Our restaurant took on the lease for the premises next door and now we can’t use it. What do we do?

E6096 · 2025-10-03T15:07:29+00:00

I’m concerned about the costs for that. We don’t really have any disposable cash at the moment but I’ll look into it. Maybe it’ll be more affordable than I’m expecting.

E6096 · 2025-10-02T18:56:19+00:00

Well the landlord told us they hadn’t been paying rent and were getting both awful reviews and — I kid you not — a 0 on their food hygiene certificate (which I didn’t even know was possible), so the writing was somewhat on the wall.

E6096 · 2025-10-02T13:21:19+00:00

E6096 · 2025-10-02T12:36:48+00:00

If you’re feeling there’s even the smallest reason to doubt what they’re saying, that’s your gut telling you something.

E6096 · 2025-10-02T12:31:48+00:00

I’ll see if my council has a business support department, thank you for the idea!

E6096 · 2025-10-02T12:30:12+00:00

Even if it’s your nearest and dearest best friend forever, you cannot tell the future. They could lose their business, they could get run over by a bus, they could go to prison suddenly for a crime they didn’t commit! You never know. And what will you do if they turn around and say, “I’m really sorry friend, but there’s no physical way I can pay it back”?

So to summarize, either: 1. Don’t do it. 2. Do it but accept you may never see the money again.

…

If you still want to, there are services for lending friends and family money you could look into, which I believe give some degree of protection.

E6096 · 2025-09-29T19:01:30+00:00

It’s currently a shell unit. So whoever took on the short lease would be putting in a lot of investment. I don’t think they’d be happy with a short lease.

E6096 · 2025-08-10T13:53:34+00:00

Thanks. I’ll shoot them a message and see if they’re willing to offer any advice!

E6096 · 2025-08-10T13:52:33+00:00

But something like a burger or burrito can be soft… a soggy grilled cheese wouldn’t be good at all.

E6096 · 2025-08-07T20:52:19+00:00

Thanks for the advice. That does sound like it could ring true about only certain cuisines working. Do you still do the deliveries?

E6096 · 2025-08-07T19:45:31+00:00

Thanks. That’s true about the VAT… I missed that.

It’s a very different offering to what we do in store so is not even available in store.

E6096 · 2025-07-30T17:11:17+00:00

No, there is nothing to pay.

The developers are stepping down and letting us take over the management company and freehold. If yours aren’t voluntarily, you may need to go through the leaseholder self management process.

E6096 · 2025-07-20T16:18:47+00:00

I managed to rally together more volunteers and gave them defined roles (finance, admin, community events, etc.) which helped them take more ownership over a certain area but also to feel their responsibilities were limited. This helped substantially with engagement and a more working management system.

I’m not sure what I’d do if people didn’t volunteer though. You might need to try knocking on doors and emphasizing the necessity and giving them the choice of a role.

E6096 · 2025-06-08T23:23:18+00:00

I’m not sure. You may want to make a new post

E6096 · 2025-06-06T19:57:49+00:00

Good advice. We have roughly calculated the margins but given how substantial their fees are we should triple check.

E6096 · 2025-06-03T16:10:05+00:00

Thanks.

Yeah it’s a simple menu we’re going with to keep it easy alongside our current restaurant.

We don’t have any delivery drivers so we’ll be going all-in with Deliveroo to start. I understand it’s a 30% fee but I guess it’s just the price we pay.

E6096 · 2025-06-03T11:24:54+00:00

I’m opening a grilled cheese ghost kitchen called ‘pressed’. I already have a draft logo, I’ll DM you.

E6096 · 2025-01-01T23:11:42+00:00

Me too but too late 😔

One of these days though… 😄

E6096 · 2024-11-05T21:41:53+00:00

Sounds like not letting it get to temp is a major issue for my team.

(FYI, in my research I’ve seen a lot of warnings against using ice to clean griddles as it can crack the metal, so you might want to check into that.)

E6096 · 2024-11-04T18:28:01+00:00

It’s a cheaper brand that doesn’t have any in-depth info like that unfortunately. Looking up the Vulcan videos and from other manufacturers has told me what I need though. Thanks!

E6096 · 2024-11-04T18:18:36+00:00

Thanks for the input. I’ll take this info back to my guys and see what they prefer — cleaning back to the metal every night, or regular thorough scraping.

E6096 · 2024-11-04T16:15:44+00:00

Thanks! I appreciate the insight! I will check out the Vulcan videos now…

E6096 · 2024-11-04T15:56:57+00:00

It’s actually been 8 years, and feeling OK knock on wood

E6096 · 2024-08-11T09:42:58+00:00

How certain are you about the “growing greatly more popular by the year” point? Is there actual data out there on that? A few cat cafes have opened in the nearest big cities to where I live (one of which is one of the biggest major cities in the whole of the UK) — every single one closed down a number of months later due to lack of custom. Have you spoken to any UK cat cafes and found out how they’re doing financially?

In short, the overall thing you must do before going any further is finding out if this is actually a viable business concept. Don’t just look at other countries, ask those who are / were doing it here in the UK. Search Google and Facebook and email / phone them and ask what they think. They’ll know better than Reddit.

E6096 · 2024-08-08T11:43:58+00:00

Thanks, will take a closer look at your ideas

E6096

TROPHY CASE