Our Story
Hello, we are Jason and Sulamit Burmeister. We are starting an American style restaurant in Wolfsberg, Austria. We have a location that needed to be renovated and we are in the process of doing so. The location is located in the old city center of Wolfsberg at Johann-Oeffner Strasse 9A. The building used to be an Italian restaurant with Mediterranean decor that was in very poor condition. It was necessary to remove all existing furniture, floor tiles, booths, bar and wall coatings in order to be able to start fresh and make plans to properly run pipes for water, and electric wires. I, Jason, have wanted to start my own restaurant for a long time, particularly when I was living in the USA after I had worked in a restaurant for five years. In 2010, due to the financial crisis in the USA I lost my job and relocated to Austria in hopes of finding a new career. What I found was a wonderful woman whom I married and now we live here in Austria and have a child on the way. In the spring of 2011, I worked as a cook in a local restaurant and was able to learn how a restaurant runs here in Austria compared to the USA. Now, we are ready to start as small business owners and bring some of the American culture and food I love so much to a country that only knows McDonalds.
The Impact
As mentioned before, this restaurant would be bringing a whole new culture to this country.
The items we will be selling, will be very unique for Austria; Philly Cheesesteaks, Buffalo Wings, fresh cut French Fries, and in the future gourmet style hamburgers and fountain drinks with free refills. There are many young people in the area of Wolfsberg, Austria that are highly anticipating and excited for us to open our restaurant because there aren't many "cool" places for young people to hang out here.
Austria and the nearby countries of Slovenia and Hungary have some of the highest suicide rates in the world (World Health Organization 2008). At the American Lighthouse we don't only want to have lights on the inside but shine lights of happiness to the outside. We will feature an open kitchen in which the customers can see the food being cooked and interact with the kitchen cook and practice speaking English. If we fail to reach our goal, we will unfortunately have to go into credit card debt just to get the restaurant open and hopefully we will have enough income to cover our basic expenses especially with a baby on the way.
What We Need & What You Get
Our goal is $9,500. This is a breakdown of that amount: (amount is in Euros €)
| Floor-Tiles |
1000 |
| Wall/Bars |
800 |
| Flat Grill |
250 |
| First month rent |
580 |
| Kitchen Accessories |
400 |
| Paint |
150 |
| Light fixtures |
350 |
| Bathroom remodel |
200 |
| Startup Food Costs |
500 |
| Outside Signs
|
350 |
| Booths/Benches |
650 |
| Bar stools
|
500 |
| Electrical Stuff; wire, outlets, etc |
100
|
| Deposit |
1200 |
Total: 7,030€ which is approx $9,500.
Here are a list of the perks you will receive with a minimum donation of:
$10
American Lighthouse Helper
Our most sincere thanks for helping us and your name displayed on our wall of helpers in the restaurant.
$25
American Lighthouse Friend
A personal thank you note and photograph of the completed restaurant. Our most sincere thanks for helping us and your name displayed on our wall of helpers in the restaurant.
$50
American Lighthouse Visionary
10) Small orders of french fries or for outside Austria one bottle of either our signature bbq or buffalo sauce. (Please include $10 for shipping) A personal thank you note and photograph of the completed restaurant. Our most sincere thanks for helping us and your name displayed on our wall of helpers in the restaurant.
$100
American Lighthouse Bronze
Your name on a bronze star featured inside our restaurant!! 10) Small orders of french fries or for outside Austria two bottles of either our signature bbq or buffalo sauce. (Please include $10 for shipping) A personal thank you note and photograph of the completed restaurant. And our most sincere thanks for helping us.
$500
American Lighthouse Silver
A personal cooking lesson from Jason Burmeister in making any of the foods from American Lighthouse at the restaurant. Your name on a silver star featured inside our restaurant!! Personal tour of Wolfsberg, Austria by Jason and Sulamit Burmeister. 20) Small orders of french fries or for outside Austria five bottles of either our signature bbq or buffalo sauce. (Please include $30 for shipping) A personal thank you note and photograph of the completed restaurant. And our most sincere thanks for helping us.
$1000
American Lighthouse Gold
Free French Fries for life!!! (Limited 4 orders a month and the Wolfsberg, Austria location) A personal photo shoot and tour for you in Wolfsberg, Austria by Jason Burmeister. The Secret recipe of our signature buffalo and bbq sauce. (For personal home use only) Your name on a gold star featured inside our restaurant!
Other Ways You Can Help
If you can't give financially but would still love to help us, you can go to our Facebook page and "like us" and tell all your friends about us. :-) If you know people that have money like your mom, uncle, best friend, neighbor, or Bill Gates, please tell them about our vision and ask if they would like to help us.
