzels and a couple of other soft-pretzel products. I had the good fortune to train under a German chef whose pretzel recipe is what I use. From that, I'll note…

Thank you. I am fascinated by food businesses (so I appreciate the insights) and by food eating (so I asked where I can try it.)

Re: How I Built a Barbecue Restaurant in Brooklyn: The Toll of Owning Your Business

#37

Post by hoggle »

bredman wrote: post #5

The one constant that seems to come up in all these founder stories is that you better love what you're doing. There's no guarantee that your new business will be successful or profitable but it seems inevitable you will sink nearly all your time, energy, and money into it. You better be feel rewarded by the journey because that's all you can count on.

Yes and as per the article and my own experience that's especially true when you think about going into food & beverages as it's the complete opposite of what it feels like being a customer - you have to love it (never-ending, physically and psychologically hard work) there really is no other way.

Edit: I enjoyed Peter Thiel's "Competition is For Losers" as it pretty much sums up what is wrong with this industry from a business perspective - http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec05/

Re: How I Built a Barbecue Restaurant in Brooklyn: The Toll of Owning Your Business

#38

Post by imaginenore »

NaOH wrote: post #20

I’ve worked in the food industry for quite a while, 16 years I think, often in kitchens but sometimes in other areas. About 20 months ago I launched my own food business. I’m the only employee. The few products I sell should be served fresh, so I go to the kitchen 364 days a year to prepare and deliver fresh goods. In some ways I can relate to Tyson Ho, in others I can’t, the difference being only how our work is sim…

You need to scale your business up.

Whatever thing you're selling, it's obviously good, and people like and want it.

I don't know if you care for my advice, but that's what I would start with:

* Website, a very simple one where one can order your stuff, wholesale and small amounts (priced differently). This kind of thing doesn't require any coding these days.

* Automate as much as you can.

* Make sure you learn how much you make per hour, because this will pay for the salary of the person doing what you're doing.

* It sounds like you're close to being maxed out, and your only options are A) Raise prices B) Expand. I would try both.

* When you know how much you can pay, start expanding. Hire people, one at a time.

Re: How I Built a Barbecue Restaurant in Brooklyn: The Toll of Owning Your Business

#39

Post by dmd »

imaginenore wrote: post #38
NaOH wrote: post #20

I’ve worked in the food industry for quite a while, 16 years I think, often in kitchens but sometimes in other areas. About 20 months ago I launched my own food business. I’m the only employee. The few products I sell should be served fresh, so I go to the kitchen 364 days a year to prepare and deliver fresh goods. In some ways I can relate to Tyson Ho, in others I can’t, the difference being only how our work is sim…

You need to scale your business up. Whatever thing you're selling, it's obviously good, and people like and want it. I don't know if you care for my advice, but that's what I would start with: * Website, a very simple one where one can order your stuff, wholesale and small amounts (priced differently). This kind of thing doesn't require any coding these days. * Automate as much as you can. * Make sure you learn how m…

Not everyone measures the success of their business by its size.

Re: How I Built a Barbecue Restaurant in Brooklyn: The Toll of Owning Your Business

#40

Post by nkozyra »

davidw wrote: post #7

How do BBQ restaurants work? The two methods I can think of are: 1) you run out when you run out and that's it for the day 2) you keep stuff warm. I'd expect that to dry it out. I've heard some of the famous ones in the south use method #1. Real BBQ is smoking stuff at low temperatures (not too far from 100C) for a long time - briskets can take 12+ hours or longer. So you can't just throw an extra one on when the cus…

Considering the low-and-slow technique of a lot of smoked / bbq meats, it's actually really hard to dry out most meats because few of them are lean (chicken breast is notorious for drying out, even with the low-and-slow approach).

You can keep things "warm" without keeping them under lights - a lower heat ( < 100F ) can keep beef and pork plenty moist.

Post reply on HN