Our expert: Laurie Hillesheim
Company: Birch Bistro
Position: Owner
What advice do you have for someone who wants to open their own restaurant?
If I was to give advice to a new restaurant I would say to stay positive and stay true to your original ideas. Be mindful of your neighbourhood and your clients and take very good care of your staff and suppliers. I think it’s important to be mindful and open to what the neighbourhood is looking for. We did try to run some brunches over the last couple of months but they were not as successful as we hoped so we pulled back. But, we’ve decided to run one special brunch a month that way we can build our clientele that way and not have it hurt so much.
What makes your restaurant stand out?
We try to be unique, we try to create a buzz every service. Relationships are very important to me a lot of the people that we have coming in here are regular guests even after a short 10 months open developing relationships are providing consistently good food good service and a nice environment.
How did financing with Econolease help you when you first opened?
I came into some extra cost with electrical and with refrigeration and having the extra cash(due to my financing deals) helped me deal with that with no problem. It also helped with the decor. There are always things that you want to add just to make it extra special in the beginning.
To learn more about Birch Bistro click here.
To learn more about renting with Econolease click here!
