Month: October 2024

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Key Destinations When Moving to Southern Europe

Getting to identify the countries that comprise Southern Europe can be a bit tricky. This is because some of these countries are technically considered as part of Central Europe as well. A good example of this is Austria where Vienna is the premier city and a place where people living abroad have formed various social groups in order to answer their need to belong.

The idea of working abroad and consequently living abroad in Vienna can be a bit daunting for the average expatriate worker, including British expats. This is because Austrians, particularly the Vienesse, are very reserved people; they do not readily welcome foreign workers.

Nevertheless, many expatriates like British expats have come together in Vienna to form many different groups catering to a wide variety of interests. These include book lovers, writers, mountain climbers, museum workers, and many others. The aim of these groups is to make working abroad in this particular city in Southern Europe better and more manageable.

When it comes to medical healthcare, Austria is said to be among the best providers this side of Europe. This is because medical healthcare is extended to both Austrian citizens as well as tourists at no cost to the party involved. Additionally, all expatriates who have found employment in Austria should be enrolled in an expatriate health insurance system where they are expected to make monthly contributions. The amount involved in a given expatriate health insurance in Vienna will normally be based on the salary scale of the expatriate worker involved.

One other country in Southern Europe that many British expats will find inviting is Greece. For starters, the cost of basic commodities here is about 30 percent lower when compared to other countries in Europe. At the same time, however, the average Greek salary is just as low. Still, the equally low rates for social security more than makes up for this, enabling many expatriate workers working abroad in Greece to lead generally comfortable lives.

Unfortunately, when the issue is about medical healthcare, Greece is one of the few countries in Southern Europe which is unable to provide this particular service, even to expatriates. If you have plans of living abroad in Greece, it will definitely be a good idea to consider getting an independent expatriate health insurance to keep you protected.

Despite this grim scenario, Greece is one European nation that welcomes expatriate workers like British expats even if this is not really among their top destinations. This is mainly due to the lack of multinational firms operating in these parts where these expats can easily find employment.

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How to Appraise a Commercial Restaurant Business Wisely?

Appraising a commercial restaurant business requires buyer as well as seller to work together to evaluate the financial performance, goodwill, and physical assets. The buyer wants to know if the key employees will continue serving the restaurant or sign non-compete clauses, what encumbrances of the restaurant business are, and if there are any lawsuits pending. If the owner wants to sell the restaurant then he should have a thorough checklist that can be useful in the appraisal process to determine a fair selling price of the business.

Here are some useful tips that play a crucial role when appraising a restaurant business.

  • Appraise the physical assets. One of the major steps when appraising a restaurant business is considering all its physical assets. These include land, restaurant building, kitchen equipment, cutlery, furniture, linen, stemware, cash registers, management software, and hard goods. Prepare an inventory of all physical assets of the business and get them inspected to find their current market value. It is better if the buyer and seller agree on a neutral appraiser or they obtain third-party appraisals. Note all damaged assets that need to be replaced since these assets will incur buyer expenses after he becomes its owner. Assistance of professional commercial real estate appraiser can be worthy when dealing with a restaurant sale or purchase.
  • Review the financial documents. Being the seller you should review the financial documents of your restaurant to check its current balance sheet and recent cash flow. Consider cash assets and amounts owed. Also, consider long term loans, leases, contracts, and insurance policies. Evaluate the net, annual profit for your restaurant business since it will help you determine an appropriate selling price, which is calculated with help of the net profit of the business. Provide your prospective buyer with bank statements and tax returns. If you are a buyer then it is better to request all financial information and inspect it carefully before you buy the restaurant.
  • Discuss employee agreements. Key employees are crucial part for the successful, smooth operation of a restaurant business. For instance, if a well-known chef works in the restaurant then his service is counted during the business appraisal process. If you don’t have restaurant experience when buying the business, the service of current manager or chef may be crucial for the successful, smooth operation of the business in the future. Check whether the employees will be available after the sale of the restaurant or they are willing to sign non-compete agreement. If you buy a restaurant operated by an expert chef then you don’t want that chef to open a new restaurant in your vicinity.
  • Calculate the liabilities. If you are a buyer, ask for a list of restaurant liabilities including money owed, contracts, pending lawsuits, insurance policies, repair or replacement expenses, the latest bad reviews, and current health department citations. Once you receive this list, sign a form acknowledging that you have knowledge of all liabilities. If you are the seller, you need to sign a statement acknowledging you have revealed all claims against the restaurant business and are accountable for anything that is discovered after the sale of your business.
  • Consider the intangibles. Check intangibles of the restaurant business including its name, trademarks, reputation, liquor licenses, logos, permits, locations, recipes, zoning, building code exceptions, and key personnel. Determine whether you can run the business without all or some of these intangibles. Also, determine which will transfer with the sale. Proficient real estate appraisal services will help you include the worth of key intangibles in your appraisal.
  • Sum it up. Determine the net profits of the restaurant over the last three years. If you are purchasing a restaurant that made remarkable net profits, you can assume that you can gain back your investment and make good profits in the coming times. If the net profits are positive for last few years but are in small amounts each year then you will have to work hard to make back your investment.

