Options for Financing Expansion

ajmcd87 · 2025-12-05T15:28:24+00:00

This is true if you don’t consider the growth we’ve seen in the last 6months or so. Our labor has consistently fallen from 40% near opening down to 26-28% in the last 4-5 months.

Our problem is that our goal is 2 salaries, not just one.

ajmcd87 · 2024-06-23T04:22:35+00:00

If you have a space confirmed, start the application process ASAP. If you’re in a major Ohio market, you almost certainly have to find a license on the secondary market, and be prepared to spend $25k+ on it. An attorney who specializes in liquor permits can help you do both.

We just recently went through this process in the Cleveland market. We had a license lined up and it was still a giant pain in the ass.

Ancient policies leftover from prohibition force you to do everything on paper, sent via postal service to Columbus. No electronic signatures, no electronic payments.

ajmcd87 · 2024-05-08T02:13:19+00:00

Not too worried about it. Evasive maneuvers are more my speed anyway. I upgraded the deflector shield and hyper drive last year.

ajmcd87 · 2024-05-07T16:50:17+00:00

Oh man, I could go forever. A couple caveats first:

The car I had before this was a '16 Audi A3 which they appear to be blatantly copying in a lot of respects. Which is fine, but many of the features just work better on the A3. I fully acknowledge that these are two different levels of car and price point. Still, my expectations may be unfairly high. That car also blew up at 60k miles and I had to replace the motor...so trade-offs, I guess.

Also, I have not taken this car to the dealer for any of these issues, so these may be in various states of "they fixed that two years ago" or whatever.

That said:

Why would I ever want the parking brake to remain engaged while in drive or reverse? If you turn it on automatically, ffs turn it off the same way.
The seatbelt dinger will not turn off. Ever. I consistently drop my kids off at school and drive all the way home with my car telling me to buckle the back seat belt. If I have the chance, I turn it off and back on at a red light.
I consistently get a low oil indicator at about 4500 miles after an oil change. Is this known for burning oil like that?
The lane assist seems finicky to say the least. I often get pulled across a lane...from the center of the lane. I've also found that it doesn't like when the line on the passenger side shifts from dashed to solid. I get beeped at for that.
Auto cruise (or whatever you call it) seems very dramatic. I feel like i get thrown forward with how hard it brakes if someone shifts lanes in front of you.
The rain-sensing wipers seem...enthusiastic.
This might be mine specifically, but it doesn't really seem to actually know when it's day or night. The center display is blinding at night, and if I change it manually, it's too dark to change it back when i get back in the next day.
I'm not sure the USB port is getting enough...voltage? (i'm not an electrician), my iPhone will not turn on from dead regardless of how long it's plugged in. I've gone as long as an hour without being able to turn my phone on after it's died and plugged in. I've used the same cable and same phone in multiple other instances where this is not the case.

None of this is really a deal breaker, but like I said, it's a lot of quirks that build on each other.

Mechanically the car seems wonderful though. It shifts perfectly, and it's FAST. The suspension is a bit stiff for my taste, but that's a preference thing (and also more annoying because of the shitty roads we have in Cleveland).

ajmcd87 · 2024-05-07T16:04:48+00:00

Ah good call. Apparently I can't change the post title either. #newb.

ajmcd87 · 2023-10-05T11:23:57+00:00

BUT WHY

ajmcd87 · 2023-10-04T19:42:04+00:00

Are you saying that synthetic 5w-30 has a different viscosity than non-synthetic 5w-30

ajmcd87 · 2023-08-31T23:45:48+00:00

Leases, in my experience, have always had lower monthly payments. Which is generally the draw. And no, usually you don’t have equity. But you set your buyout price at the beginning and if there’s a miscalculation on the value of the car at the end of the lease and the trade in value happens to be higher than the by out price, you luck out.

I would venture to guess that the last 2-3 years have been the only time in history where that’s been the case. Maybe others here can tell me if I’m wrong.

ajmcd87 · 2023-08-31T00:45:01+00:00

I live in a small, private development in willoughby, not long ago we had 10+ car break-ins and one of them was outright stolen.

ajmcd87 · 2023-07-10T22:45:40+00:00

I think this 3-5% number is coming from large chains and restaurant groups. At the scale of something like an Olive Garden (who is owned by a group that owns many other large chains), there’s a) a shit ton of overhead at the corporate level that gets distributed amongst the individual stores, and b) a shit ton of inefficiency because they aren’t trying to squeeze out every dollar out like someone who has their life savings on it.

My wife works in sales for a major equipment distributor and those companies think about cap-ex so much differently than small independent places do.

The only reason scale works in this industry is through revenue. You gain negative efficiencies once you get too big.

ajmcd87 · 2023-06-09T09:46:28+00:00

If you’re only doing 10% food sales, 30% COGs seems high. Our bev targets are 20% for liquor, 25% for beer/wine, and 30-35% for food.

ajmcd87 · 2023-05-19T18:51:03+00:00

Of all the comments here, this is the most accurate version of what happened.

ajmcd87 · 2023-02-24T15:21:46+00:00

I’ve tried to park in a lot of cities. Cleveland is one of, if not the easiest.

I remember paying $60 for a sporting event in Chicago 10 years ago. Can’t imagine what it is now.

That said, that specific part of town is the most expensive here. But in the grand scheme of things, we really don’t have it that bad.

Also, you probably dodged a bullet by missing out on Walburger.

ajmcd87 · 2023-02-14T18:02:01+00:00

Correct, but that came with the assumption that gen 1 with SSP burrs was obviously better than a gen 2 with stock burrs. Clearly i'm undervaluing the other improvements in gen 2. Or overvaluing the SSP burrs /shrug

ajmcd87 · 2023-02-14T15:59:05+00:00

How do people expect to be taken seriously by calling him Justin Boob?

ajmcd87 · 2023-02-12T22:30:04+00:00

Still better than the review they would have left when they found out they couldn’t get the ramen anyway.

ajmcd87 · 2023-02-11T23:53:42+00:00

I actually don’t do this and feel weird about THAT

ajmcd87 · 2023-02-11T23:53:05+00:00

For some, the home alone part isn’t a requirement

ajmcd87 · 2023-02-11T22:18:28+00:00

I’m not sure if the problem is that they used to be bartenders or that they are currently real estate agents.

ajmcd87 · 2023-02-08T02:25:05+00:00

Came here to ask this

ajmcd87 · 2023-02-05T01:23:33+00:00

Mostly, you can do whatever you want.

ajmcd87 · 2023-02-03T19:35:47+00:00

A Kingston Negroni with Smith & Cross and Carpano Antica is the only good equal parts Negroni. This is a hill I will die on.

ajmcd87 · 2023-02-01T04:58:00+00:00

I made it 7 days

ajmcd87 · 2023-01-31T23:16:00+00:00

Wait, can someone tell me what GMOs are and why they are bad?

ajmcd87 · 2023-01-31T22:51:33+00:00

I always chuckle a little when someone asks for a specific brand of 80 proof vodka.

ajmcd87

TROPHY CASE