The Art of the Hustle
Page 59
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“Hey, what took you guys so long?” Dan asked.
“Oh you know, we went to the gym, got something to eat, bought a restaurant, then came home.”
“What do you mean, ‘bought a restaurant’?”
“Trevor and I bought Andre’s Seafood Restaurant.”
“How did you guys buy it?”
“Steve knows the owner and made him an offer that he couldn’t refuse.”
“Well actually, I kind of conned him into it.”
“You conned some restaurateur out of his beloved restaurant. He’s probably had that place for thirty years.”
“Actually, it’s more like forty!” I remarked.
“Unbelievable.”
“So now what?” Dan asked.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Jeremy said, as he entered the room for the first time.
“Steve and Trevor bought a restaurant.”
“What? Where? When? Am I still dreaming?”
“Steve, we need to sit down and discuss some business matters.”
Over the next couple of days, Dan and I drafted the contract for a limited-liability partnership of the restaurant. We agreed on an equal-stake partnership – a 33.33 percent share each; however, I would have full decision-making authority. I was reluctant to enter into another partnership agreement, so I insisted on this clause. It was a precautionary measure to avoid any ego clashes. I was surprised Steve didn’t even fight me with that at all. At first, I thought this clause was much more advantageous for me, but maybe Steve knew what he was doing all along. He was not actually interested in running a restaurant, he was only interested in the profit from it. Now he would get 33.33 percent without the burden of doing any of the work.
C H A P T E R
F O R T Y - F O U R
I stayed in Vancouver a little longer than I had expected. Steve allowed me to continue to stay at his parents’ house while he and the others flew back to Ontario. There were still a lot of things I needed to take care of at the restaurant.
I called my old roommate, Chris. Chris was now running a small construction crew that specialized in remodeling high-end homes. I figured since he had worked at Andre’s, he could oversee the entire project and input a lot of really great ideas.
“You bought Andre’s?” he asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, I’m putting over a million dollars into renovating it.”
“How did you afford that?”
“I went in on it with a friend and plan on getting a loan from the bank. If this doesn’t work out, I’m screwed. I’m completely tapped out.”
“That’s crazy, man, good for you.”
“So yeah, are you interested in taking on this renovation project?”
“Sure, I’d love to.”
A few days later, I met Chris outside the restaurant. We spent the next several hours going through the place inside and out. He had some great ideas on how to improve the functionality as well as the aesthetics of the restaurant. He even went over the current staff list and advised me on some people we should let go.
We developed a clear vision of what the renovations should look like. My next steps after that were to hire an architect to draft up the plans and secure the funding.