11–20 of 190 posts
(Also I'm bemused as to why the opener suggests red tape was a problem.)
> We had started with $60,000; after six weeks, we were down to $3,000, and there was still so much to do. I don't think he did nearly enough research into how much it costs to start a restaurant.
Approximately how much would you say it costs? Could he have gotten a small business loan?
Running a restaurant is hard and unsurprisingly its even harder if you never have run one before. Staffing, food cost, vender management and health code malarky: these are some of the first things that make or break a restaurant. Then maybe location. Quality of food clearly doesn't make the list, at least not disconnected from price as Dominos, McDonalds and Starbucks succeed with high probability. Sad to see a vanit…
Before he became TV famous, he worked in his restaurant every day until 1 AM, and back to it 6 hours later...every day, for many years. People vastly underestimate the time and dedication needed to run a restaurant. If you aren't built for it like Ramsay, you will regret it.
For a lot of owners, it's a really good way to earn not a lot of money for a massive amount of work.
This is really something everyone who opens a restaurant should be prepared for. An overwhelming majority of restaurants go out of business within a few years. It's a really difficult profession to be a part of, and if you want to be successful you've got to make some serious sacrifices--even then that might not be enough.
There was a Wall Street Journal article a few weeks ago that said banks were being far too lenient about giving out loans to restaurants and pumping money into an essentially dying, unforgiving market. I actually thought the WSJ was a little hard on the banks, since restaurants are so notoriously hard, but I wonder if this is more of systemic issue.
Running a restaurant is hard and unsurprisingly its even harder if you never have run one before. Staffing, food cost, vender management and health code malarky: these are some of the first things that make or break a restaurant. Then maybe location. Quality of food clearly doesn't make the list, at least not disconnected from price as Dominos, McDonalds and Starbucks succeed with high probability. Sad to see a vanit…
Gordon Ramsay is one of the most experienced and successful restaurateurs ever, and has had numerous failures along the way. Before he became TV famous, he worked in his restaurant every day until 1 AM, and back to it 6 hours later...every day, for many years. People vastly underestimate the time and dedication needed to run a restaurant. If you aren't built for it like Ramsay, you will regret it. For a lot of owners…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There was a Wall Street Journal article a few weeks ago that said banks were being far too lenient about giving out loans to restaurants and pumping money into an essentially dying, unforgiving market. I actually thought the WSJ was a little hard on the banks, since restaurants are so notoriously hard, but I wonder if this is more of systemic issue.
I really don't think banks give loans to restaurants. I'm gonna need to see a citation here.
I don't want to sound mean, but... he has a well-thumbed copy of Kitchen Confidential and did this anyway? Because one of the things I remember most strongly from that are the stories about people who imagine fondly they'd like to own a restaurant, and it always ending in tears. (Also I'm bemused as to why the opener suggests red tape was a problem.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There was a Wall Street Journal article a few weeks ago that said banks were being far too lenient about giving out loans to restaurants and pumping money into an essentially dying, unforgiving market. I actually thought the WSJ was a little hard on the banks, since restaurants are so notoriously hard, but I wonder if this is more of systemic issue.
I really don't think banks give loans to restaurants. I'm gonna need to see a citation here.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/31/business/too-many-restaur...
His lack of preparation is mind boggling, but completely deliberate: the less he knew, the more room there was for fantasy. Beware working with people like this, who want to skip straight to the end.
Neither of them have actually worked as a chef in years, and one of them hasn't set foot behind the counter at a restaurant since 2004. I can't even imagine the constant time pressure chefs, and undoubtedly restaurant owners must feel for this type of behavior to manifest and basically never go away.