March Update
Getting this one up a little late (as it’s now technically April) but better late than never, right? Heads up, this is a long one.
March was an eventful month. Now before you get your hopes up, I’ll spoil the story and let you know that this post unfortunately does not end with an announcement that I have at long last found a space (*sigh*). Regardless, I hope you’ll read on. Here’s the summary:
In the time between when I was informed that The Naked Grocer would be closing (late November) and the start of March, I had explored about 6 potential shared-space situations and 4 potential solo spaces. Not a large amount seeing as there are very few options out there that fit my needs, but each time it got easier — I knew what questions to ask, had confidently added new words to my vocabulary, and had the clarity to quickly know if a space would worth considering. Somewhat discouragingly, only two spaces wound up being real options.
The first was a production-only space in Fremont that felt too good to be true (punchline: it was) and the process of getting to see it, getting information about it, and sorting out what the messy situation with the current lease-holder was took a full 2 months. It wasn’t a waste of time since I learned a lot, but it was ultimately a dead end.
The second space was very promising. In Fremont as well but closer to other restaurants/public spaces, a decent size with a beautifully designed retail front, and came with a few pieces of large equipment that I don’t already own. Initially it was an off market deal that I found out about through friends, so I had a bit of a head start too. Nonetheless, the whole thing was going to move fast so I spent the three days preceding the viewing appointment figuring out how/if I would be able to do this…staying up until 3am making projection spreadsheets and doing investment write ups, having very long phone calls with financial advisors and my mentors from the restaurant world, and talking things out with my friends and family until their ears bled (sorry y’all…love you). What made this space entail so much more planning is that it wasn’t a matter of signing a lease on an available space — this was the purchase of a “business opportunity”. This is where you buy someone else’s business (which in this case included the build out of the space they had done, access to the lease, some equipment, and most of the permits they had obtained from the City). In the current commercial real estate market this can be more cost-effective due to the expense/long timeline for obtaining permits from the City and the cost of doing a build out of any kind. So what does this cost? In this case, $150,000 to acquire the business and an additional $5,000 per month in rent.
To be very transparent, I started my business with $6,000 of my own money. I have never taken investment or loans (besides two from family to purchase large pieces of equipment). This is of course a personal choice that might stunt the ability to grow, but having complete creative control over my business is my greatest priority and I have never wanted to owe a large sum of money to a group of individuals or large institution. With that said, it now feels near impossible (in this city particularly) to do anything without considering this. The rent alone for food spaces around 1,000 sq ft is consistently $5,000/month or more, making your overhead out the gate ridiculously high. Add in the labor cost to pay people a fair wage in our expensive city, aforementioned permitting costs, increasing ingredient costs and a whole lot of other boring stuff, and you’re looking at a monthly number which feels nearly impossible to reach unless you are open 7 days a week and stretch yourself so thin that you’re always about to snap. If I had decided to take this space, I would have realistically needed around $250,000 to get things up and running and cover the startup costs of the first 8 months or so. And, well, that’s a whole lot of money.
Ultimately two things happened. 1) I saw the space in person and discovered that the ratio of kitchen space to retail space felt illogical to me and wouldn’t make sense for my operation. I definitely wasn’t going to spend all that money just to knock down a wall or two and redesign something to make it work efficiently for me. And perhaps more importantly, 2) I realized that I am not willing to have the next 5-10 years of my life be solely focused on working unsustainably hard just to cover very high overhead costs and make ends barely meet (while repaying a quarter of a million dollars in investment money on top of it!). There is so much more I could say on this at a personal level, but I hope that makes sense regardless.
There is a lot of peace that comes with being able to say no to things that you could make work, but would come at a great cost. And I’ve learned it’s not selfish to realize that (especially as a business owner) cost is not always monetary…but perhaps more often comes in the form of lost time with those you love, having to say no to life experiences you’d like to have because of work, and realizing that you’ve lost your grasp on the real reason you do what you do.
For me, Gloria has brought me joy because I am so proud to have created something that brings you all joy and is inclusive for those that often times feel left out of this beautiful side of the food world because of a dietary restriction they didn’t choose. I love what I built and love what I do, and have been able to continue feeling that way because I’ve been able to make it as sustainable as possible - keeping my overhead relatively low and maintaining my creative control. There’s no path for me to keep doing this if I can’t hold on to that.
If you made it this far, thank you. When I write these updates I feel I owe all of you, my wonderful dedicated customers, very honest and heartfelt words. And I appreciate you for reading them. To end this on a lighter & brighter note, the sunny days have felt like something of an adrenaline shot to my soul (could I be more of a native Seattleite?). Like most, I’ve had more energy so I’m spending more time with friends outside and am enjoying the slight irresponsibility that comes with the warmer months — staying up past your bedtime, drinking that extra glass of wine, and letting a touch of laziness find respectability. I hope you've been embracing some of the same.
With love,
Signe
