Starting A Restaurant Business In Buenos Aires

[Napoleon]

Not forgetting tha deep-fried Mars Bars are ya's ?

That's just a "State Fair" restaurant.

 

[Rich One]

For a successful restaurant the owner must open and close the place. Otherwise you will be skinned alive .

 

[johnw100]

Do plenty of market research. I`m no expert but check the locals will want to eat at a Texas steakhouse. Argentines are very proud of their parillas, it might be like trying to flog Taco bell to the Mexicans.But on the other hand, Portenos do like to try different things, I just wonder if a Texan steakhouse is different enough?

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

You need to find a way of proving your concept I think, look to locations you can do a "pop-up" or a monthly night first to prove and refine your concept. Get it out over social media (portenos love a bit of twitter & facebook, they love to tell people what they like). You might find you'll need to refine certain concepts based on feedback & popularity. Expats alone won't keep a restaurant afloat here. A closed door place maybe, but not a fully blown restaurant.

You are in BA already right?

 

[Napoleon]

Do plenty of market research. I`m no expert but check the locals will want to eat at a Texas steakhouse. Argentines are very proud of their parillas, it might be like trying to flog Taco bell to the Mexicans.But on the other hand, Portenos do like to try different things, I just wonder if a Texan steakhouse is different enough?

Offering a loaded baked potato, collard greens, black-eyed peas, and/or creamed spinach IN ADDITION to provoleta, papas fritas, morcillas, y chorizos would be much smarter than "instead of".

Don't know if you'll get many people picking a battered Chicken Fried Steak with creamed gravy over a milanesa with lemon wedges no matter how much better it really is. It would need to be offered on occasion until enough people develop a taste for it or you'll be tossing out a lot of CFS's. (And don't even consider serving CFS made of ground beef over thicker cut milanesa steaks. You might be given the equivalent of the tar & feather treatment.)

 

[EdRooney]

On the positive side (and I say this in all seriousness), you can get away with alot of stuff in BA that would be a deathknell for any restaurant in the States. For example, you needn't worry about little details like having courteous service or edible dishes; customers are used to waiting hours for their overcooked, unseasoned food; steps of service mean nothing; and you can write the wine list in your sleep.

If you have any doubts about this, just take a stroll through Recoleta any Friday night and see which restaurants are packed. In short, I agree with Nap, think of your clientèle and your competition, and plan accordingly.

 

[johnw100]

On the positive side (and I say this in all seriousness), you can get away with alot of stuff in BA that would be a deathknell for any restaurant in the States. For example, you needn't worry about little details like havingcourteous service or edible dishes; customers are used to waiting hours for their overcooked, unseasoned food; steps of service mean nothing; and you can write the wine list in your sleep.

If you have any doubts about this, just take a stroll through Recoleta any Friday night and see which restaurants are packed. In short, I agree with Nap, think of your clientèle and your competition, and plan accordingly.

If all else fails , put some melted cheese on the top of whatever your serving, seems to work here.

 

[Rich One]

If all else fails call chef Paul P. for help and recipes.

 

[Montauk_Project]

I think the NOLA thing is working (and it is only closed door) in part because it is different enough from porteño food to be "something new" but isn´t too exotic or spicy (who wouldn´t love a pulled pork sandwhich?) and is tapping on an existing trend (microbrew beer) and does a lot of social media. I haven´t been there but I would like to go.

Also, New Orleans is a famous destination for Argentines, they have seen it in movies and know that it has good food, whether they have tried it or not. But they are VERY defensive about BBQ, they think they have the best in the world, and it might be hard for them to see otherwise. Even saucing a grilled meat is kind of looked down upon, as to sauce means to cover up the flavor (if you go to parrillas, you will note that only foreigners are likely to put chimichurri on their meat, at the most porteños will put on salsa criolla).

That being said, I think a place serving a US style breakfast all day long might work. You have enough expats who long for it, but because they always show it in the movies Argentines want to try it (maybe for lunch or dinner). My husband is always asking me to make waffles, pancakes, bacon, omlettes "like in the movies". So you have marketing build in. It is always harder to install a taste than to build on one that exists for you.

 

[Rich One]

As Montauk suggested Buy a Franchise of Denny's coffee shop already open in Santiago, Chile.

http://www.dennys.cl/#/menu