311–320 of 498 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Buffet for me means one of these restaurants where you pay a fixed price and then eat as much as you like. That's not the kind of restaurant that is common in Central/Eastern Europe(in fact those all-you-can eat restaurants have never caught on here)
So what are they like?
I really dislike the way in which this article has been written - it reads as the typical piece from the "bro culture" that massively ignores the rest of the world. Besides this, which is not the point... 1) most restaurants in US and high-end Europe that survive and thrive do so by having big margins on alcohol. Their margins are not single-digits. (edit: just saw other comments mentioning this). 2) Many restaurateu…
All are trying to migrate into dining, as the margins on alcohol have fallen. Those that didn’t become restaurants have basically gone bust. There are no longer any normal classic pubs in England!
I know a couple that tried to rejuvenate a failing “free house” in a tourist hotspot and failed. Passing the spot recently I saw it is now a pub restaurant like all the rest.
I also once talked with the owner bartender of a very trendy micro brewery pub. The beer was their hook but the money came from food and the stables converted into b&b.
It doesn’t invalidate your point at all, I’m just adding detail to a very varied landscape.
I really dislike the way in which this article has been written - it reads as the typical piece from the "bro culture" that massively ignores the rest of the world. Besides this, which is not the point... 1) most restaurants in US and high-end Europe that survive and thrive do so by having big margins on alcohol. Their margins are not single-digits. (edit: just saw other comments mentioning this). 2) Many restaurateu…
> it reads as the typical piece from the "bro culture" that massively ignores the rest of the world. Why should articles need to be generalized to the world? It certainly fits the Canadian and US markets. You can't have comprehensive coverage of everything and everyone in an article.
You can easily find problems around a lot of the points raised in this post in our dataset. If you cut too much around areas like food quality and service your NPS is going to slide, and if not turned around it becomes a leading indicator that the end is looming (e.g., Jamie's Italian).
We obviously don't track independent restaurants - chains only - but you can certainly see the effects of high rent and absolutely swingeing business rates[2] coupled with heavy downward pressure on prices across the whole sector.
[1] This isn't just restaurant chains: it includes pubs, cafes, fast food, etc.
[2] These are nothing short of an outrage in many parts of the UK. Local government will often complain about their moribund high streets, but do little to help their cause. The reality is that with costs as high as they are, and the convenience of online and delivery, it's extremely difficult for any kind of outlet to make money on the British high street.
I really dislike the way in which this article has been written - it reads as the typical piece from the "bro culture" that massively ignores the rest of the world. Besides this, which is not the point... 1) most restaurants in US and high-end Europe that survive and thrive do so by having big margins on alcohol. Their margins are not single-digits. (edit: just saw other comments mentioning this). 2) Many restaurateu…
Re point 1, there has been a major change in pubs in the U.K. All are trying to migrate into dining, as the margins on alcohol have fallen. Those that didn’t become restaurants have basically gone bust. There are no longer any normal classic pubs in England! I know a couple that tried to rejuvenate a failing “free house” in a tourist hotspot and failed. Passing the spot recently I saw it is now a pub restaurant like…
A slight exaggeration, no? Whilst it's uncommon to find a pub that doesn't do food, I can think of several not far from me. (just outside Brighton).
And "a pub that does food" is still quite far from being a restaurant. Some only do food on Sundays, some have limited menus run by guest kitchens and some get the food cooked by a nearby takeaway with whom they partner.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> All that profit margin is ending up in landlords' pockets. The landlord's costs go up, too.
Not nearly as much. If at all. This is what killed retail in the UK. Amazon certainly made a difference, but given a choice, some people actually enjoy mall shopping and eating. But between huge hikes in business rates (commercial operating taxes) and rent increases, retail simply isn't as profitable as it was in the 90s. The rent increases are pure greed and predatory extraction. There certainly hasn't been any corr…
Have you looked over their books?
Landlords have to pay:
1. taxes 2. maintenance 3. insurance 4. mortgage costs (they're usually leveraged) 5. legal and lawyer fees for contracts and disputes 6. costs of unrented space 7. accounting costs 8. costs of just keeping track of all the changing laws 9. depreciation
In Seattle, landlords are considered an unlimited source of funds for social programs by the City Council. For example, if the spouse of a tenant damages the apartment, the landlord has to pay for the damage, not the tenant.
I really dislike the way in which this article has been written - it reads as the typical piece from the "bro culture" that massively ignores the rest of the world. Besides this, which is not the point... 1) most restaurants in US and high-end Europe that survive and thrive do so by having big margins on alcohol. Their margins are not single-digits. (edit: just saw other comments mentioning this). 2) Many restaurateu…
> it reads as the typical piece from the "bro culture" that massively ignores the rest of the world. Why should articles need to be generalized to the world? It certainly fits the Canadian and US markets. You can't have comprehensive coverage of everything and everyone in an article.
I'll make another observation about the landscape of restaurants. You may notice that in Europe, Asia, the demographics of restaurants are noticeably different from the US. There are far more hole-in-the-wall mom-and-pop restaurants in those places compared to the US, running a small and seemingly profit-thin but subsistence restaurant for the neighborhood. Think of a suburban neighborhood in Madrid or Rome, where a…
I want small restaurants as much as I want shoe makers instead of automated Nike factories. The way forward is not by enabling people who can serve 500 people/day to exist when we can have a robot serving 5,000. We want automation, we want people doing what they choose to do because we've automated away things they had to do, such as work for a living. The way to get there is more automation. Restaurant cooks/servers…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Margin. McDonald's average profit margin for the past five years has been 23%. Sometimes they increase margin on price. But more often, they do it on labor and cost of goods. McDonalds takes no-skill workers, applies its systems, and spits out 5 billion cheeseburgers at five nines consistency. And then it buys in quantities that move world markets, unlike your locavore restaurant. Five Guys will have lower margins, b…
sounds like to me that one-off restaurants' owners want to be artisans and craftsman, not running a business. It's like an engineer who values good code and high quality engineering, but is beaten out by massive outsourced labour that optimizes for business value.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Re point 1, there has been a major change in pubs in the U.K. All are trying to migrate into dining, as the margins on alcohol have fallen. Those that didn’t become restaurants have basically gone bust. There are no longer any normal classic pubs in England! I know a couple that tried to rejuvenate a failing “free house” in a tourist hotspot and failed. Passing the spot recently I saw it is now a pub restaurant like…
> There are no longer any normal classic pubs in England! A slight exaggeration, no? Whilst it's uncommon to find a pub that doesn't do food, I can think of several not far from me. (just outside Brighton). And "a pub that does food" is still quite far from being a restaurant. Some only do food on Sundays, some have limited menus run by guest kitchens and some get the food cooked by a nearby takeaway with whom they p…
It starts with Sunday lunches, and slips into weeknights.
It starts with order at the bar, and slips into little “reserved for diners” signs on most of the tables.
It starts with the barman working the sandwich toaster and slides into teenagers in white blouses and knee length black skirts with name tags saying “trainee” asking you to wait to be seated as you enter.
Pubs used to be adult domains where people went to drink and chat in the evenings. Now pubs put playgrounds and bouncy castles in the car park to bring in families to dine.
Of course there might be some classic true pubs left? Perhaps someone should make an app ... arrrgh!