Döner for $11? I‘ve ever seen one sell for more than €5 and €3.50 seems to be an average price here.
Döner + Coke = 10€ Source: Me in Oslo, 2011
Döner + fries + soda = 5€. Spain 2020.
Why Restaurants Are So Fucked
31–40 of 498 posts
Re: Why Restaurants Are So Fucked
#32People love food, but eating out at restaurants to the extent that happens in the modern world is a historical aberration. It’s not just other restos you’re competing with but a home-cooked meal too. I get the sense from the tone taken here that this owner is going to be in trouble down the line. It’s good to be passionate but their objectivity is clouded. The restaurant with the really expensive donair is indeed lik…
Home-cooked meals are actually the aberration. Back in the old days (before the 1950s), the poor didn't have kitchens, hence the proliferation of street foods such as pizza and their ancient Roman antecedents.
Fair enough. Don’t think those poor ancient Romans were eating in restaurants either though, wasn’t it more of a communal kitchen setup?
https://www.reference.com/world-view/did-romans-cook-prepare...
Re: Why Restaurants Are So Fucked
#33This post misses the forest for the trees. The reason for the low margins in the restaurant business is the lack of differentiation. Their products are largely commoditized, so they have no competitive advantage or market power. Peter Thiel discussed this in a lecture for YC, where he said that you can work very hard to make the best restaurant in a city, but it doesn't give you much pricing power, because the second…
The issue is not 'why they have thin margins' - the issue is their inflexible operating ability mostly due to fixed costs, specifically rent. If restaurants had 20% margins they would still be facing collapse. Rent is a huge portion of costs vis-a-vis most other businesses that can be run 'anywhere' whereas restaurants need prime locations.
I have no idea where the restaurants I order from are.
Re: Why Restaurants Are So Fucked
#34> Wolf Down (quick serve German Street Food) And yet looking at the picture attached I wondered "That layout looks like something cliche out of Ontario". Was not surprised to find out it's in Ottawa. Not that changing decor in the current climate will do much, but for heaven's sake, why do so many of these places recycle the same stripped down, soulless interiors in that province? To the article's point, doing any ba…
> there is a lot of dirty money laundering happening through these small "boutique restaurants". I don't believe that -- why bother with a boutique restaurant when you can just run a crappy kiosk / convenience shop instead -- but forced closures cause an interesting predicament to anyone with a business like this: if their illegal income is continuing, how can they continue to report it when the front-business is sup…
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-29/coronavi... apparently a hard problem to solve
Re: Why Restaurants Are So Fucked
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
The issue is not 'why they have thin margins' - the issue is their inflexible operating ability mostly due to fixed costs, specifically rent. If restaurants had 20% margins they would still be facing collapse. Rent is a huge portion of costs vis-a-vis most other businesses that can be run 'anywhere' whereas restaurants need prime locations.
My great-grandfather was in the restaurant business back east, but my grandfather saw how unprofitable it was and became a mechanic rather than continue the family business. (He got fired once as a short-order chef in the 50's from a Howard Johnsons for cooking too well. ) Restaurants must relocate to cheaper areas like warehouses and shift to a delivery-first distribution model, which Uber, Lyft, and Google Express…
> He got fired once as a short-order chef in the 50's from a Howard Johnsons for cooking too well.
Under which logic? The Baron Von Muchausen argument of demoralization?
Re: Why Restaurants Are So Fucked
#36If the prices go up, consumers will do it less. Especially after seeing how much cheaper it was not to go to restaurants for months.
Re: Why Restaurants Are So Fucked
#37The article kind of misses the point, it's not 'margins' it's about the variability of costs. If a restaurant has x% less business, they can buy x% less 'proteins' and x% fewer servers. But they are screwed on the fixed costs, which is mostly rent. The thing is, these are not normal conditions. Real-estate owners everywhere are as worried as anyone about their business. If restaurants and other such businesses start…
It is but it doesn’t matter, unless the rent is 20% less in the future because next year a restaurant just as good will pop up and they can charge 10-15% less because their rent is lower and the original restaurant is still screwed.
Re: Why Restaurants Are So Fucked
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
My great-grandfather was in the restaurant business back east, but my grandfather saw how unprofitable it was and became a mechanic rather than continue the family business. (He got fired once as a short-order chef in the 50's from a Howard Johnsons for cooking too well. ) Restaurants must relocate to cheaper areas like warehouses and shift to a delivery-first distribution model, which Uber, Lyft, and Google Express…
> He got fired once as a short-order chef in the 50's from a Howard Johnsons for cooking too well. Under which logic? The Baron Von Muchausen argument of demoralization?
Consistency is a big deal in restaurants because mismatched expectations drives bad experiences.
Re: Why Restaurants Are So Fucked
#39Restaurants are fucked but the underlying costs associated with real estate are insane. Where I live, treasured restaurants close at a regular cadence due to rent hikes. Nobody can afford to run a restaurant at the prices being charged here. The end result is a cocktail that is $25 or a pint thats $10. High real estate prices are essentially forcing every commercial space to become a chain restaurant unless they can…
The bizarre thing is that even before the pandemic I've seen popular Bay Area restaurants close down due to huge rent increases and then the spaces are still vacant years later. I don't understand what commercial landlords are thinking?
One of the things I have noticed is that a lot of the City of San Francisco has prohibitions on new liquor licenses. In many cases this makes wholly new businesses of some types, like nightclubs or bars, impossible or seriously squeezes the margins on new restaurants.
Re: Why Restaurants Are So Fucked
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
My great-grandfather was in the restaurant business back east, but my grandfather saw how unprofitable it was and became a mechanic rather than continue the family business. (He got fired once as a short-order chef in the 50's from a Howard Johnsons for cooking too well. ) Restaurants must relocate to cheaper areas like warehouses and shift to a delivery-first distribution model, which Uber, Lyft, and Google Express…
> He got fired once as a short-order chef in the 50's from a Howard Johnsons for cooking too well. Under which logic? The Baron Von Muchausen argument of demoralization?
I didn’t understand that note about firing either. Care to explain your reference? I’m not familiar with it.