How would a jambalaya shop do on a campus town strip like the u of illinois if i had good prices?

Question

specifically in illinois, focusing on cajun style jambalaya

Answer 1

probably poorly...you're trying to do cajun cuisin in a midwestern environment.  unless you had a very large southeastern customer base there, you'd probably fold in 3 months.  don't limit yourself to jambalaya; po'boys, etouffe, beignets, etc and make them all unique and cheap.  can you do that?

Answer 2

Well, first of all, I would eat there, and I'm not from Louisiana. And many of the students at the larger universities in The U.S. are from all over The States, not to mention from all over the world (ethnic/exotic foods are big in The States).

First thing is that yours is the only one on the strip (sounds like it would be from your question). Then you have to consider price compatibility with other specialty restaurants. You will have to have at least twenty other Creole or Cajun dishes aside from the jambalaya. If you can get seven or more jambalaya recipes down, then you can have "Jambalaya of the day" for each day of the week.

Get some Cajun and Zydeco (even Reggae) CD's as well as Cajun/Zydeco decor on the inside and outside. You're going to need a catchy name as well, "Josh's Jamalaya" - "Jammin' Jambalaya" - Josh's Jammin' Jambalaya" just for ideas.

The downside is that restaurants go out of business faster than most other businesses, but the upside is that your restaurant will be unique. Oh, and you can sell all kinds of bottled sauces and other Cajun and Creole products as well (namely, hot sauces). You can do a google search for jambalaya and other Creole and Cajun recipes if you need more.

One more thing, you can have open mic on weekends (always draws attention) and make sure you do plenty of advertizing and make a big noise about your grand opening.

For beverages, you can do just about anything you want (I recommend a large variety). Quite often people will still want their favorite beverages (when I go for sushi, I want black tea, not green tea).

Good luck and have fun.