Pretty fascinating to see the costs breakdown in getting a restaurant open in SF. $350k in construction related costs alone. No wonder eating out in the city is getting expensive.
Just for the heck of it, I was wondering how much it costs approximately to open a much more modest restaurant and a hole-in-the-wall. So I made some approximations:
$4k barely buys a convection oven, much less all the basic furnishings for front & back.
I periodically consider opening a small chocolate shop, then look at the cost and sober up. For a basic suite of kitchen equipment - oven or two, fridge, freezer, range, prep tables, sinks, shelving, pots & pans - even used you’re going to need at least $20k in kitchen equipment, more like $40 k if you buy it new. A type 1 hood over the gas stove or fryer adds another $10-20k.
The last restaurant I worked in was a something like a $900k build-out, 5 years ago. There had been a wholesale bakery there but it was just a shell before renovation. They added a partial second floor for offices, a covered patio area, courtyard/garden area, new walk-in, custom bar & a few built-in benches, restrooms, large hood system. A lot of the old kitchen equipment from the previous location was saved - freezer, 60qt hobart, ovens & ranges, vacuum machine, speed racks, sheet pans - otherwise it would have been more.
So I think the “ugly restaurant” category isn’t realistic but otherwise agree that it’s at least $100k to get the door open if you have to put in a kitchen.
And now that I’ve actually read the article - the place is only 1250 square feet! They spent $560 per square foot
I went to college for Hotel/Restaurant Management back in the 1980s/early 90s. One of our projects was to plan a new restaurant from the ground up, and I remember the theoretical budget being a million.
Since then, I’ve helped open a bunch of seasonal restaurants, albeit in the Hamptons mostly, but that seems like a good place to start. If you want to make a good first impression that is!
By ugly, I was thinking about something along those lines. (Well the restaurant is not ugly per se, but modest) But I guess even that takes a sizable chunk of money these days.