I was wondering...

[Dennis_Ista]

Greetings all.

My name is Dennis Ista, a resident of the Netherlands and have been to your fair city twice this year, and saw a nice city, but also room for other things and maybe someting new.
I have a plan to maybe start a restaurant business, serving Dutch sandwiches and typical Dutch snacks and eateries.
I was wondering if people would appreciate such a venue and if they would like the iade of having a Dutch Diner in Waukegan.

Let me know your thoughts, ideas or even why i should not bother.

Thank you in advance,

Kind regards,

Dennis Ista

[Danno]

Hi Dennis.
Welcome and thank you for asking for advice. I'll be 100% honest with you. For various reasons, which I will not take the time to specify, your proposed venture would not be a good fit for Waukegan at this point in time and would surely fail if it were implemented. As you probably know, Waukegan is currently struggling and has had better days. Again, not enough time here to explain the specifics as to why it is struggling. This does not mean Waukegan does not have potential to be a great city. All potential for a vibrant Waukegan lies in the proper exploitation of the far Eastern area known as "The Lakefront". The key to this "proper exploitation" lies in a firm understanding of the current and past relationship, perception and image Waukegan has with the surrounding communities. Currently there are a lot of people in this area who hesitate to come to Waukegan for any reason. The reason for this is because Waukegan is an "urban" community and for many of those sometimes xenophobic people the concept of "urban" carries a negative connotation which equates to minorities and lower income strata and the problems associated with them. Waukegan always has been the urban center of Lake County and this will not change anytime soon. So what can we do to overcome this problem? In my opinion there is an answer. The crux is to try to attract middle class people who do not have a negative perception of anything "urban". With the proper knowledge and approach that should not be a problem because such people do exist in quantity in most large cities such as Chicago and Milwaukee, both which happen to be less than 50 miles each from Waukegan with Chicago being accessible via excellent rail transportation. So, the answer is simply to do whatever it takes to attract such people. Simply analyze what would be attractive to such a demographic and then implement and promote the resulting findings. The point is that there is a positive side to urban-ness and Waukegan needs to fully exploit, in the most positive way possible, the fact that it is the only urban community in Lake County. The Lakefront area has a lot of room for new residential units but residential will not materialize until there is something attractive in the area. Thus the city should subsidize certain "urban attitude" pioneering enterprises.

So Dennis, Forget about opening a Dutch diner and open a modern vaudeville type jazz burlesque club. The type that has fire eater jugglers, bawdy, edgy, eccentric entertainers, weirdoes, etc. If the only other places to find such an enterprise were Chicago, or Milwaukee or Detroit or New York then it would be a perfect fit.

[Blackdiamond]

Danno, I have been checking to see if you'd get a reply. I don't think he was for real. Where in the hell is the Netherlands? He sure was going to have a short menu, unless that's all they eat. I think that guy is from NEVER LAND. No, Danno,not THAT Neverland.

[Dennis_Ista]

Oh I am for real...

But I hardly consider 1 repy a complete market investigation...

[Blackdiamond]

Come back and stay atleast a week. Where are you now? Zion, IL?

[Dennis_Ista]

Breda, The Netherlands (also known as the Low Countries)

[Blackdiamond]

Do you have a President, Mayor, etc? I've never met anyone from your Country. What do you look like :lol: Write me something in Dutch e-bonics.

[Dennis_Ista]

Hey there Blackdiamond:

Our country is called a constitutional monarchy. Our head of state is a Monarch. (currently Queen Beatrix of Orange-Nassau)
My hometown is situated in the southern part of my country: The Province of Noord-Brabant.

We Dutch value our heritage as a stable, trading economy that had a Golden Age in the 17th Century, when we literally ruled the world with trade due to our VOC (Vereenigde Ooscht-Indischae Companie. The Dutch East-India Company) and the WIC (Wescht Indische-Compagnie. The Dutch West India Company)

Our country consists of about 16,5 million inhabitants, with a populationindex of 1,034.8 people per square mile.

Here is more info: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands</a><!-- m -->

Here are some sentences in Dutch:

"Ik hoop dat onze Amerikaanse vrienden inzien dat verandering niet vanzelf komt, maar dat je er aan mee moet werken. We moeten het samen doen, want alleen red je het niet. Vertrouw op elkaar en steun elkaar."

Translation:

"I hope that our American friends realize that change does not come on it's own, but you have to help it along and assist. We have to do it together, because alone you will fail. Trust and rely upon each other"

If you want to know more, just give me a yell or a call

+31768878156

(please note that there is a 7 hour time difference between Waukegan and my hometown. Thank you )

[Danno]

Dennis, I'm curious.... what brought you to visit Waukegan?

[Dennis_Ista]

I used to work for BP, British Petroleum as a chemist. My field is Oil and Oil derivates. My company is interested in certain things,and I have been to many places that could hold or have certain tecnologies that might make my work easier or better for everyone involved.

So I have also been to North Chicago and also to Waukegan, sinds I know some people who live there and I could stay at their place.
I also liked Waukegan because it has alot to offer, if it would be allowed to grow and certain places would develop (like the Lake Front)

So I thought, maybe a Dutch establishment could draw people to spend their money and try out something new. It might even help the downtown area by offering something new, and people could try to renew certain issues.