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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Restaurant Industry Needn’t Be Difficult for Everybody

Restaurants are considered to be some of the most difficult small businesses to get into. Failure awaits many in the first year. So how has Brian Sheehan, owner of Eclectic Wine Bar & Grille in the NoHo Arts District in North Hollywood stayed in business for nearly twenty years in an area that up until a few years ago was not a very desirable neighborhood for dining? “It is not about what I do, it is more about who I am as a business entrepreneur. I am passionate about the business and obsessed with impeccable food and superb service. And, I am incredibly persistent, stubborn, vigilant and I don’t give up,” Sheehan said. “But, that is what it takes to be an entrepreneur in any business.” Sheehan, a working actor, was supplementing his income cooking for dinner parties when he had a vision of opening up his own restaurant. He captured the interest of several investors in his venture, but when he picked a North Hollywood location instead of Hollywood or Beverly Hills, they pulled out. “Back in the 1950’s and 60’s this was a booming area, but it started to go down at the end of the decade. It wasn’t safe any more and it was dangerous and depressing, so my investors, including my mother and father, felt a restaurant would not survive here,” he said. “I did not agree. I knew the area and felt my specific concept was an idea whose time had come and I knew it would work.” So, Sheehan using money saved from his acting roles, residuals from commercials and maxing out 32 credit cards, opened the Eclectic Café in l992. “With the help of friends, we literally built the place. I did it on a shoestring budget of $85,000. You really need over $200,000 with a six month reserve for operating costs. I didn’t have it, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me.” He opened with only one employee to help him, but within the week Sheehan had to hire more people and now he maintains a staff of 32. The first year Sheehan made $100,000, 19 years later his revenue ranges from $1.2 million to $1.5 million. The Eclectic’s competition when Sheehan opened consisted of two coffee shops and a Japanese and Indian restaurant. Over the years a variety of restaurants and fast-food establishments have come and gone according to Sheehan. “When the Pit Fire and Starbucks opened, everyone felt it would hurt our business, but I celebrated because now I was going to have more customers walking by my restaurant. When Starbucks opened my sales went up,” he said. Sheehan moved from a café environment to a full restaurant status when he obtained a beer and wine license. He expanded the kitchen, changed the bar area, the décor and eliminated the pool table and music to focus on the food and wine bar concept. Sheehan said they are constantly making small changes and it is the customers who lead the way. “When the customers wanted a higher protein diet, we put more grilled fish on the menu…and it soon became our best seller.” When the customers asked for more eclectic wines, he expanded the wine bar. Customer input “My customers are part of the creative process,” he said. “If an operator is open minded and willing to listen, then it is time for a new idea to take place. They are my “co-creators.” Bonnie Snyder and Richard Woody have lived in the area for 17 years and are frequent customers at the Eclectic. The good selection of food and the friendly service keeps them coming back, they said. Snyder said they see neighborhood friends, who are attracted to the small theaters in the area and other shops, stopping there to eat. “I like it because it is sophisticated and upscale and yet very user friendly,” she said. Although there is an upscale atmosphere, Woody said at the same time you can be dressed in casual apparel and feel comfortable when dining. “It is also accessible. You can make a reservation, but you can usually get a table no matter when you come. Unlike some restaurants in the area that are not open at certain times like Sunday, the Eclectic is open all day, Woody said.” After the Los Angeles Riots and the l994 earthquake, Sheehan hit a bump when business fell 30 percent. He lost a big part of his lunch business when the Hewlett Packard building across the street was red-tagged and empty for two years. “I just started looking in new directions. I turned to the recording and television industries and built relationships with them. I used four-wall, personal contact marketing. This worked better for me than traditional advertising tools,” Sheehan said. “I would offer free lunches and once they came in for the first time and ate the food, the rest took care of itself.” Subway construction However, Sheehan had the biggest challenge when the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) began work on the Red Line Subway which stops in the area. The streets were torn up, stores and restaurants were fenced off, certain streets were closed to the public, so customers avoided coming to the area for nearly two years. His sales plummeted and Sheehan went into bankruptcy and was on the verge of closing up the restaurant. “The Valley Economic Development Center (VEDC) helped me by literally becoming my partners. They paid my credit cards, the landlord, the bank and my payroll. Since I was no longer a working actor, I had no way of paying my bills,” he said. “That kept me going until the construction was finished on the subway. When the streets were open and the fences came down, my business came back.” In 1995, Sheehan qualified for the VEDC Financial Restructuring Assistance Earthquake Recovery program. He received $120,000 to pay off credit cards that Sheehan used to start and finance his business post the 1994 Earthquake and subway construction as well to pay for additional restaurant equipment. “Brian had a solid business model and reasonable cash flow and he was able to pay back the loan within seven years,” said Roberto Barragan, VEDC president. “Sheehan feels NoHo now attracts a more affluent, cutting edge, and intelligent customer and to accommodate them, he will be offering a full liquor bar. “It will be open in 90 days.”

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