In March of next year the state will be tearing up the road in front of my restaurant. We are land locked in the middle of the block. The parking and entry to the store will be limited at best. My gut tells me to move, but my mind says, we have been in the same location for 40 years and the rent is only 550.00 per month.
If you temporarily relocate can you defer the rent until you return, or at least get it substantially reduced?
When the state ripped the road up in front of the other pizza places, we had our biggest year ever.
I think you have answered your own question.
I should also say that the kitchen is no bigger then most trailers, we are maxed out on space. I push the smoker up from the basement use it and then put it back before I start making pizzas. So my question to all of you is, do I stay, move, or stay and buy a trailer and work out of that for the year?
I'm confused, why would you have to buy a trailer to work out of for the year if you stay, can you not stay in your present building?
You need more kitchen space. If you buy a trailer to use elsewhere can you retain it at your present location upon your return with no rent increase? If so, there is your additional cooking capacity, storage, etc.
If you stay I would suggest that you ask the landlord to expand the kitchen capacity at no additional expense, or rent increase, to you, and to defer/reduce rent during construction.
There is another consideration, how will your employees be affected either way? I'm the GM of a large Oceanfront Hotel in Florida that suffered severe damage during the 2004 hurricane season. The owners were going to lay off everyone except the Department Managers and myself required for supervising the renovations. I pointed out that we still needed people to answer telephones, continue ongoing sales efforts, clean up damage & construction debris, etc. Senior Managers and I volunteered to take a 20% pay cut, between that and our loss of Income insurance the owners dug into their own pockets and we kept our people employed during the renovations, over one year.