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Mechanic cooks up restaurant
By KRIS HUNDLEY, Times Staff Writer
ST. PETERSBURG -- Dave Muth had been thinking about going into the restaurant business for 13 years. But it took a job layoff in November to nudge him into action. Muth, 45, was one of about 300 mechanics who lost his job in November when US Airways closed its aircraft maintenance hangar at Tampa International Airport. He said it was a disappointment but not a surprise. "After Sept. 11 (2001), it looked like the airline business was in a precarious situation," said the 13-year veteran of US Airways. So Muth, who escaped a first round of job cuts in late 2001, began reading books on how to start a restaurant. Through the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), a retired restaurant consultant offered free advice on putting together a profit and loss statement. Muth and wife Joan, talked to neighbors who had been in the restaurant business and owners of local restaurants they admired. They went to the Florida Restaurant Association's annual trade show, which left their heads spinning. "All we knew is we wanted to start a Mexican restaurant," Joan Muth said. "It was a little overwhelming." A part-time nurse at All Children's Hospital, Joan Muth said she kept waiting for someone to discourage her husband from entering the brutal restaurant business, where nearly 90 percent of all establishments fail in their first year. But no one did. Dave Muth said the more he learned, the more he became convinced it was where he belonged. "I'd read these books describing restaurant owners and think, 'That's me,' " Dave Muth said recently as he sat in the partially renovated shell of what will be his Baja Malibu Grill. "And the other restaurant owners I've been talking to really seem willing to help you succeed. In the restaurant business I'm finding a home." Muth had thought he'd found his niche after being trained as an aircraft mechanic in the Navy. He spent eight years with a corporate aviation company, then took a job with US Airways, moving from San Diego to Charlotte, N.C., to Tampa and rising to a job as inspector. When he was laid off, Dave Muth was working the night shift, making $27 an hour plus shift differential, or about $60,000 a year. It didn't take long to discover job opportunities in that pay range were severely limited. "I went to the state jobs Web site and keyed in my salary requirements and city," he said. "I went down to $40,000 a year and still couldn't find anything. It was really depressing." Rather than waste time looking for nonexistent jobs, he negotiated a lease on a vacant restaurant space on Central Avenue near 62nd Street, recruited relatives to paint walls and his brother, an experienced restaurateur, to help set up the kitchen. He and his wife began experimenting with recipes and dealing with a steady stream of contractors, suppliers and service people as they readied their business for opening. Their two sons, ages 7 and 9, home-schooled since kindergarten, had their classes relocated to a booth in the middle of the construction site. Dave Muth described the midlife move to self-employment as a calculated gamble. "There's some risk involved," said the soft-spoken surfing fanatic. "But it's not something that will really kill us." A generous severance package of full pay for 13 weeks gave Dave Muth a financial cushion while he shifted careers. Until the restaurant opens, he also has been eligible for $275 a week in unemployment benefits, which have gone straight into savings. His wife, who until now has been working on a limited basis, will have to ramp up to 30 hours of work a week to qualify for family health insurance. Startup costs of about $20,000 at the restaurant will be covered by refinancing a condo the couple owns in North Carolina. "We were going to use that money for a pool, but we decided to hold off," Dave Muth said. A line of credit on the couple's home in St. Petersburg will be tapped as needed until the restaurant business gets going. It is expected to open by April 1. Joan Muth, 39, said she has had moments of panic as the enormity of the change hits her. "It does scare me a bit, going into the unknown," she said. "But when I see my husband so excited, it gives me confidence." Meanwhile, the couple's sons, Carl and Nick, have been dreaming up ways to advertise the new restaurant and its specialty dish. In their fantasy, one boy dresses up like a fish, the other like a tortilla. Standing in front of the restaurant, they jump into each others' arms and passers-by are suddenly seized with an urge for the fish tacos being served inside.
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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