Singing Goat Café up for sale

tions.

The café industry is not known as being the most friendly to newcomers, with high startup costs cutting deep into pockets before a business can really get its customer base off the ground. Though admitting that the business has changed from her original model over the years, the café’s owner said that every transformation or shift that took place was done at the behest of the clientele.

“They say that if you can make it three years then you’re okay,” Hall said. “Year three was probably my best one, but things have plateaued in four and five.”

Asked why she has decided to sell her business, Hall ex- plained that she feels the time has come for her to move on to a new project.

“I have a little rhythm of my own,” she said, describing herself as being on a five year cycle. “I’m restless.”

Though stating that the restaurant has worked well over the last five years as a “one woman show” catering to the local lunch crowd, Hall offered up a vision of the space being operated by a couple who could live in the upstairs apartment and offer up longer opening hours to an interested public.

It’s worth noting that Hall doesn’t own the building, so what she is looking to sell is her equipment and the dream of the Singing Goat as a functional café. She did add, how- ever, that the building’s owner has expressed an openness to the idea of selling the building should someone come along who wanted to pick up both the property and the restaurant. The café is housed in a twostorey brick building near the corner of Alexander and Galt Streets in downtown Sherbrooke.

“I like working on my own,” Hall said, “but I can only do so much.”

In terms of the pricing of her sale, the café owner explained that she invested $45,000 in the project to get it started. Selling her whole setup as a package deal, she said that she is looking to make back $10,000 to $30,000 of that.

“I put so much into it that I'd like to get something out of it,” Hall said before adding, “I’m going to move on one way or the other.”

So far, she said, five or six different parties have expressed some interest and she suspects several of them are simply working up the courage to take on a new project.

Though the last post on the café’s Facebook page implies that it will be opening again in August, Hall said that upon reflection she decided that the space would not be open again until it can do so under new management. Though she intends to stay on for a month to help whoever buys the business get up on their feet, her current plan is to be out of the area entirely by the end of September.