Following these six techniques you can obtain a fair and accurate value of a restaurant business easily and make final decision on its sale or purchase without any hassles.

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Wi-Fi For a Hotel – What to Think About

When planning for installing a Wi-Fi network in a hotel there’s much to be considered. Tread lightly …. it’s not quite as hard as you may think. But it isn’t simple either.

First, the hotel’s Wi-Fi strategy needs to be finalized, and following this you would know where the service needs to be available, if it will be free, if it will be solely used for guest browsing, or if it will also facilitate value added services to the hotel itself …. such as wireless point-of-sale, wireless security, wireless signage, wireless VoIP on the compound, etc. There are a plethora of resources online that you can check for the technicalities of some of these types of equipment – this is not a challenge.

After this, everything begins with an on-site survey to determine the layout of the hotel, and placement of the access points. This should include RF mapping for larger properties (or any property for that matter, since it removes a lot of the guesswork).

Bearing in mind you’re working with a budget, you need to let that budget dictate the type of equipment you’re going to use. From Access points & routers, to POE switches, packet shaping & filtering, to billing & authentication platforms. Or whether you’re going to do it all with a cheap and simple Dlink setup, complete with login ticket printers. There are a multitude of different architectures for these networks.

You will also need to agree upon work schedules with the Hotel Management, because they may not want technicians and engineers visible throughout the compound while guests are enjoying their stay there. This can lengthen or shorten the duration of the project (depending on what Hotel Management decides) and can have direct effects on project cost. All of which needs to be presented to Hotel management in different scenarios.

One of the make-or-break details that often get overlooked is the available bandwidth being piped into the hotel to feed this Wireless network, and depending on the size of the hotel, it needs to be considerable. I’d suggest a minimum of DS3 bandwidth.

Once you’ve done a simple traffic analysis to quantify bandwidth requirements, based on information from the hotel such as average room occupancy percentages throughout the year, you can determine what is required. Once you can get this required bandwidth from a service provider, you’re golden. Whether or not the budget allows, you should always push the Hotel to choose a corporate data package with an service level agreement (SLA) attached to it, so as to guarantee uptime for the guests. This is critical if the hotel has a high percentage of business travellers.

For assistance in finding just the right bandwidth solution … at best price …. I recommend using the free services at Bandwidth Solution.

Once the physical aspects of the network is in place and everything has been neatly tucked away, you need to develop a nice walled garden for the hotel – although this is something the larger hotels normally do, for branding and marketing purposes. However, this is an additional step that needs to be done, whether or not it is your responsibility. This can facilitate something as simple as the logon splash screen, or it can offer more interactivity based on the tech savviness of the hotel.

Finally, this can be as simple or as complex as the hotel and their budget requires, but even in the most complex scenario it really is quite simple and is one of the easier wireless implementations to deploy.