Nordin and Luria learned to know the market and adjust the concept, cuisine, ambience and price. But he understands the temptation to open a second. Unlike toothpaste or soap, restaurant concepts can't be test-marketed, unless you're a chain with enough cushion to absorb failures. Consultant Richard Gallivan is leery of independents who dream of opening a second place. It takes one great review or the deafening cheers of customers to make them more impulsive than analytic,'' says the president of Restaurant Sites in Boston.
Chains have an advantage.
They invest in research and study the demographics. If one unit fails, the others can balance debt. If an independent restaurateur's second operation fails, it can take down the first with it. David Maselmacher always has run restaurants and bars in the black, but the owner of Philadelphia's 225-seat Circa vows to not get overly confident with his new venture. Even when operators downsize, the appetite remains.