I heard back from the owner of the second location we are considering today. I was concerned that they were not interested because so much time had gone by with no responses to my inquiries. He has been in Nova Scotia for two weeks and just returned yesterday!
We are meeting at the location tomorrow to discuss a potential deal. The 'facility' is ready to go, and is fully stocked with equipment (refrigeration, coffee brewers, grinders, espresso machines, microwaves, shelves, cash register, etc). Basically, the previous manager turned off the lights and left everything in there. We won't want to use the two espresso machines (crummy super automatics), but everything else should work for us, provided it is in working condition.
The current owners have had other people run the business for them, and they have never gotten a good manager. They had poor quality products, inconsistent hours (some days they were open, some days they weren't... just depended on if they were hung over that day). As a result of having several failed attempts at getting it up and running, the current owners do not have an appreciation for the value of the location and the equipment. They are very discouraged and want to sell it. I think we can do well with the high quality products that we sell, and with solid staff to run it.
Another issue that I took a look at yesterday was how my departing the shop has affected our budget. We hired Robert full time as an assistant manager to fill my hours and responsibilities. The increase in labor budget has pushed us back onto the wrong side of the break even point. We will have to do a little more growth based upon current trends to get back to the break even point. I know that the increased labor would have an impact, but I didn't know how big. We'll see how things go...
Gotta run,
JD
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