We got a really weird phone call yesterday morning.
A guy we don't really know very well has asked us to move into his recently purchased hotel/pub and run it.
It looks pretty good on the auction house website.
Not perfect, but workable.
We're going down to have a look at it tomorrow.
There are some aspects of the situation that would be great, others not so great.
For a start, I'll have to immediately hire staff.
Finding good help in these two areas is next to impossible in the States. I don't know what it will be like here, but I don't imagine the process will be anything less than a pain in the arse.
Because it will be our home as well as our business, I am going to have to get past my little hangups about having people in our living area. We'll have to have a nanny, a bartender, and wait staff.
We still have Edinburgh, no matter what.
And, this year, we have to be in France for three months, no matter what.
So, that's four and a half months we'll have to leave the business to those that we hire.
I don't see how that will be possible. But, we'll have to make it work somehow.
I guess it will mean having someone we trust to stay there and oversee the operations and income.
I am going to have to dig deep to access the files in my brain that store hotel/restaurant/pub management.
I'll have to study the rules, regs, and health and safety requirements for the UK. I don't imagine they'll be all that different at the core, but there will definitely be additional things over here that we don't do at home.
I just hope the bar and the kitchen have three basins in the sink. And I hope the deep fryer and grills in the kitchen are at the very least, clean.
The furniture in the rooms is horrible.
And they have no decor at all.
Nothing on the windows but beige vertical blinds.
No decent pillows or duvets on the beds.
It isn't that the furniture is old or messed up, it's just mismatched. And I didn't notice any drawers or places to hang anything. I'll want that sorting out.
A room needs a table, a lamp, a nice mattress, good pillows, and high thread count linens.
I also think there should be blackout curtains on the windows. There were no pictures on the walls.
It was just boring and drab.
I'll fix it up. It is a good canvas, ready to be painted!
I won't have to do anything beyond the decorative.
All of the renovations were done a few years ago, and they're in good shape still.
I'm encouraged that there is no carpet in the pub area.
I can't even begin to convey how badly some old pubs smell in Britain. Stale beer, piss, and bleach.
And, probably a few other smells I don't sniff long enough to define.
It's funny how we're going to end up back in pubs, selling what we don't consume. I owned a bar and grill in the States for a few years before we toured the US for three years. I made so much money doing that.
I was even buying food at retail prices and still cleaning UP! I had a captive demographic and the food was great. It was just like really good home cooking, somewhere other than home. I was at a nightclub out in the middle of nowhere and there weren't any other restaurants for miles. So, I was so busy, from the moment I walked in the door, and I was always still there hours after the club closed.
It was a bit of a nightmare, though.
When I washed dishes, the drain in the floor would regurgitate the water and so I had to put a shop vac on a plywood platform to make sure it didn't get wet, and I rigged the nozzle into the drain, so I just flipped a switch and sucked up the water as it came up.
I learned exactly how much water I could use without it coming back on me. Totally ridiculous way to have to work. Good money, though.
On a slow night, I would clear about $250-300.
So, I like my odds on getting repeat customers with my food. I won't always be there to play chef, but there isn't anything I do that's so complicated it can't be learned.
Uggh.
How did this happen?
I am nervous and afraid.
This will be the biggest thing we've undertaken together.
We don't really get on well enough to be working together. He's already saying he's not so keen, so he'll probably find a way to refuse to do it.
I don't want to let the opportunity slip, but, I am fairly certain he'll be negative about it. I don't need the negative things outlined for me. I find them well enough on my own. Everything has potential risks.
Everything has drawbacks, and if you take a mind to, you can talk yourself out of anything before you've even begun.
I would really like to give it a go.
It's what we have discussed doing, but hadn't found the right building in the town where we were looking into doing this. This building is good. It's Grade II listed, and has some important badges of recognition from the government, which always helps the business immensely.
There is a huge space in the rear of the building that could be split into a beer garden and place for the kids to play. We could put a tall fence through the centre and both sides would be quite sizable.
Well, I guess we'll see how it all goes tomorrow.
I don't know how on earth I'm going to get to sleep.
It feels like the night before the first day of school.
I don't know what I'm gong to wear for this, either!
