How I started a $200k per year (1st year) restaurant @19. No connections, no loans, no experience, and under 10k in funds.

Sep 25 (edited) in Other

Okay I lied. We have only quite hit $200k yet, because it hasn't quite been a year, but if we stay at the same pace, we'll clear it! This isn't my first business, and it isn't my top sales month (35k in ecom), but it's probably one of my craziest, and definitely my most difficult business success. Although I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity, and everything that I've learned (which was it's main purpose) I don't recommend you do things this exact way. This story is meant more to inspire you on what's possible. If a crazy teen can open a dessert style restaurant/activity center with less than $10k, no loans, no credit, and a 2-week business idea, while working another job, so can you. It's not easy, but it's incredible what you can accomplish when you believe everything is possible.

I'll try to stay on topic here, but you'll need a tiny bit of set-up. This wasn't my first business. I got into ecom at 16, because it was covid, and I had NOTHING else to do. I hardly knew anything about business, but I guess I knew just enough to pick a winning product, and got lucky enough to make a converting ad as well. This one product, and one ad scaled my business to $35k per month at it's peak. I sold blue light glasses for $15.99, that all in costed me just over $2 (including shipping). I ran ads, but you can do the math. But like I said, I was young, and dumb, and had other things on my mind (probably sports, friends, and girls). It felt like a game, nothing felt real, and I couldn't spend money at the time anyway. I worked maybe an hr a day, if that. Everything was streamlined, and I only ran one winning ad. (I'll save this for another story, message me or comment if you want me to share it).

Anyway, I was super smart, so I decided to close this business down after I hit a problem. Then, did I save my money? Nope. Blew it all once the world opened back up. But I was left with something I could never lose: A completely new outlook on the world, a few skills, and a burning passion for entrepreneurship. This was when I decided that I would never work for someone again, unless it were to save up for my own business.

I dabbled in social media for a while, and grew to just over 30k followers, and probably got around 14-15 mil in views across Tiktok and Insta. (another story funny story)

I started a custom t-short business (my first brick and mortar) at our local fair, and then went to other fairs.

Then 2 weeks before our 2nd county fair, myself and my girlfriend at the time took a trip, and tried freeze dried candy for the first time. We saw how amazing it was, and how popular it was, as well as the margins.. and thought... hey! Let's sell this at the fair!

So of course, we bought a freeze dryer, and spent every dollar we had. We cranked out candy 24/7, day and night, and talked the fair into letting us sell it, (even though we were not supposed to without being a food vendor).

We killed it at the fair. Most money I'd ever made in a 4 day stretch. I think we did just shy of 9-10k.

People started asking if we had a store front, which after about the 4th or 5th time, I just started saying "not yet, stay tuned!" It was at this moment that I decided we needed to open up a storefront, not having any clue how to do this.

We met with a realtor, who told us it would take 7-10 years, we would need more experience, and at least 80-100k+ to get a commercial location. We had under 10k, and no experience (other than my wife now worked at a cafe for a few months). I remember it like it was yesterday. We said "fuck that guy, we're gonna do this".

I believe 8 days later, we managed to sign a lease.

At this point we had 0 credit, 0 loans, no prior experience, and a business that literally was under 2 weeks old and had 4 days of sales. We pitched out landlords on our vision and business plan, and were gracious enough to be given a chance. We had never even rented an apartment yet, and had no clue how we would afford the place. Our budget was originally 700-1000 per month at max. This place was $1750 per month, but we had to take what we could get. It was also WAY bigger than we had planned, and it was NOT set-up for a restaurant AT ALL! It was a church.

We took the main area, and turned it into a lounge/activity center, and then turned the nursery into a commercial kitchen somehow. We added drinks, and custom rolled ice cream and diced ice cream (think coldstone) because they were all viral online, and not in our small town yet. Problem after problem came our way, but it's pretty crazy what you can accomplish when you have no choice.

The plan was originally for me to work the shop in the day while she worked at her job, and and then we would switch at night, and I would go to my job. We built up hype through social media, and the day we launched, we both quit. We knew we weren't going back.

It's nearly a year later now, and we are going strong. However, the restaurant business isn't my thing. It's not as scalable as I want it to be, and it's an absolute headache! However, it has made me grow in bounds as an entrepreneur. You learn every aspect of business running a restaurant. Product creation, organization, supply chain, advertising, customer relationships, management skills, gosh... there's so much I've learned, and I think the most valuable thing it's taught me, is how to TRULY work hard. I'm talking 12+ hours a day, 7 days a week for some seasons.

Now, I'm looking to sell my business, and create a community of other young entrepreneurs who are ambitious, and want to build a meaningful life through their own business.

I know I'm not an expert, but I've had some success in ecom, social media, brick & mortar, and now somehow in the restaurant/entertainment business.

If there's one thing I am, it's resourceful, which I believe is one of the most important traits for an entrepreneur to have.

If you'd like to hear more, or chat, send me a message! I'd love to hear your story!

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