So why is it that every desi woman who cooks well wants to start a restaurant? 
I know of at least 3 such people who started Indian/Pakistani restaurants and went bye bye in less than a year.
Another friend called me yesterday and talked about how she and her husband want start their restaurant and was asking me my opinion.
Anybody has any views, suggestions, experience in this area? How about fast food franchises?
Re: Restaurant Business
i know a few women who will do catering on the side...but not sure about the ones who open their own business
Re: Restaurant Business
nik i've also seen such couples .............. i guess they consider this business cuzz they think this way both of them could get to work togather @ the same place ( or may be cuzz in general desis consider restaurant ownership a profitable business lol )
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It's one thing to cook at home and totally different thing to cook professionally. These restaurants go out of business because they don't differentiate between the two.
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^^ no they go out of business b/c they don’t pay enough money to their chefs who than say bye bye to them 
, and thus their wives ended up cooking for the restaurent
Re: Restaurant Business
Ladies thinking that the can cook good food, so they should open a restaurant is a problem with many of desis.
Restaurant has less to do with tasty food and more with service, atmosphere and presentation. Most of the desi restaurant lack that aspect.
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There are four kinds of desi restaurants which are successful.
1. Their decor is good and location is perfect for this kind of restaurant.
2. Their decor is not good but the food is very good and the location is perfect for that kind of restaurant.
3. The food is not good, the decor is not good , the locations is not perfect but they are lucky.
4. I forgot. yaad aa-a ga toh bataoon ga.
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Yes, but this is what I have seen. The lady cooks real well at home. AT restaurants, a consistent product must be presented. At home one day the aloo gosht could be too patla and the other day it may be not. No one really cares. Then, if you go to the restaurant and 3 out of the 10 dishes on the menu are not available "today" then the customer may be a bit upset. Finally, to break even, you keep the prices at $12 for a bowl of daal and bhindi with 2 patli rotis, I rather eat at home buddy...
So, people want to get into business but don't understand what it takes.
In the case I mentioned, I don't think wife is planning to quit her day job because they need cash flow, and insurance.
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As I said there are many factors which can make a desi restaurant a success or failure it is not just the quality of food, prices. It is also location , location , location, business sense of the owners, customer service, prices, quality of food size of the market. If this restuarant can appeal to the non desi population then they got it made.
A Pakistni restaurant was open in my city for month , the service is pathetic, the decor is lousy, the food is yuck, the prices are at the high end but it was still in business because location was good and this was one and only for the size of the market.
Now another restaurant has opened , the food is good, the decor is good, the service is best it can be, the prices are at the high end but the location is not perfect. But the market cannot support two desi restaurants though. Let us see which one survives now.
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Hmmm. Getting a hot location also means paying higher rent, yes?
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You can run a business by selling crap if the location, presentation, service, and interiors are exotic.........but desi focus on food quality and forget the rest. They start compromising on food quality when it runs in losses and thus the end.
Re: Restaurant Business
Correctomundo!
Hmmm. Getting a hot location also means paying higher rent, yes?
Punjabi main kahtay hain.
Thook naal pakoray nahi puk sug day. ( thook say pakoray nahi puk suk tay).
My BIL bought an Iranian restaurant in a predominanatly gora neighbor hood and converted it into Pakistani restaurant the location was worst for a desi restaurant, it failed.
Contrast this with the fact that this city has more than half a dozen successfull pakistani restaurants , so much so that one of the restaurants opend a restaurant with the same name in another city which was also an instant hit.
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remember the seinfeld episode where jerry tells babu to open a paki restaurant…and it failed miserably.. :aq:
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And remember business is always a calculated risk. Profit is reward for risk taking. No risk no gain.
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^ i got told that in 6th grade. cough
^ i got told that in 6th grade. cough
You are right but it never hurts to remind. Sometimes in the heat of passion we forget the obvious. oh wait you were told that in 2nd grade . "cough" and again "cough".
And remember business is always a calculated risk. Profit is reward for risk taking. No risk no gain.
I was told "No risk No risk."
Re: Restaurant Business
There was a couple in Tooting, London SW who used to cook at home and deliver to their cusotmers. Some customers were also coming to take away the foods. They were doing great business. But later residents complained and they had to shut down the home rest.