Restaurant Dreams

This is the last month of my five-year lease on my old shop in Ballard. I moved out of there 7 months ago, into a bigger kitchen which isn't open to the public, and my buddies from Green Go moved into the old spot to give a shot at their restaurant dreams.

For a variety of reasons the venture didn't work out for them, so I'm paying rent there again this month and trying to sell off my equipment. The ideal scenario would be to sell it to someone who wants to take over the space, and there seem to be no shortage of people who want it.

Yesterday at the Queen Anne market someone approached me and asked for the landlord's phone number, and there was another inquiry on my answering machine when I got back to my shop. There are three empty storefronts just down the block with "for lease" signs in the windows, and this place doesn't even have a sign and folks are clamoring for it.

It's a charming building, and it's next to impossible to find a spot that's already been set up as a restaurant, unless you buy a business and a lease from the previous owner. (A sink costs $600, but the plumbling you need to install that sink costs $6000, and you can't take it with you.) But it's a difficult spot because it's so small, it's off the beaten path, and the landlords are often reluctant to meet the minimal obligations contained in a commercial lease.

Still, I'm convinced that things could work out there for the right person. That would have to be someone with experience and realistic expectations, who knows how to keep things simple.