I know this is an odd question but is there some sort of unfulfilled need for Mexican Restaurants in NH? There seems to be two Mexican Restaurants now connected in someway with the FSP. I was thinking about a Southern BBQ / country kitchen sort of restaurant. I would naturally have to import Cheerwine, moonpies, grits, okra, cornmeal, and Aunt Bertie's Brewed Sweet Tea. But the other items needed should be easy enough to obtain locally. I suppose it would be dependent on the numbers of home sick southerns in the state wouldn't it. It would also depend on the restrictions for decorating the exterior of the place.
There are a couple BBQ places in Manchester. There are few Southern places. Derry has a Cracker Barrel.
There are Mexican places all over NH but nothing like in the South. Keene has two Mexican places. NH has a lot more seafood and pizza places than most of the South. There are also a ton of coffee shop type places with over 1/2 of them being DD.
I am talking about a real BBQ / Country cooking sort of place not something generic like no offense Cracker Barrel. A real southerner thinks Cracker Barrel is an abomination. There are even essays on the suckiness of Cracker Barrel.
http://hkentcraig.com/BBQ.html This is a great site to explain about BBQ NC Eastern style vs Western. And this is my favorite BBQ place in all of NC that I have found to date.
http://hkentcraig.com/BBQ42.html I know Mr. Lloyd Lewis, he is about the best BBQ chef around and I have even had the privilege of going out to the cookhouse for a tour. They still keep the smoke cookhouse separate from the main store. Anyway if you take a peek, it is more like a subway with BBQ. You go down the line with a tray and pick out an entree with two or three side dishes plus maybe a desert with a drink usually sweet tea. Now a great many people simply do the takeaway thing and buy a family dinner to go. They serve on paper plates and the prices are actually very low. A plate for a person with a drink is around $5.50. I think their business actually has a bump during bad times as people want the most bang for their money. I will have to swing by their this weekend and pick up a meal for the family. You can get a family takeaway meal to feed 4 - 6 people for under 20 bucks, you can't even do that with Domino's anymore. Oh BBQ catering for an event can't be beat for price. I managed to buy enough BBQ and fixings to feed 100 people for right around $200 dollars. I can say I have never seen the parking lot empty except when the place is closed.
Now if I had to do the franchise thing I would pick Smithfield BBQ. While it is more commercial the food and atmosphere is acceptable.
http://scnbnc.com/locations.php If any of you are home sick up there in NH they actually will send an emergency BBQ pack to you for a fee. The mail order stuff is very expensive but they have to send it overnight and pack it in dry ice that is what costs the money.
http://scnbnc.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=5
Typical pulled pork plate with coleslaw, potato salad and hush puppies.
If you ever find yourself in Durham NC or at RTP for any reason and don't go to eat some of Mr. Lewis's BBQ it would be like going to New Orleans and not going to Domilise’s Po-Boy & Bar
http://www.nolacuisine.com/2008/05/17/domilises-po-boy-bar/. It wouldn't ruin your trip but you would be missing out on a local favorite dining experience.
As for becoming a tax collector for the state. I suppose you mean the only sales tax is on restaurant food. What is the restaurant tax rate in NH?
Up in the NC Mountains there is an open air bbq pit. It consist of two fire pits with grads over them under a roof structure with no walls. They start the night before cooking a couple of pigs in one pit the other pit is devoted to chicken bbq which is started later. By noon things ready to start selling. The sides are prepared in a small kitchen building with a window. Anyway you pay for meal at the window and are given your choice of sides then you go over to the pit with a ticket to get your choice of meat. It is 100% take away and I think they only do it from mid April to the end of October on Saturdays. That place is never slow when they are open with a steady stream of customers. I wish I could remember the name it is one the main street going into Sparta, NC. It is possible it is just a fund raising enterprise for the local lodge but people do know about it and come from miles around to participate. Many simply buy their picnic lunch and drive the short distance to the Blue Ridge Parkway to one of the overlook picnic grounds.
Anyway when I talk about a BBQ place I tend to think of low cost good eats served on disposable dinner ware. I don't think dishes and waiters with expensive overhead.
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