I own a Diner and im looking for financing, I lease the building so i have no calateral, and my credit is not the best. I have had my diner almost two years. any thoughts would be great. The standard approach is to develop a BUSINESS PLAN to show how the investment of additional funds can be used to improve the business, and most importantly get funds back to pay back the investors with good profits on their investment.
Someone else gave you like to SCORE which is a great resource to both help you develop the business plan, and get ideas for what belongs in the plan, from retired executives who have relevant exoerience in your kind of enterprise.
Then you take that business plan to the banks and venture capitalists to see if they are interested in being those investors.
I would look at traffic patterns of potential customers, and what advertising seems appropriate.
You have probably seen on major interstates, there are signs associated with each exit ... to tell the motorists that there are gas stations, restaurants, lodging etc. at this or that exit, then when you get off the interstate there are sign posts which way you go & how many miles in that direction. This is done with icons of the brand names and is paid for by the state government. All you need to do is go through the beaurocracy to make sure that your restaurant's icon is on the list.
The same principle exists for other major highways, although it is at your expense. I have seen billboards that briefly describe the type of restaurant, how many miles, bus drivers eat free, etc.
You walk these signs along the major arteries away from your diner, so that traffic is shown where to turn to get to you. You are aiming at truckers, so you put these signs along arteries that have a lot of long haul traffic. Make sure you have good parking and turn around space for them.
The deal with tour buses is you have arrangements for the bus company to have copies of your menu, so that any food that takes a while to prepare can be phoned in ahead of time, so it is ready when the tour bus rolls into your parking lot & disgorges 50 passengers. You would have parking space for the tour buses, and the bus driver meal is on you, as incentive to get the buses to come visit you, on their route.
Many ordinary motorists these days are using Internet Map search engines ... they want to stop at a certain kind of place, and how to get there. There's ways with keywords to get your web site high up vs. your competition & there's professionals who can implement those ways for you. Another kind of investment expense to improve your marketing.
If you are near a metropolis, there's ways to market to walk in traffic from the community, but given probable competition, you may be better off targeting your advertising.
Consider for example people who work in businesses within a few blocks of your Diner. They may need to take a lunch break, and you are a candidate for them.
Most companies have a bulletin board for their workers. Your menu could be on that bulletin board, with phone # for someone to call to order sandwiches, soup to go, whatever your speciality.
Most every place I have ever worked, there's a handful of menus there. Some come because some employee enthusiastic about this or that place. Some come because some pizza place enthusiastic about promoting themselves to this kind of audience.
Is there a hotel or motel within a few blocks of your diner? I have visited such places and found in the room a package of local promotions, such as map from hotel to local restaurant, what menu specialities, hours open, phone # ... well if I arrive at hotel motel in area I not familiar with, odds are I am hungry nite before or need to eat breakfast before I leave. My choices usually are whatever passes for reasonable priced fare right at the hotel, whatever signs I see immediately in sight of it, or this package in my room where some local places have paid to have this stuff into all the rooms of the hotel.
It is not unusual that I will decide that I will visit one of those places for breakfast before I hit the road in the morning. If you have nearby hotel motel you might look into the practicality and pricing of this form of marketing.
Is there a movie theatre within reasonable driving distance of your diner? I have seen reciprocal signs in lobby of restaurant and movie theatre.
At the restaurant is chart of what movies are playing, when they start, estimated driving distance from the restaurant ... so you can plan your meal, and not miss the show afterwards, tiny map showing movie theatre relative to the restaurant. At the movie theatre is the same kind of thing in reverse ... the suggestion that this is a good place to have a meal before or after the show, driving map time estimate, the types of food specialities.
People waiting in line to get into the movie tickets .... they can see the restaurant sign. Once a week someone updates the sign in the restaurant when the movies change. The restaurant can also update their sign periodically. The movie theatre management and a restaurant do this reciprocal deal if they think they can get enough mutual customers to make this effort worthwhile.
There's other kinds of enterprises with which similar reciprocal deals can be arranged. You just need to decide how much space in your lobby ... how many of these deals with places that are obviously not in competition with you. Go to http://www.sba.gov, http://www.score.org or http://www.bplan.com for instructions on how to write a business plan and sample business plans.
Then, go to http://www.score.org/index.html and in the upper left hand corner, enter your zip code. On the next screen, you will get information in the nearest SCORE chapter. Call them and arrange for a free meeting with a SCORE counselor to discuss SBA approved loans.
SCORE is a nonprofit association dedicated to entrepreneur education and the formation, growth and success of small business nationwide. SCORE is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
SCORE has 389 chapters in locations throughout the United States and its territories, with 10,500 volunteers nationwide. Both working and retired executives and business owners donate time and expertise as business counselors. |
