Castaic Lake Topics: My Experience at Dockside

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	Name:	AnchorbayDon -
	Subject:	My Experience at Dockside
	Date:	11/6/2008 11:33:01 PM

Martha and I opened Dockside in 1999 after remodeling the old Boathouse Lounge. The first year was great as we had subs and pizza, beer & ice cream. We even made a little $$$ that year.

When Cecils at Kowaliga burned and there was no restaurant west of Stillwaters, we decided to go full service and hired a chef from the Brew Pub in Mgy. Revenues increased by $850k that year, but expenses grew by $930k. I think the food was great and we were completely overwhelmed. (Some nights, there was a 2 hr wait for a table!). Lots of nights, we didn't get the place cleaned up and locked up till 1-2 AM.

Our chef died and after that, we had trouble finding and keeping experienced restaurant people who did not do drugs or steal from us. The labor pool in the area was very weak. Business was always good from May 1 till Labor Day, but only on Friday, Saturday, & sometimes on Sunday. We always closed the marina/restaurant on Mondays, but Tues & Wed were weak year round. When the business went to nill from Oct thru Feb, keeping a skeleton crew always caused a loss to keep the doors open and liquor license intact. Many nights, we had fewer diners than we had staff.

We had live music, canned music, and guitarist from time to time, but they never paid for themselves. We always shut the music down by 9:30-10PM to be a good neighbor. We always tried to have a menu that included salads and kids food and it's a very tough business to run. Customers arrive by the boatload in large groups (12-20 people) and the kitchen space is inadequate to feed a lot of food at one time.

The building was a boat repair shop for decades and was expanded upon about 5 or 6 times, so the utilities are a patchwork and we always had trouble with roof leaks. More A/C is needed to support a full dining room.

Our P & L for Dockside never included any rent and from 1999 through 2005, we lost considerable $$$ for all of the work and problems we faced. I seriously doubt that having the restaurant open contributed very much to the marina or store sales. We always had visions of building a new restaurant on the point North of the marina store, but the lack of year round customers kept those plans on the shelf.

If I had a lot of time and wanted to reopen the place, I believe I would limit the menu and hours greatly and not try to be all things to all people. I would try to be what Chucks used to be (before late night music) Good, casual food, cold beer, and friendly faces will be well received.