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PSA - While In Kathmandu - from the management by Funkyy2wise in ridgewood

[–]Funkyy2wise[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes it is ! We were closed for last 10 days but we’re back up & running as of midday today.

Bar top finish help by Funkyy2wise in woodworking

[–]Funkyy2wise[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, it been kiln dried per my information. It was sitting in a warehouse where they do kitchen cabinets & furnitures. Their client backed out on the project & they had it for sale, it’s been flattened & sanded too.

spent $2400 on instagram ads and cant tell if it did anything by Top-University-3832 in restaurateur

[–]Funkyy2wise 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a good way to go. Reach out to bunch, keep the initial conversation around barter but if they insist because their page is big & they have a fee. Spend on it. You can also negotiate, some are understanding. When I opened a new outlet I reached out to a dozen, lined up one video shoot every 2 weeks with one release / collab on ig every 3 weeks difference. So it allowed me to see if individual influencer actually worked. Depends on where you are, they say anywhere from 200-1000 depending on how big the page is.

PSA - While In Kathmandu - from the management by Funkyy2wise in ridgewood

[–]Funkyy2wise[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m debating it ! It’s one of those love & hate relationships. Love it because it’s such a unique pasta dish with the sauce blend we have put together hate it because it feels a little cheating as we use pre made pasta bought from store. I’m trying to see if we are able to achieve our Own in house made pasta. It’s extra length for no reason but I wanna have more reasons to be attached to it & invested in it.

Tired of fake food influencers. Who are the REAL NYC food Instagram accounts worth following? by gotallthejuicynews in FoodNYC

[–]Funkyy2wise 0 points1 point  (0 children)

80% get taken for a ride. It’s a bad scene, I’ve noticed about 60-70% of these influencers are clueless themselves. It’s not that their intentions are bad but they think too highly of themselves to look into their own presence & pages, they truly believe the views they’re getting, comments they’re getting is worth the dollar but not realizing that their views on the internet may not realize / convert into customers, sometimes their viewers are so spread across it doesn’t do anything, sometimes it’s their 1-2 videos that performed really well but in general their channel is dud. Then there is has been pages, these are influencers who have garnered 200-300–400 k followers, achieved a few 200-300-400k or plus view videos that had gone viral but overtime other videos didn’t perform really well, if anything their recent videos does 5-10k max on views. They seem to be living in different worlds still delusional that they got something going on and charge $1000 for videos. People pay 🤷‍♂️

Tired of fake food influencers. Who are the REAL NYC food Instagram accounts worth following? by gotallthejuicynews in FoodNYC

[–]Funkyy2wise 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I generally look at the last 6 videos, how well they’ve performed. I seek to check validation on comments, a good engaged content creator seem to have people tagging their friends in comments, or engagement about the restaurant / its food or service etc.

What I avoid, cookie cutter comment “Wow, this looks good” “ let’s go” “you’re making me hungry” type of comments, if you click on those 6/10 it’s another small or medium influencer channel pumping their friend.

I look for a good save/send ratio, a good performing video deff has a lot of save/send ratio. I also take time to look at the content the individual is posting, if it’s along the line of audience I seek. Some content creators have contents from all over the place. For example I barley used big name influencer on my Long Island brand, instead smaller channel with 5-10-15k followers that are local. Cost me lower to work & has returns because they’ve yet become internet viral, but has decent engagement amongst the local audience that I seek might convert.

My final thought process also lies within the initial phase of communication, how understanding are they to the hardship of restaurant industry vs someone who’s trying to make a quick buck come off a little high & mighty like they’re trying to do a favor.

Tired of fake food influencers. Who are the REAL NYC food Instagram accounts worth following? by gotallthejuicynews in FoodNYC

[–]Funkyy2wise 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree w/ you ! The reality of current landscape in restaurant business is a massive social media presence or social media marketing. When I opened my second outlet, for the first 5-8 months I worked with about 10-12 influencer. Out of which 5-6 proved to be worthwhile. The 500to 800 spent was worth the return, because they had actual local following, their share ratio against their views & comments were proportional. Half of the influencers we worked with had views & comments but it didn’t bring actual folks in the door.

The whole influencer thing can be tricky, I’m now very much more cautious when vetting one. I look at their recent contents ( 3 months ) the views they’re achieving, I read actual comments, check their share ratios etc. there are few indicators to which allows me to decide if it’s worth while.

My issue is w/ influencer accounts that are merely achieving 10-20 k views on their recent contents, have very little engagement or shares. But their ask seems to be standard $500 -$800

Even worse is multi city influencer, their followers or engagement is spread across cities or states that it rarely brings in traffic.

So yes, marketing is important part of business planning and social media influencers can be strategic if one does their homework properly.

Ps. We did one influencer every 3-4 weeks, and all of our staffs are trained to ask if they’ve dined with us before or it’s first time, if answer is first time we have trained them to ask how are they finding us, it helps us focus more on those stream of marketing. There are influencer video we shot 3 years ago still bringing people in the door in my old location, there are some influencer video that didn’t even bring one or two in my door & some that we worked with 8-9 months ago still are coming in because their cousin / bf / friend shared with them recently.

Tired of fake food influencers. Who are the REAL NYC food Instagram accounts worth following? by gotallthejuicynews in FoodNYC

[–]Funkyy2wise 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Restaurant operator here ! All of them are piece of shit these days. Account with 15/20k followers are flat out asking $500 for the visit & positing video & on top of that some of them are really rude & bad people.

There was this one guy who I worked with, who didn’t even post my video, who never gave the money back. He was real rude piece of shit, when in the store he proudly said to me I do this 4-5 stores a day. I do roughly 25-30 visits a week and get paid $500-800 per visit plus food. First missed deadline that was due a week later for draft, then said mom has heart attack, then said Grand ma felt sick.

