Restaurant Reality: Pizza! A New Addition

I wrote much of this newsletter several weeks ago after a heartwarming and resounding response to my “Ask” newsletter. Things have moved forward since then. Read on…

Imagine yourself owning a business much like Bethany’s Table and finding your challenges difficult to get your arms around. The trajectory is good but there are some potholes. You need a better map. A better road.

…So you reach out to your customers to share your struggles and seek advice and you receive a resounding response. Imagine your glow! 

Sometimes it’s not necessary to actually solve a problem. Sometimes one just needs to describe it to the universe. It seems to me that owning a restaurant is not a problem that can be solved. Instead, one simply has a stable of angels to unleash against the tides of unpredictability. 

And here we sit. 

It is too easy to conflate the issues I described in my last newsletter. There’s Cash - and there’s the matter of a Sustainable Business Model.

Folks were responsive to the idea of a Supper Club, though nobody (including me) knew what that might entail. Several folks encouraged a GoFundMe, which warms my heart but it only gets after one of the three problem nodes: cash.

The Business Model

We have a darn good business. Restaurant sales are close to healthy. Food costs are in line because we have pressed the tolerances (we feel) on pricing. Our staff in the front and back are talented, knowledgeable and committed. Our customer base steadily grows. 

If there is something akin to a silver bullet for Bethany’s Table it is probably private dining. Our capacity to generate events like our winemaker dinners is limited but our capacity to set tables for 20 and 30 guests at a time certainly is not. That business has been growing, though it has its natural lulls. During weeks with abundant private dining I find myself singing louder in the shower.

There was another great idea to start a Wine Investor Group program and leverage our wine inventory.  Hmmm. I better get my inventory management under control!

Introducing Radii Pi (π)

The first version of this letter pointed at the possibility of selling pizza and pasta to-go from the Marketplace. The idea took off.

Since that time, in just a few weeks, I have written a business plan for Radii Pi and purchased a 5-foot stone hearth oven. It is an intense schedule to get the business up and running by our target date of September 9th, especially with me ensconced in a remodeling project on our home in Walla Walla. Being unreasonable has never stopped us before. 

Please send an email to David if you would be interested in reading the business plan and wish to consider possibly being one of our funding partners.

We sincerely appreciate your support!

David