RE/CHARGE Restaurant: “I used Business Plan Pro to get a firm grasp of where to go.”
Luis Monje had never even waited a table when he opened Re/Charge, a health-focused, quick-service restaurant and smoothie bar in Chelsea, NY, in November last year. Little in his technology career prepared him for the multiple and variety of tasks that he had to juggle to open Re/Charge-from designing the restaurant layout and negotiating with contractors to deciding on the menu. “It was a dizzying experience!” Luis says.
Re/Charge provides a full service menu for people running between work and the gym. It’s the only quick-serve restaurant in New York that Luis knows of that serves alligator meat. The restaurant offers exotic protein-rich food outside the typical fare, like bison, buffalo and alligator. Non-vegetarians who want to eat healthy, high protein, low-fat, low carbohydrate diets generally don’t have a choice beyond chicken or turkey. Re/Charge is aiming to fill this gap.
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Re/Charge |
From an idea to a reality
During the 10 months of taking the business from an idea to a reality, Luis relied on his business plan to ensure he was covering all his bases. “I used Business Plan Pro to get a firm grasp of where to go.” In the early stages of building the business, Luis was pulled in a hundred different directions all at once. He often updated his business plan within Business Plan Pro and the software’s financial features helped him confirm that he was projecting an economically sound business.
From software to alligator meat
Luis began an impressive technology career on the West Coast with AOL, Netscape, Comtouch and Verisign. Like so many people in the world of technology, he fell victim to layoffs during the Internet downturn-first from AOL/Netscape, then Commtouch and then again after only six months from Verisign. After the second layoff, he was determined that he would not be laid off again and he began to work on his business idea for Re/Charge. Luis had dreamed of the business since living in San Francisco and seeing the popularity of similar ventures there. When he moved to NY, he found that people worked just as hard and drove themselves just as fast as they did in the Valley, but there was little opportunity for them to eat well, while on the run. While healthy eating was more a part of the lifestyle on the West Coast, he felt that New Yorkers would appreciate the same.
Luis began the project with his CPA, who had previously run restaurants. One of the first steps was finding the right location. Much to Luis’s disappointment, when he found the location and was ready to sign on the bottom line for the lease, his business partner failed to raise his portion of the initial investment. At this stage of the game it left him with three options: to forget the venture all together, to backtrack and try to find another partner, or to raise the money to start the business by himself. Luis chose the latter. He re-mortgaged his home, got a $150,000 loan through the SBA and started to use credit cards like they were going out of style.
Rave reviews
The restaurant has only been open for six months, and has already been written up by Zagats, America’s leading guide to restaurants and hotels, and has received rave reviews from customers. Even more of a compliment are the two copy cat restaurants that opened in NYC this year. Luis aims to stay ahead of his competitors by creating a distinctive brand, and by developing his restaurant, right from the beginning to be a franchise. He has created a look, feel and set of processes that can be plugged into any area in Manhattan and be successful. 
No rest
Luis’ parents were not happy when they heard that he was planning to go into the restaurant business. Both his parents have been in the hospitality business, and know the amount of work it takes to open and run a restaurant. He remembers his mother telling him, “You had it easy in technology and software. You don’t know what you’re getting into in the food industry. It’s a seven day a week job.” Luis is quick to tell her how right she was. He recently spent a long weekend to visit friends on the West Coast-his first break from the restaurant in six months!
Biggest stress
The sources of major frustration for Luis, as with most restaurant owners, are employee issues. High employee turnover and employee mistakes are costly, but inevitable. “It’s no one’s dream job to work behind a counter or bus tables. It’s your career, but for your employees it’s just a stepping stone.” Re/Charge employs 21 people. Luis feels the weight of the responsibility, since he has to make payroll each month and is responsible for the livelihoods of 23 people. “Even though I am not paying myself yet, I still have to find wages each week to pay my employees,” says Luis.
Being a health and fitness oriented new business, Luis decided against having any sort of alcohol offering at Re/Charge despite the obvious financial benefit this brings. He chose to bring a California-style smoothie bar to the restaurant to improve the margins and bottom line. So far this decision has proved a sound one as the warmer months brought many customers in search of healthy smoothies and shakes. Keeping a handle on the day-to-day actual operating costs and expenses for three different revenue streams has proven to be a challenge for Luis, but one from which he is already starting to see benefits.
The most difficult part of this whole adventure is also the most exciting. While Luis is proud of the fact that he has created and launched this whole venture himself, he realizes how much more challenging it has been going it alone. “I would be six months ahead of where I am now if I had a partner. There aren’t enough hours in the day.”
Sadie Dressekie
