Starting a pizzeria

[carl.hops]

Here is the vague plan:

 

Open in a ´óѧ (My girls former university) where rent would be roughly 2,000 RMB

and foot traffic of college students is heavy.

 

Do it, don't do it? Suggestions, comments?

[Sam and Fen]

Here is the vague plan:

 

Open in a ´óѧ (My girls former university) where rent would be roughly 2,000 RMB

and foot traffic of college students is heavy.

 

Do it, don't do it? Suggestions, comments?

 

 

I gave up a 6 figure job to open my own deli.

 

I love it but the hours you have to put in....Business like this are cash business and if you are not there employees will steal

 

If you are willing to put in 60 to 80 hours a week.....

 

That being said if i were to do it again I would do the same thing

[GZBILL]

Here is the vague plan:

 

Open in a ´óѧ (My girls former university) where rent would be roughly 2,000 RMB

and foot traffic of college students is heavy.

 

Do it, don't do it? Suggestions, comments?

 

 

Make sure you follow through with all the legalities and paperwork.

[b.c]

Definately what Bill said. And dont expect it to be such an easy process unless you have a connection or 2 unless things have changed the last couple years. I looked into putting a small operation in China in 2006 and some of the hoops to jump through were mind boggling. But my situation was a bit more involved than a pizza shop.

 

Furthermore, I would be more concerned with initial capital investment in equipment, fixtures, and any remodeling, etc than rent. I know you say your in the vague stage but I would imagine you could get into a pretty penny in start-up costs even in China.

 

My wifes input (3 years removed from being a university student): She couldnt imagine many college students having the money or interest in pizza.

 

Thats my .02 FWIW

[carl.hops]

I'd love to keep it on the legal side but from the looks of it (went down there today) all the street food (that's pretty much what it is here in Tianjin) stands and even permanent building structures connected to larger buildings don't run with licenses.

 

What we were told today by such a property owner is that the police will give notice (not sure how advanced) that they will be coming, when that happens they make everyone close their stalls, stands and shops for roughly 2-3 days and then its back to business as usual, mind you these stands and restaurants have been around for years operating like this and the business will be in her name only.

 

As for start up costs and remodeling that will cost a bit and we're crunching the numbers now, looks like a year from now to start, year and 3-4 months until opening.

Edited October 5, 2009 by carl.hops (see edit history)

[GZBILL]

I'd love to keep it on the legal side but from the looks of it (went down there today) all the street food (that's pretty much what it is here in Tianjin) stands and even permanent building structures connected to larger buildings don't run with licenses.

 

What we were told today by such a property owner is that the police will give notice (not sure how advanced) that they will be coming, when that happens they make everyone close their stalls, stands and shops for roughly 2-3 days and then its back to business as usual, mind you these stands and restaurants have been around for years operating like this and the business will be in her name only.

 

As for start up costs and remodeling that will cost a bit and we're crunching the numbers now, looks like a year from now to start, year and 3-4 months until opening.

 

You are really ... er ... well, naive.

 

You expect that authorities turning a blind eye works when an expat is involved? Sooner or later you'll have immigration and a whole platoon of police there and you will get FITA. If you're really lucky, they'll just fine the hellout of you, confiscate your business and not deport you.

[carl.hops]

I'd love to keep it on the legal side but from the looks of it (went down there today) all the street food (that's pretty much what it is here in Tianjin) stands and even permanent building structures connected to larger buildings don't run with licenses.

 

What we were told today by such a property owner is that the police will give notice (not sure how advanced) that they will be coming, when that happens they make everyone close their stalls, stands and shops for roughly 2-3 days and then its back to business as usual, mind you these stands and restaurants have been around for years operating like this and the business will be in her name only.

 

As for start up costs and remodeling that will cost a bit and we're crunching the numbers now, looks like a year from now to start, year and 3-4 months until opening.

 

You are really ... er ... well, naive.

 

You expect that authorities turning a blind eye works when an expat is involved? Sooner or later you'll have immigration and a whole platoon of police there and you will get FITA. If you're really lucky, they'll just fine the hellout of you, confiscate your business and not deport you.

 

That's the kind of response I was looking for Bill, not intended for me exactly.

 

I've been planning this for a bit with her, wanting to do it in her home town where her father has the right connections in government to make those hoops easy to fit through, but she wants to try it here in Tianjin.

Edited October 5, 2009 by carl.hops (see edit history)

[areynolds]

Here is the vague plan:

 

Open in a ´óѧ (My girls former university) where rent would be roughly 2,000 RMB

and foot traffic of college students is heavy.

 

Do it, don't do it? Suggestions, comments?

 

I have worked in a few pizza restaurants and they were both starting up ....I love this work but watching the way the business went right now is a little hard to start not impossible but hard ....first decide what kind of owner are you will you be in the restaurant all the time looking over everything and having a hand in everything or will you be more passive and hire managers and TRUST them to be able to make some correct decisions for your business....I had a professor tell me that "you can make 10 out of 10 correct decisions for your business but then you are stuck always making them, if you hire a manager who can make 7 or 8 outta 10 they can learn to make the rest correctly with a little time..... and then you are saving yourself time... Hire a lower level manager to make your smaller decisions and make the major company ones yourself.... I think it would be beneficial to interview some students and ask them "If there were a pizza restaurant here what are some things you would like to see in it and also ask them all together do you think it is a needed thing to have here...." Just a thought hope it was helpful just speaking from seeing 1 failure and one near and maybe soon failure on this type of place

[Kyle]

I think it would be beneficial to interview some students and ask them "If there were a pizza restaurant here what are some things you would like to see in it and also ask them all together do you think it is a needed thing to have here...." Just a thought hope it was helpful just speaking from seeing 1 failure and one near and maybe soon failure on this type of place

 

This is great advice. Anything that can help refine and strengthen your marketing plan is a plus. One note:

 

I'm assuming you're going to teach people how to make pizzas. One thing about Chinese chefs is that they can be highly inconsistent. I have a good friend who opened up an Italian restaurant. She said that she's always having problems with the help being a bit too creative - adding their own take to the recipe. Apparently, this is fairly common in China. From what she tells me, a chef must create something spectacular, something which will set them apart from other chefs.

