Business Q&A - Restaurant Capacity

“We are opening a sub shop and the city has only approved the site for 32 people. Our business plan wanted 50 or more. We already put a deposit on the space, what can we do?”

 You can contact the property manager and see how you can get out of the location or at a worse see how much of the deposit you will lose. Did they have any information on prior capacity certifications before you put the deposit down? Also did the city say this just about the space alone or was it because of a floor plan that you may be able to change?

I would like to also note that I do not know much about your plan so I can only go off of the little info you sent. But how big will this place be? How much business do the others around you do?

I do not know of many sub shops that need 50 seats unless your in a real major metro like New York or Chicago. A local subway around here may have seating for 20-25 people and I never see them booked. I also took notice to a Chipotle grill capacity sign that noted they could have 87 people but I only seen room for maybe 40 because of the floor plan.

I do not want to second guess your plan but it is something to think about. A smaller crammed place can often give people a  notion that if your that busy then the food must be worth trying.

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