Attn: Gibas et al

[age of quarrel]

Paul's is NOT 24 hours anymore.

victoria has really taken a nose dive

[destroy]

welp,

looks like i've completely run out of reasons to ever come back to victoria!

[Hollow]

DAMMIT

[xchadx]

.

[destroy]

ey yo A!

what'chu think all that book learnin' is doin' you? nothin' but more debt man! you gotta live in the now brotha-man!

I definitely know a few vegans who have dreams of opening their own restaurant. Victoria is probably the most vegan-friendly city I've ever been to. I could almost guarantee you success. Just gotta get some investors and swindle via a kickstarter. Put down the bong, pick up a skillet!

you just gotta watch enough A&E and TLC so you learn everything about opening restaurants.

[officespace]

you just gotta watch enough A&E and TLC so you learn everything about opening restaurants.

How would watching a show about Hoarders or a family with 75 kids help me open a restaurant?

[tylerp]

I have seen so many episodes of shows about opening a restaurant

usually it's a competition and shit, it'd be EASY without that pressure

[Hollow]

Fuck. No. No it would not be easy. I've been working restaurants for 15 years now, and I can tell you it is one of the most unforgiving businesses in the world. 90% of restaurants fail their first year. 90%. That is not a made up statistic. It is difficult, dirty, and you basically throw money at it until, if your lucky/smart/know what the fuck your doing, you break even. Usually about 6 years after you've opened the place. Anyone remember the Green Goddess in Fernwood Square? How about Lucy's? That spot has had a new restaurant in it EVERY YEAR.

I people all the time who have watched a bunch of Food Network shows and think they're fucking experts on how to run a restaurant. You don't. Trust me. Savvy restaurant owners, the guys you see that bankroll high end places, usually are successful because they simply pony up the cash, hire a talented chef and matre de and then stand back and let them do their thing.

Most of the time, you're simply assuring yourself that your going to lose a shitload of cash and be in debt the rest of your life. If you want to end up in a gutter, open a restaurant.

[Tambro]

Totally with Willa. In business school we're constantly told how shitty of an idea opening a restaurant is. One of my teachers is a part owner of Sauce, a "successful" restaurant in Victoria, and he says he really wish he hadn't invested in a restaurant. There's so much liability, so much competition, and such small contribution margins (often so small a restaurant can only make profit in a best case scenario when it comes to table turnover, etc.)

While the idea of opening a restaurant is a common one, and I mean, obviously it CAN be successful, I don't think I could ever advise one of my friends to open a restaurant.

[tylerp]

I was being facetious. woooosh. I gotta stop being so not-serious on here.

I have that same rant about tv-watchers who think they're experts about music or food or whatever. people are idiots.

[Hollow]

I was being facetious. woooosh. I gotta stop being so not-serious on here.

I have that same rant about tv-watchers who think they're experts about music or food or whatever. people are idiots.

Oh, sorry, that wasn't directed specifically at you. It's a pretty common rant I go on. Corey, my boss, has a few years more experience than I do, and we both are constantly meeting people who have 0 experience and think that running a restaurant would be "fun" and "easy". When we ask them what experience they would bring to the table they say things like "Oh, I've been cooking for my family for years!" or something else incredibly ridiculous. Because, you know, serving 300 people in a two hour period in a twenty table restaurant (the average size of a small place and the average business one can expect during the rush) is EXACTLY like cooking spaghetti for your kids. No difference whatsoever.

That's usually when I end the conversation and start drinking heavily.

Gordon Ramsey had something like five failed restaurants before he became a success. Gordon. Fucking. Ramsey.

I want to open one, but I am also fully aware of the risks I'd be taking and I'm still not sure if I'll do it. Just...just stay out of the industry, people. It sucks you in and turns you into an alcoholic, or a drug addict, or both.

[Andrew]

you just gotta watch enough A&E and TLC so you learn everything about opening restaurants.

How would watching a show about Hoarders or a family with 75 kids help me open a restaurant?

Clearly you've never tried to open a restaurant or you'd know successful restaurants are made entirely of trash and children.

[Hollow]

you just gotta watch enough A&E and TLC so you learn everything about opening restaurants.

How would watching a show about Hoarders or a family with 75 kids help me open a restaurant?

Clearly you've never tried to open a restaurant or you'd know successful restaurants are made entirely of trash and children.

There is more truth in this statement than I'd like to admit.

[Andrew]

Put down the bong, pick up a skillet!

[Hollow]

Put down the bong, pick up a skillet!

This is true. Everyone knows that truly successful chefs do coke and heroin (not joking).

[Andrew]

This is true. Everyone knows that truly successful chefs do coke and heroin (not joking).

[Jordan f.]

Ma Fuckin' Good Eats should be a 24hour place

[tylerp]

*MOTHERFUCKING GOOD EATS

for those who haven't heard, this is a joke of a burrito place that troy and I have been talking about for a long time. the idea was originally to copy budgey's burritos in vancouver and just have a straight up small menu of fast good burritos with store-cooked beans/rice and tortillas. emphasis on the vegan angle but with cheese, sour cream, and ground beef as options. also a good selection of hot sauces. OF COURSE.

this spiralled into being a combined record store, jamspace, recording space, burrito shop, and coffee shop. and GET THIS: it's ALL krisha-themed. we're not hari krishnas, we just think it'd be hilarious to have a krishna mexican food place run by white dudes with no religion. there'd be incense and sweet scripture on the walls.

we're veeeery serious.

[Hollow]

This is true. Everyone knows that truly successful chefs do coke and heroin (not joking).

Yeah. It's a rough industry, like I said. I'd have to do some research to find other examples, but Anthony Bourdain immediately comes to mind as someone that struggled for years with coke/heroin. He's an interesting character, to be honest. Smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, recovering addict, loves food, damn good writer, and self admitted mediocre chef. My kind of guy.

I've also had loads of personal experience of walking into the back walk-in freezer to find my head chef and both sous chefs doing lines of...something. I usually just asked them to pass me a bag of whatever I needed and took off. "None of my fucking business" is a byword in kitchens. Dealing with that many coke heads and junkies is the main reason why I will never really do anything harsh. Weed is perfectly fine for me.

[Andrew]

also a good selection of hot sauces. OF COURSE.

and GET THIS: it's ALL krisha-themed.

Krishna doctrine excludes foods that "offend" the pallet. That might be at odds with your love of hot sauce, Tyler-das.