 

The only problem with this is that when creating "foreign" food, there is an expectation (from foreigners) for there to be some consistency (one meal to the next) on how, let's say a pizza, is made.

 

My friend, who is a Chinese citizen, finally had to hire a guy from Italy to come in and re - retrain them on how she wants it done.

[Robert S.]

Where are you going to buy a pizza oven? I would bet they don't have them in China. You would have to import a lot of your ingredients, and Chinese people don't like pepperoni.

[Kyle]

Where are you going to buy a pizza oven? I would bet they don't have them in China. You would have to import a lot of your ingredients, and Chinese people don't like pepperoni.

 

Don't know about that one. I'll try to get a hold of my friend mentioned above to gain insight on all of this, and get back to you. I do know that she does buy most of her ingredients from the nearby Metro supermarket. Robert S, may be right though about the cheese. I'll ask around and get back to you. My wife likes pepperoni pizza

Edited October 5, 2009 by KJJ (see edit history)

[Batmaniac]

There's a great place in SheZhen called NYPD pizza. I believe I mentioned them before. Normal sized pizzas. Better than Papa Johns and Pizza Hut (that's not hard I know). Pizza's were generally 20 RMB less than the big chains. I talked the Chinese American running it and he told me he brings a lot of the ingredients over from the US. Unfortunately, it was a little far from us in ShenZhen, and we went over there rarely. It was basically a storefront and couple of seats and tables outside.

 

What I think would be better for you would be like the pizza place i saw in YangShuo. Pizzas were smaller and less expensive and individual sized but very good. Pizza was cooked in a traditional brick oven. Didn't taste corporate at all. More like home-made, but not on the level of an indie-pizza parlor in the US. Probably 6 booths inside, but very Italian looking. There was a similar set-up in FengHuang but with more eclectic decorations and couches and wifi that didn't work on my Mac.

 

I understand your desire to do this. I had fantasies about opening a hamburger place in ShenZhen with a fresh toppings bar like Fuddruckers. Or even a Buffalo wing place. Now that we are in the US I fantasize about opening a hot pot restaurant or Guilin noodle establishment.

[Randy W]

Where are you going to buy a pizza oven? I would bet they don't have them in China. You would have to import a lot of your ingredients, and Chinese people don't like pepperoni.

 

Don't know about that one. I'll try to get a hold of my friend mentioned above to gain insight on all of this, and get back to you. I do know that she does buy most of her ingredients from the nearby Metro supermarket. Robert S, may be right though about the cheese. I'll ask around and get back to you. My wife likes pepperoni pizza

 

 

Buy a Peking duck restaurant - I'll bet that'll be a good combination

 

Chinese cheeses

[b.c]

I think it would be beneficial to interview some students and ask them "If there were a pizza restaurant here what are some things you would like to see in it and also ask them all together do you think it is a needed thing to have here...." Just a thought hope it was helpful just speaking from seeing 1 failure and one near and maybe soon failure on this type of place

 

This is great advice. Anything that can help refine and strengthen your marketing plan is a plus. One note:

 

I'm assuming you're going to teach people how to make pizzas. One thing about Chinese chefs is that they can be highly inconsistent. I have a good friend who opened up an Italian restaurant. She said that she's always having problems with the help being a bit too creative - adding their own take to the recipe. Apparently, this is fairly common in China. From what she tells me, a chef must create something spectacular, something which will set them apart from other chefs.

 

The only problem with this is that when creating "foreign" food, there is an expectation (from foreigners) for there to be some consistency (one meal to the next) on how, let's say a pizza, is made.

 

My friend, who is a Chinese citizen, finally had to hire a guy from Italy to come in and re - retrain them on how she wants it done.

 

Great, yes. But some would also call it common sense. In fact, iirc, you need some type of feasibility study done for the licensing process for most things like this in China. But maybe a store/restaurant is different than what I was looking at (factory). Maybe Bill can chime in on this.

 

My wife likes pepperoni. And I would imagine you could get oven and most ingredients in China but maybe ingredients from US would make for a better pizza, i dont know. But I like pizza hut pizza in China better than US. And typical US ingredients might not be best in China. Seafood seems to be very popular for pizza in China.

[Batmaniac]

Where are you going to buy a pizza oven? I would bet they don't have them in China. You would have to import a lot of your ingredients, and Chinese people don't like pepperoni.

 

Don't know about that one. I'll try to get a hold of my friend mentioned above to gain insight on all of this, and get back to you. I do know that she does buy most of her ingredients from the nearby Metro supermarket. Robert S, may be right though about the cheese. I'll ask around and get back to you. My wife likes pepperoni pizza

 

 

Buy a Peking duck restaurant - I'll bet that'll be a good combination

 

Chinese cheeses

 

first time I went to California Pizza Kitchen in 1988 Peking duck pizza was on the menu. Don't believe it's offered now.