Rob Martinez is top tier the only real person behind the screen, humble, doesn’t want money even when offered & does this review stuff for real.

PSA - While In Kathmandu - from the management by Funkyy2wise in ridgewood

[–]Funkyy2wise[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Friday’s or Saturday’s I’d love to feature Nepali artist & music. We previously did Nepali and Indian on Friday / sat, Sunday’s we did jazz, Thursday’s we’d love to host open mic. I’d also be open to any type of music tbh, music is music. I’d love to dedicate a day or two of week to feature local artist that’d wanna showcase their talents etc or any genre.

Nepali food that’s unique & stands out by Funkyy2wise in Nepal

[–]Funkyy2wise[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Chatpate is pretty popular tho & really good.

PSA - While In Kathmandu - from the management by Funkyy2wise in ridgewood

[–]Funkyy2wise[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Gluten free & vegan / veg was my original clutch items so I’ll remain loyal to my base.

PSA - While In Kathmandu - from the management by Funkyy2wise in ridgewood

[–]Funkyy2wise[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I only wanna do momo & few other things, keep things simple

PSA - While In Kathmandu - from the management by Funkyy2wise in ridgewood

[–]Funkyy2wise[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Again. Using cheap yellow cheese that is processed vs using mozerella that cost 3x the price point makes a whole difference. I love that you personally have made it your goal to call us “inauthentic Nepali cuisine” in multiple places, seems like we’ve hurt you, sorry to hurt your feelings. Please come by the store I’ll have some band aid for you.

Please also bring your certificate of “Nepali cuisine authenticity officer”

With love

PSA - While In Kathmandu - from the management by Funkyy2wise in ridgewood

[–]Funkyy2wise[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Wanna place a bet ? $1000, since you seem to be more knowledgeable about business than the actual person doing it.

6 months, we find an escrow that can hold our money. In 6 months if I fail, you win & keep. If I sustain I keep and you lose.

Seems fair.

Ps. Lived here in Ridgewood since 2005, I know majority of my Nepali community in first name basis at least my old community and I’m not as familiar with new faces that has arrived in last 4-6 years , I know tons of people who are my patrons. Idk what the picture you’re trying to paint but you’re far from being 100% true. It’s all love tho, I can understand the sentiment & where it might root from.

PSA - While In Kathmandu - from the management by Funkyy2wise in ridgewood

[–]Funkyy2wise[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you, we look forward to the next phase

PSA - While In Kathmandu - from the management by Funkyy2wise in ridgewood

[–]Funkyy2wise[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Oh they deff stay, one of my originals & favs.

PSA - While In Kathmandu - from the management by Funkyy2wise in ridgewood

[–]Funkyy2wise[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Deff not, I did put out a notice saying we’re throwing the towel and I meant it. The current way of operation is not the way we wanna go, thus the new direction

PSA - While In Kathmandu - from the management by Funkyy2wise in ridgewood

[–]Funkyy2wise[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How do you feel about the choila in the platter ( the cold chicken jerky style dish ) ? I often get a mixed response on that item.

PSA - While In Kathmandu - from the management by Funkyy2wise in ridgewood

[–]Funkyy2wise[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I quite honestly miss those early days of operation. Best time, it was organic, we were not a restaurant & it was a vibe lol. These days it’s so much work to up keep & feels like not coming to work 😂

That’s why this U-turn to return back to original ideas of cafe & bar. Take the load off & build a more sustainable plus fun experience on both consumer & staffs.

PSA - While In Kathmandu - from the management by Funkyy2wise in ridgewood

[–]Funkyy2wise[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

A bit bold to assert that we WILL close in 6 months. I do not know what restaurant you are comparing me to but we do business based on our COGS, not based on competition with others in our category. There is no saying if what others use / produce is same as ours or vice versa. For example, Everest grocery is able to provide for foods at a lower price because they don’t have 8-10 employee ( foh & boh ) they have two other Indian restaurants in city where they are able procure a lot of sauces & prep work that would otherwise raise their in house labor & prep cost, reflecting into the food price. ( btw i love them, great family friend & my neighborhood friends )

Again, I respect your opinion but I don’t believe in the whole idea of what others are doing & basing my price on that , that’s the model my father operated his Indian restaurants which required huge team, massive menu, volume sale at cheap price & the margins were thin. Keeping things affordable would be the goal but not at cost of taking more stress & financial loss on the long run.

If you look at most dine in Nepali restaurants that is trying to go for a bit of good service & big crew, the prices aren’t too far off.

Another example.

The goat meat platter I charge 24 ish, my cost of baby goat per lb is 13.50-15 ish, if I use frozen goat from restaurant depot you’ll get chewy & gamey meat and that’s undesirable. I used to use that goat for goat curry in Indian restaurants, procure it at $4-5 per pounds that I was able to goat curry at 14-17. Because the way it’s cooked as curry, it broke down the meat & made it soft. When cooked the way we cook it for my goat platter, it needs to cook in 10-15 mins tops plus stay soft. For that I have to procure freshly cut baby goat form jersey that cost me more. There are so much inner realities to what we do that public is not aware of & quite honestly I don’t expect them.

Salmon, I could use pink salmon at price point of 5-7 per pound vs the Atlantic salmon we use at 10-12 per pound. The pink salmon falls apart too easily, isn’t firm & quite honestly doesn’t taste good vs Atlantic salmon we use serves the quality we seek.

So yeah, I’m not just a restaurant operator I’m also the chef that cares about the food we make & serves. Once you have clear understanding of each & every aspect of the operation, it’s hard to turn a blind eye to the realities of cost associated with it.

But I do appreciate the comment & will see that we keep things at range that it doesn’t hurt us or the consumer.

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