ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, June 18, 1996 TAG: 9606180042
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
Fred Unger saw that his daughter had done her homework between the time she first mentioned the idea of buying the South Main Cafe last Christmas and when he and her mother visited her at Virginia Tech for her 22nd birthday in March.
Kirstin Unger was ready to give her parents a report on what she had found out about running a business. She had a pile of books and had researched the details of business ownership and the South Main Cafe. "She had it all laid out," he said.
But Fred Unger wasn't all that surprised. He already knew that his daughter can be determined and have a lot of confidence. Though she is not a great athlete, he said, she was starting midfielder for two years for West Springfield High School's two-time state champion soccer team.
Moreover, Kirstin has a good feel for popular music, he said.
"Music is something she's always been involved in, and I think she probably has a pretty good sense about what sounds the kids are going to like."
The decision to buy the restaurant for his daughter solved another problem for him, Fred Unger said. It would give her a job. Kirstin graduated in May from Virginia Tech with a bachelor's degree in liberal arts and sciences. At Tech, students in that major are required to earn three minors. Kirstin's were art, English and philosophy.
"She struck me as finally finding something in her life that she wanted to do."
Unger, 57, is owner and president of Digital Press, a Springfield-based software packaging and duplicating business, and is one-third owner of another software firm. Previously he worked for 25 years for DuPont.
Unger paid $270,000, with a $65,000 down payment, for the South Main Cafe. Kirstin's research showed Bill Ellenbogen, a Blacksburg restaurateur who bought the building after 20-year proprietor Linda Ruth Schwab shut South Main's doors in May 1995, had paid less than $200,000.
"I may have paid more than it's worth, but five or six years from now it might be worth more," the elder Unger said. "I think the fact that the place did run for 18 or 19 years pretty well proves that it is viable."
Fred Unger figures start-up expenses will run about $50,000. He put up half that amount, Kirstin came up with 20 percent, and co-owner John Peacock contributed 30 percent. The company they formed will operate the business and pay the elder Unger $2,200 each month for the mortgage. Other Blacksburg restaurateurs say that figure is reasonable if not cheap for a downtown location.
"They're in it for the fun. I'm doing it because I don't think there's a lot of risk," Fred Unger said.
Decreasing the risk, he said, is the fact that young people don't need to pay themselves a lot.
"I just figured they could make a living if they took in 15 grand each month."
LENGTH: Medium: 61 linesby CNB