Hi All (thanks for reading and I would appreciate any feedback and comments)
I have only been baking and decorating seriously since Oct 06 (Im a newbie) took all of the Wilton classes at Michaels.
I have a unique business opportunity that I am on the fence on. I thought I would post my situation here as maybe someone else has tried this arrangement and could give me the good and bad of it all.
I was looking for a kitchen to rent. Im in a state that doesnt allow home baking business. While I am new to baking I am a great cook and eager to start a family catering business. Came across and ad for a kitchen, great for me. However, I wanted per diem when I had orders. Turns out theres a bar about 30 minutes from my house which has a kitchen for rent. The owner wants to sublet the kitchen. She wants to only operate the bar and have someone else own the kitchen. All of the sale from the food would be mine and I would only have to pay her $1,000 a month. She is willing to give me the first 3 months rent free in exchange that I put a deep fryer in ($800 there isnt one currently there) and while I test the water and build up my business. She understands that I am new and have no experience with the business just a desire to be in business for myself.
I want to do. I could do both of the things that I enjoy most. I can advertise my cakes and catering service all legally while still selling bar appetizers to pay the rent. However, I am reacting with my heart and not legal sense. I went by the bar Wednesday night and it was smaller than I envisioned and business was very slow. But it was Wednesday and very cold out. I took my brother and wanted his opinion as he will be in the business also and I want to get more details before I tell my husband about my idea. My brother thought it was too small and business looked to light to support the rent. I was only going to be open for bar food Thursday Saturday I think it would cover the rent.
Should I try it and live my dream even if for a few months or wait for something better? 
if you offer bar foods and they are yummy a lot of guys will come and eat and even bring their dates! you can install the fryer and take those 90 days to "try" it out.
Tell her what you saw..about it being "TOO LIGHT" of traffic for the rent.
If you decide after the 90 days to pull out..all you have lost is the 800 for the fryer!
does this make any sense? also, if you're going to cater..you can make..."TAKE OUT" a lot of guys will stop off for a beer and get a "plate to go"..lol
in NYC there were a lot of social clubs that did that.
These places were illegal, out of some basement in an apartment building..they would sell shots, let people come in and play cards. and there was always someone in the kitchen making "plates"..
lol
By the way..the food was most excellent!
Would you be on a month to month lease or locked in for a time period? It might be slow because of no food available. If you are on a month to month and have 3 months free (fryer exchange) I would consider trying. Make sure that this is something that you will be confortable with though. Don't settle, but not knowing your location, small town or city it is hard to say what to do.
If your dream is making cakes, that sounds nothing like making cakes, If you are going to pay rent for a kitchen anyway, let it be for a kitchen were you can do what you really love, not accommodate to other people need of your kitchen
When you add a fryer, you sometimes have to add a special fire-suppression system/and upgrade the vents. Before you sign on for that liablility, check the permit people.
A chef friend of mine recently had a similar agreement. The owner ran the bar, he had 'control' of the restaurant. She required them to use the bar for drinks, but took forever to deliver them. she also tended to interfere. He managed for about two years, then bought another place of his own.
Be sure you can secure your 'stuff' and get insurance, lots of insurance.
You will also want to try to think of everything that might go wrong and know who will be responsible to fix it. What if the stove breaks down? Refer, or freezer? What about storage space?
This is a tremendous amount of work, just for the cake, add the other foods-ordering inventory, storage, waste? Staffing?
Good luck, but make sure you can get out easily if it doesn't work.
Oh, go for it! I also do catering and if you market it right, you won't be worrying about that little 'ole thousand dollars a month for long. 3 months to get your feet wet in a place that's already established with a built in test market for your food and trying out new recipes? Oh, yeah!!!!! Plus you have a legal place to work out of, so you can advertise all over the place, bringing in clients for weddings, grad parties, company picnics, company in-house meetings. Create a weekly menu for pick-up-and-go as mentioned above.
What are you calling "small"? Because my commercial kitchen is under 900-1000 sq ft...... the whole shop is only 1200 sq ft. You dont' need a HUGE kitchen ..... you need a legal one.
I'll be happy to continue a PM conversation to help you with any catering questions you might have. (Check my website below to get a sample of the kinds of food I offer.)
Wow....whatta deal!
It sounds like a good deal but I would work thourgh all of "little details" and get it in writing for both parties.
Leslie
I was telling my hubby about your opportunity and he reminded me of a pizza place back in our hometown that is doing great, but you'd never know it to see it. It's a pizza place, carry out only, in a little hole in the wall building. They are only open Thur/Fri/Sat and they don't open until 4:00. They are THE best pizza in town. Our understanding is that they also supply a number of bars in town with pizza. So it's an example of you don't have to be open all kinds of hours to make it in business.
He also reminded me of when he was chairman of the Home Show. He kept giving me all of these free passes to give to people and I kept asking him "How do you make any money if you are letting peoplein for free?" He said, "You don't make money on the gate (i.e. "walk in" business), you make money on the booth space sales you made to vendors (i.e. large outside catering jobs)."
So just because you don't see a lot of walk-in business inside the dining room, doesn't mean the business isn't there or isn't going to be there.
I had an interview once with an office supply shop. I was very surprised to learn that they didn't make their "big money" on the walk-in business in their store ..... those that came in to buy calculators and reams of paper and pencils and notepads and folders. Their big business was run out of the back door .... the sales that the general public never saw from the front of the store. They were making their big money on the office remodelings and the warehouses of office furniture they ran thru their warehouse.
So just because the front of their store looked "not busy", didn't mean they weren't raking it in.
Read the whole book .... don't judge it by it's cover! 
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