Wish me luck!
A guy we don't really know very well has asked us to move into his recently purchased hotel/pub and run it.
It looks pretty good on the auction house website.
Not perfect, but workable.
We're going down to have a look at it tomorrow.
There are some aspects of the situation that would be great, others not so great.
For a start, I'll have to immediately hire staff.
Finding good help in these two areas is next to impossible in the States. I don't know what it will be like here, but I don't imagine the process will be anything less than a pain in the arse.
Because it will be our home as well as our business, I am going to have to get past my little hangups about having people in our living area. We'll have to have a nanny, a bartender, and wait staff.
We still have Edinburgh, no matter what.
And, this year, we have to be in France for three months, no matter what.
So, that's four and a half months we'll have to leave the business to those that we hire.
I don't see how that will be possible. But, we'll have to make it work somehow.
I guess it will mean having someone we trust to stay there and oversee the operations and income.
I am going to have to dig deep to access the files in my brain that store hotel/restaurant/pub management.
I'll have to study the rules, regs, and health and safety requirements for the UK. I don't imagine they'll be all that different at the core, but there will definitely be additional things over here that we don't do at home.
I just hope the bar and the kitchen have three basins in the sink. And I hope the deep fryer and grills in the kitchen are at the very least, clean.
The furniture in the rooms is horrible.
And they have no decor at all.
Nothing on the windows but beige vertical blinds.
No decent pillows or duvets on the beds.
It isn't that the furniture is old or messed up, it's just mismatched. And I didn't notice any drawers or places to hang anything. I'll want that sorting out.
A room needs a table, a lamp, a nice mattress, good pillows, and high thread count linens.
I also think there should be blackout curtains on the windows. There were no pictures on the walls.
It was just boring and drab.
I'll fix it up. It is a good canvas, ready to be painted!
I won't have to do anything beyond the decorative.
All of the renovations were done a few years ago, and they're in good shape still.
I'm encouraged that there is no carpet in the pub area.
I can't even begin to convey how badly some old pubs smell in Britain. Stale beer, piss, and bleach.
And, probably a few other smells I don't sniff long enough to define.
It's funny how we're going to end up back in pubs, selling what we don't consume. I owned a bar and grill in the States for a few years before we toured the US for three years. I made so much money doing that.
I was even buying food at retail prices and still cleaning UP! I had a captive demographic and the food was great. It was just like really good home cooking, somewhere other than home. I was at a nightclub out in the middle of nowhere and there weren't any other restaurants for miles. So, I was so busy, from the moment I walked in the door, and I was always still there hours after the club closed.
It was a bit of a nightmare, though.
When I washed dishes, the drain in the floor would regurgitate the water and so I had to put a shop vac on a plywood platform to make sure it didn't get wet, and I rigged the nozzle into the drain, so I just flipped a switch and sucked up the water as it came up.
I learned exactly how much water I could use without it coming back on me. Totally ridiculous way to have to work. Good money, though.
On a slow night, I would clear about $250-300.
So, I like my odds on getting repeat customers with my food. I won't always be there to play chef, but there isn't anything I do that's so complicated it can't be learned.
Uggh.
How did this happen?
I am nervous and afraid.
This will be the biggest thing we've undertaken together.
We don't really get on well enough to be working together. He's already saying he's not so keen, so he'll probably find a way to refuse to do it.
I don't want to let the opportunity slip, but, I am fairly certain he'll be negative about it. I don't need the negative things outlined for me. I find them well enough on my own. Everything has potential risks.
Everything has drawbacks, and if you take a mind to, you can talk yourself out of anything before you've even begun.
I would really like to give it a go.
It's what we have discussed doing, but hadn't found the right building in the town where we were looking into doing this. This building is good. It's Grade II listed, and has some important badges of recognition from the government, which always helps the business immensely.
There is a huge space in the rear of the building that could be split into a beer garden and place for the kids to play. We could put a tall fence through the centre and both sides would be quite sizable.
Well, I guess we'll see how it all goes tomorrow.
I don't know how on earth I'm going to get to sleep.
It feels like the night before the first day of school.
I don't know what I'm gong to wear for this, either!
Wish me luck!
