October 22, 2004

In search for the right restaurant

By Mariecar Mendoza
Staff Writer

In spite of the parking restrictions at Beshoff Motor Cars, the site has not been totally disregarded by restaurant operators looking to expand.

In fact, three restaurants approached Beshoff and/or his associates with plans to build on the reserved site even before construction began in 2002. Of the three restaurants—Sonoma Chicken Coop, Casa Castillo and BCC Enterprises—only one backed out due to location and parking restrictions.

“Our decision not to go through with the site is absolutely no reflection on Beshoff MotorCars,” Sonoma Chicken Coop’s partner Bonnie Ray said. “Ray was wonderful and gracious. He took his time to deal with us, but we decided it wasn’t the ideal spot for our second restaurant ... we just decided that the site was too remote.”

Casa Castillo
Marcelino Castillo, owner of the Mexican restaurant Casa Castillo, located at 4848 San Felipe Rd., had a different reason for not building on the site. Before deciding to build at the corner of San Felipe Road and Yerba Buena, San Jose District 8 Councilmember Dave Cortese informed Castillo that Beshoff was seeking a restaurant tenant.

Castillo quickly inquired and soon began conversations with Beshoff’s real estate agent, but found that building on the site was going to be an ordeal he just wasn’t willing to put up with.

Marcelino Castillo ended negotiations with Beshoff MotorCars and decided to locate his Mexican restaurant, Casa Castillo, at 4848 San Felipe Rd.

“We were constantly playing a game of telephone tag, and when we finally spoke, it wasn’t clear what they wanted and there was no cooperation. To make a long story short, I just came to the conclusion that everything they wanted was out of reach,” Castillo said. “I got the impression that they were just going through formalities, and that they just wanted to do something else with the site.”

For Castillo, the red flag came up when Beshoff’s associates asked about his restaurant’s menu.

“They wanted to see what type of menu we were going to have because they wanted a high-end restaurant there. But when they wanted to make improvements to the menu, I went, ‘Hey, wait a minute, if I start putting all this time and energy into this thing, I need to know what you guys want to do,’” Castillo explained.

“I guess the best way to describe it is when you put a plate together you need some seasoning. It needs a little more salt, a little more pepper because there’s something missing,” he said. “I just felt that there was no sincerity and they just didn’t want to get this thing done. So I finally gave up and walked away from it.”

BCC Enterprises
On the other hand, John Erwin Sr., owner of the barbeque joint BCC Enterprises located off Old Oakland Road in San Jose, has not given up completely. Erwin said he was interested in the site long before Beshoff commenced building in San Jose and had hoped for a successful deal to materialize for more than two years. Yet negotiations between Beshoff and Erwin have been ambiguous.

Erwin admits that his first attempt to negotiate with Beshoff did not go through because the loan package necessary for the lease was not prepared. However, Erwin said the second time he approached Beshoff and his associates, Beshoff said he would get back to him.

“I’ve got people right now, as we speak, trying to secure the 10 percent I need to make the whole package a workable deal. I’ve spent $20,000 to $25,000 trying to make this happen with architectural plans and different things, so it’s not like I went over there without the intention of being successful,” said Erwin.

“The San Jose Planning Department looked at our plans for the site and they didn’t see anything wrong with the layout, and all I’d have to do is come up with the fee for the conditional use permit,” continued Erwin.

“Mr. Beshoff has even seen the plans for the restaurant and said he liked them, but for some reason, we haven’t been able to make the deal happen. But I do feel we were at a point where we could have made this deal happen,” said Erwin.

Yet in recent discussions with Beshoff, Erwin said, “It’s apparent to me that he doesn’t consider a restaurant a high priority. There’s a new car that he’s more interested in selling on that site.”

Erwin also addressed concerns that he said were brought up by Beshoff MotorCars General Manager Steve McCarthy, who suggested BCC Enterprises would not attract clientele coinciding with that of the dealership.

“I’ve been in business over here for 10 years and I told Ray that I run a first-class operation… all my people are professionally trained and everything. I wouldn’t try to put an operation on the site if I couldn’t make a first class family dining restaurant,” said Erwin.

But to skeptics accusing Beshoff of setting the issue aside, the car dealership owner replied that he is doing everything he can to secure a restaurant tenant and that parking limitations are to blame.

“All the people we have worked with in the past have turned us down because the access on Capitol Expressway is very limited,” Beshoff said. “We’ve been doing everything humanly possible to acquire a restaurant, but there is a little bit of difficulty with the parking.”

“Right now there has not been any activity at all. There hasn’t been one person making us any sort of offer at all,” Beshoff stressed. “So we have not turned down any offers at all.”

In response to questions about his negotiations with local restaurants, Beshoff confirmed that he did meet with the partner of Sonoma Chicken Coop Bonnie Ray, but understood that they wanted to go elsewhere.

As for BCC Enterprises, he said, “Well I decided not to accept their proposal for my own reasons,” and did not disclose anything further about Erwin’s proposal.

He also added that in the last year and half, aside from the “serious negotiations” with the three restaurants, he has received 15 to 20 inquires. A secured restaurant tenant has yet to materialize from these inquires.

As for his efforts to market the site to keep restaurant operators aware of the vacant lot, Beshoff said aside from having a sign up and advertising, there has been no action taken within the past six months.