A chef friend of mine told me today that he is looking to open his own

[kestrel91316]

restaurant. Even in this down economy, because people who have money will still spend it (and in this town there are lots of people with money).

I forgot to ask him what kind of food (we were otherwise occupied, ahem) but I assume American-ish, high end.

[Tsiyu]

1. I have been thinking of starting a nonprofit

to buy a food truck, drive around and sell healthy soups, salads, sandwiches. (In deep Appalachia, it is hard for people to find healthy prepared food choices.)

And then i say......nah, maybe not.

But in a good area, with sound management, casual fine dining can do real well.

So maybe you can trade goods and services? :P

[kestrel91316]

3. Well, he doesn't have a cat. But I'm sure I can convince him to treat me

to a nice dinner or two, lol.

[supernova]

2. I'm doing the same

except I'm looking at buying an ice creme cart and selling my own chocolates.

I'm also going to school. The technical school two counties over has a well regarded, low cost chef program.

Good luck to your friend on his new venture. :-)

[kestrel91316]

4. He's rounding up investors. This is a high-end deal. And the rich still have plenty

of Monopoly money to play with.

[grasswire]

5. may I ask what part of the country?

And may I recommend the resources available at fastcasual.com? Amazing, amazing amount of invaluable stuff there for startups. A family member works for the parent organization of fastcasual.

http://www.fastcasual.com/

[kestrel91316]

6. Los Angeles. Hollywood/Beverly Hills/Westwood area, presumably.

He's keeping pretty mum about it but told me just a little and I didn't want to pry.

ETA: He is one of those people you can google and go "WOW". Has been in the chef biz for 15 years here and is quite the up-and-comer in the chi chi eatery crowd.