after all, with a preliminary set of drawings for a generic twenty-five-by-eighty-foot city storefront. This space was longer, which gave him even more options, possibly room for more seats, more nightly checks, greater profits. All he needed was a yes, and heâd hire a contractor to start demolition.
He headed across the street at ten, back to believing that this was going to work.
â¢Â   â¢Â   â¢
An hour later Jonah was on the street, fuming, blindsided by the brokerâs boss, who seemed only to want to know, Who the fuck does this punk kid think he is? At least that was the message Jonah got. The man didnât care how much Jonah had raised or how much more he thought he could get, and he wanted Jonah to know that he had been in construction himself and was a part owner of a restaurant, so he understood the business. No kid was going to put one over on him.
The broker had advised him not to haggle on terms, but haggling was an aspiration at this point. They were layers of credibility away from haggling. Jonah had controlled his temper and managed to ask how much more money the head realtor wanted him to have on hand to make this work, but the man didnât have a figure at first because dollars were not the issue. Jonahâs inexperience was. He might know how to cook. He knew nothing, as far as the boss was concerned, about management and running a business and surviving the construction and permit process.
The proposed solution was simple: Jonah had to raise that extra $100,000âand he had to find a partner, somebody older, somebody with experience who knew how to finesse a liquor license hearing and navigate the building department with authority. If Jonah insisted on going it alone, the realtor would insist, in turn, on a three- or four-year guarantee on the fifteen-year lease to minimize the landlordâs exposure. Whether Huertas stayed in business or not, Jonah would owe the $14,000 monthly rent for thirty-six or forty-eight monthsâ$504,000 minimum, $672,000 maximum. Given the amount, the realtor wondered if Jonah had a deep-pocket investor who could act as guarantor.
That was hardly an option. Jonah could either find more money and a partner, which meant giving away a chunk of equity in his nonexistentrestaurant, or he could find another location and hope that this realtor was an anomaly, that the next person in charge of the next listing would approve a lease application without making this kind of demand.
It was common enough to take on a construction partner, but Jonah had wanted to have a signed lease first to put himself in a better position to bargain, to avoid having need be part of the formula. This scenario put him at an obvious disadvantage: Asking someone to be his grown-up partner so that he could get a lease was hardly the way to launch a negotiation, because it gave the contractor too much leverage. Heâd have to give a prospective partner equity, but under these circumstances, he might have to offer more.
Still, Jonah was not going to waste time being angry, not with a deal so close. The East Village location turned out to be a big selling point for the investors who were waiting to see where Jonah landed, and in eight days he raised the additional $100,000 he needed. He and his dad talked to a handful of contractors and ended up at lunch with Nick Thatos at a restaurant he had designed. They came away with a handshake deal to go into business together on Huertas. Nick and his partner would waive their contractor fees and defer their design feeâgamble, essentially, on Jonahâs ability to repay them for the design work and include them in equity distribution once Huertas was profitable. They also wanted equity in any future project that used the Huertas name.
In return, Jonah would get his lease approved, a partner who understood city bureaucracies, and Nickâs team of seasoned plumbers and electricians and drywall guys and
He headed across the street at ten, back to believing that this was going to work.
â¢Â   â¢Â   â¢
An hour later Jonah was on the street, fuming, blindsided by the brokerâs boss, who seemed only to want to know, Who the fuck does this punk kid think he is? At least that was the message Jonah got. The man didnât care how much Jonah had raised or how much more he thought he could get, and he wanted Jonah to know that he had been in construction himself and was a part owner of a restaurant, so he understood the business. No kid was going to put one over on him.
The broker had advised him not to haggle on terms, but haggling was an aspiration at this point. They were layers of credibility away from haggling. Jonah had controlled his temper and managed to ask how much more money the head realtor wanted him to have on hand to make this work, but the man didnât have a figure at first because dollars were not the issue. Jonahâs inexperience was. He might know how to cook. He knew nothing, as far as the boss was concerned, about management and running a business and surviving the construction and permit process.
The proposed solution was simple: Jonah had to raise that extra $100,000âand he had to find a partner, somebody older, somebody with experience who knew how to finesse a liquor license hearing and navigate the building department with authority. If Jonah insisted on going it alone, the realtor would insist, in turn, on a three- or four-year guarantee on the fifteen-year lease to minimize the landlordâs exposure. Whether Huertas stayed in business or not, Jonah would owe the $14,000 monthly rent for thirty-six or forty-eight monthsâ$504,000 minimum, $672,000 maximum. Given the amount, the realtor wondered if Jonah had a deep-pocket investor who could act as guarantor.
That was hardly an option. Jonah could either find more money and a partner, which meant giving away a chunk of equity in his nonexistentrestaurant, or he could find another location and hope that this realtor was an anomaly, that the next person in charge of the next listing would approve a lease application without making this kind of demand.
It was common enough to take on a construction partner, but Jonah had wanted to have a signed lease first to put himself in a better position to bargain, to avoid having need be part of the formula. This scenario put him at an obvious disadvantage: Asking someone to be his grown-up partner so that he could get a lease was hardly the way to launch a negotiation, because it gave the contractor too much leverage. Heâd have to give a prospective partner equity, but under these circumstances, he might have to offer more.
Still, Jonah was not going to waste time being angry, not with a deal so close. The East Village location turned out to be a big selling point for the investors who were waiting to see where Jonah landed, and in eight days he raised the additional $100,000 he needed. He and his dad talked to a handful of contractors and ended up at lunch with Nick Thatos at a restaurant he had designed. They came away with a handshake deal to go into business together on Huertas. Nick and his partner would waive their contractor fees and defer their design feeâgamble, essentially, on Jonahâs ability to repay them for the design work and include them in equity distribution once Huertas was profitable. They also wanted equity in any future project that used the Huertas name.
In return, Jonah would get his lease approved, a partner who understood city bureaucracies, and Nickâs team of seasoned plumbers and electricians and drywall guys and
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