So me and a friend of mine was throwing around the idea to do something fun as a business and decided that opening a car themed Restaurant would be a scary new challenge.

All things considered what would you guys/gals want. The intention is to make a place that is the high energy and lots of fun. Where a group of friends could go and talk motor sports without feeling geeky. The current concept is if you took a Hooters, made the food actually taste good , add motor sports of all types (F1, Le-Mans, DTM, Drag Racing etc..) threw it all into a blender, this would be it's twisted offspring.

I'll be blunt right now there is still lots of work ahead. Projected opening if there is enough interest will not come to light till about 6-8 months down the road. Good things take time and all the people involved refuse to cut corners. To do it right is not going to be cheap but what good things ever cost less then you expected.

So everyone I'll be fool hearty enough to put on the flame suit so give me your worst.

 

san diego has this one
http://www.cohnrestaurants.com/menu-...orvette-diner/

but now a days i think its important to also do health food as well as the fried food.

I think for example the cheese cake factory has a nice menu that has something for most people.
http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/

One thing cool would be custom cakes either made to look like the customers car.
cheaper option they provide a picture of the car and you can actually have it printed onto the cake..baskin robbins does this.

oh and franchise lots and lots of them

 

Thanks for the ideas. Right now the menu is still very much up in the air. I am committed on few simple things. Taste and quality are to be very high. As much of the menu as possible is to be sourced from local suppliers. The meat especially is to be sourced from Thundering Hooves in Walla Walla. Their animals are all grass feed, no chemicals are used in raising them either. The taste is worth the price. I'm a foodi/car geek with OCD thrown into the mix.

The decor isn't going to be too over the top. You'll have to be a serious car head to notice the fine details. I find that theme restaurants tend to shove their theme in your face so hard that it's more novelty then quality. The goal is to do something very different that no "car" themed restaurant has ever done before. This will not be your grandpa's old drive in of the past.

 

There is already XXX in Issaquah.

 

I think it sounds great. Check out Cafe Veloce in Kirkland. They hold a lot of events there by clubs such as the PCA for events, watch the F1 races, etc. Kind of the same idea you're thinking of?

This place isn't that big though and they serve only Italian food.

Best wishes on your project!

 

If you build it, we will come. It could be a new GTG spot for 6speeders.

 

^ that would be sweet. Best of luck!

 

I'm a big F1 fan. Right now I'm running the numbers for the full build at this point I could get myself a pair of Lambos for the projected price. I'm currently overseas and found a good idea or two. No one has seemed to take the entire car theme up market. Projected age group is to be 25-45, so it's not going to be the most kid friendly place.

It's not that I don't like places such as XXX. However, I always found the design to be cheep and well cheesy. Is it so hard to believe that just cause you like cars that you're stuck in the 50's.

Right now one of the main stumbling blocks is finding the ideal location. I will not bother unless there can be a place found in either Seattle or Bellevue. It's proving to be rather "difficult" to find space large enough with PARKING!!! If it's built people will come but it's going to be hard if you can't park.

 

If you put an arcade there families will also flock.

 

The profit margins on arcades are very small considering their initial cost. Even Leasing proves to not make it worthwhile unless I do it in volume. Realistically the space could be used for something better.

I do like the idea of placing some form of gaming machine. I have looked into setting up driving sim setups in the waiting area with gt5. That right now would be the most realistic option. For the cost of setting up 4 sim stations with new games is equal to just one old used arcade machine.

I know that throwing out the potential revenue by being "family" friendly could be it's down fall. However, the goal is to make it a location for adults to relax without distractions of the family life.

I'm open to ideas so everyone troll me if you guys have valid points. Wont be back stateside for about two more weeks so we'll see what comes.

 

I was thinking that the XXX in Issy already fits this bill, however it sounds like you're looking at more of a restaurant and not a drive in style place like XXX. What are your meal costs looking like and what type of food are you looking to serve? The only thing I don't like about XXX is their price. Burgers and fries should not cost that much IMO....

 

We definitely could use more destinations with decent safe parking. Make the stalls wide and more cars would come out. I also think long tables work well as we tend to want to group together when we're out. Also, the restaurant has to be able to see the cars from the inside so lots and lots of glass to the parking lot matters. I've thought about opening one myself, but a small business is just as much of a pain in the *** as a big one.

 

Tommy has some great feedback. For sure parking would be important if you want large groups to come and big tables. We are kind of a photographing bunch here, so the more we can all stick together, the happier the NW photogs will be too!

 

I agree Tommy makes a very good point about parking. Those working with me are looking for a good space with enough parking. Large tables are a given. The location will be as meet friendly as possible. It's a very long road ahead but we'll see what is possible. Most of it all hinges on finding a location that's large enough that will allow enough changes to the overall space.

 

Usually themed restaurants fail after a year simply because the novelty wears off. However, it would be interesting to see the final concept.