the.new.guy
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Jersey and Florida.
I live in Florida and decided to open a bagel shop. I reached out to a consultant in New Jersey. For a very large sum of money he was supposed to assist in every aspect of the business from start to finish. After providing a deposit, the consultant was supposed to assist in finding a suitable location, assist in negotiating with the landlord, design of the shop, purchase of equipment, recipe development, and training. There are two ways to make bagels. The traditional way which involves boiling the bagels prior to baking and the new way which steam bakes bagels. I chose this consultant because he specializes in the traditional way which is a superior product.
After deciding on a location, we signed a contract for a location. We chose this location because it was already build out, it was previously a food establishment. Prior to signing the contract I had concerns about the size of the kitchen. The consultant had schematics and photographs of the kitchen and determined that it could support the required equipment. We then ordered the kitchen equipment. After hiring an architect , we determined that the location could not support the equipment and that we needed smaller equipment, what we had would not work. The consultant disagreed and suggested that I find a new architect. The next two architects agreed that in order to make it work we should use smaller equipment which would make steam bagels and not boiled bagels. The consultant was unable to come up with a solution for months. I then asked for a copy of the bagel recipes. The consultant provided a book of recipes that were devoid of measurements, cooking instructions and other specifics. The landlord was becoming concerned because of the lack of progress. I then asked the consultant for a list of small wares to purchase. He went around his shop and took pictures of items that he had. When I asked him why he didn't have a prepared list available he stated that he does this everyday and we would purchase all of this items when he arrived for training. I told him that I wanted to get as much done as possible ahead of time. At this time I asked him to come up with a solution for fitting the equipment in the shop and he was unable to come up with a solution. Eventually the consultant and his cousin who is also in the bagel business came from NJ to my shop in Florida. The cousin walked around and said that we could make this work if we used smaller equipment. Since the consultant was entitled to a percentage of the cost of the equipment, he refused to allow me to return the equipment. After several months I had $80k in equipment and nowhere to put it. I then fired the consultant and hired a new one. The new consultant looked at the schematic of the shop and decided that it would work if we used smaller equipment. He called the equipment company and got them to take back my equipment and replace it with smaller equipment. Unfortunately that means that i would be making steam bagels and not boiled bagels which is not what I wanted but it was the only way to salvage the situation. The new consultant worked with the architect and came up with a drawing that required minimal renovation of the location. This is where problem number two starts.
Issue number two. I had to get my landlord to approve the renovation of my blue prints. He also owns a construction company and strongly suggested that I let his company work on his own property. I believed that was a great idea so I signed a contract. After several months very limited renovation has been completed. I have paid rent while waiting for the landlord to complete the renovation.
I live in Florida and decided to open a bagel shop. I reached out to a consultant in New Jersey. For a very large sum of money he was supposed to assist in every aspect of the business from start to finish. After providing a deposit, the consultant was supposed to assist in finding a suitable location, assist in negotiating with the landlord, design of the shop, purchase of equipment, recipe development, and training. There are two ways to make bagels. The traditional way which involves boiling the bagels prior to baking and the new way which steam bakes bagels. I chose this consultant because he specializes in the traditional way which is a superior product.
After deciding on a location, we signed a contract for a location. We chose this location because it was already build out, it was previously a food establishment. Prior to signing the contract I had concerns about the size of the kitchen. The consultant had schematics and photographs of the kitchen and determined that it could support the required equipment. We then ordered the kitchen equipment. After hiring an architect , we determined that the location could not support the equipment and that we needed smaller equipment, what we had would not work. The consultant disagreed and suggested that I find a new architect. The next two architects agreed that in order to make it work we should use smaller equipment which would make steam bagels and not boiled bagels. The consultant was unable to come up with a solution for months. I then asked for a copy of the bagel recipes. The consultant provided a book of recipes that were devoid of measurements, cooking instructions and other specifics. The landlord was becoming concerned because of the lack of progress. I then asked the consultant for a list of small wares to purchase. He went around his shop and took pictures of items that he had. When I asked him why he didn't have a prepared list available he stated that he does this everyday and we would purchase all of this items when he arrived for training. I told him that I wanted to get as much done as possible ahead of time. At this time I asked him to come up with a solution for fitting the equipment in the shop and he was unable to come up with a solution. Eventually the consultant and his cousin who is also in the bagel business came from NJ to my shop in Florida. The cousin walked around and said that we could make this work if we used smaller equipment. Since the consultant was entitled to a percentage of the cost of the equipment, he refused to allow me to return the equipment. After several months I had $80k in equipment and nowhere to put it. I then fired the consultant and hired a new one. The new consultant looked at the schematic of the shop and decided that it would work if we used smaller equipment. He called the equipment company and got them to take back my equipment and replace it with smaller equipment. Unfortunately that means that i would be making steam bagels and not boiled bagels which is not what I wanted but it was the only way to salvage the situation. The new consultant worked with the architect and came up with a drawing that required minimal renovation of the location. This is where problem number two starts.
Issue number two. I had to get my landlord to approve the renovation of my blue prints. He also owns a construction company and strongly suggested that I let his company work on his own property. I believed that was a great idea so I signed a contract. After several months very limited renovation has been completed. I have paid rent while waiting for the landlord to complete the renovation.
