Restaurant Owners, how is the business going lately? I’m troubled with rising costs and shirking margins, what about you guys ?
So cal, sales are down. Watching every purchase, getting hands dirty and praying it picks up soon
Coffee van here, sales down, trying to cut labour costs, shrink shifts and put cheaper ( younger) staff on where possible.
Applying for more trade accounts to give us more time to pay for fuel and stock but it only delays the loss.
Isn’t that illegal at least in the UK. Just get rid of old staff so you can pay younger ones less, not really good business practices is it now.
Staff are casuals so no set hours and we have explained to everyone it’s temporary. We treat out staff quite well.
End of the day I can’t run the business at a loss, does my staff no good if I have to shut up shop and they all lose their jobs.
Bar/Restaurant here. It’s sink or swim. I’m either slammed busy, or it’s crickets. Had to 86 my GM due to cost cutting, which added about 20 hours extra to my week. Upping prices as needed. (What the fuck with beef prices?) Trying to staff for the busy shifts and mitigate the shitty ones. Closing the kitchen a bit earlier, as they are expensive. Hell, I’ve worked the dishpit to save some dough! Just keep fighting!
Beef prices depend on a lot of factors, but customers and farmers are getting the short end of the stick.
In many parts of the US and Canada, there has been a multi year long drought that has impacted feed prices. 2021 was especially bad for huge areas, and it caused a lot of ranchers to sell off large portions of their herd. This has now caused a reduced supply with the same(or more) amount of demand. This has caused cattle prices to rise at auctions, but it’s still not anywhere close to explaining prices per cut by the sellers.
In Australia, some ranchers are considering shooting their cattle in the pastures because the feedlots and butchers are full, and they can’t afford to feed them. Cattle prices are tanking right now down there. They will be experiencing the same price swing in a year or two.
Other factors include inflation, fuel prices, and interest rates. And greed.
People still want to eat beef, and the suppliers (meat packers and grocery stores) know this. The price will stay high while people continue to pay for it. Try connecting with a local rancher and buying beef from them. 90% of the time, it is much cheaper per cut.
You missed the most important part. Over 70 percent of all beef in the USA is processed by one company. Jbl ( a Brazilian) company. They are squeezing the cattle farmers on price and then fucking the consumers on the back end. Why our government allows monopolies in food is beyond me… oh wait, no it isn’t. Can we all say politicians are being bought!
We own 9 spots and I am going to be honest when I say this. If you are starting or new, it’s damn near impossible. If you are established and have cash reserves, it’s fine.
We are witnessing the rich get richer mantra in real time. In our area, 3 families control the restaurant market and we are all accumulating as others just struggle. End stage capitalism in real time
Where are you located that 3 families can control the whole restaurant market??
It’s not only restaurants. CRE/LL feeling the squeeze too. Rents aren’t keeping up or squeezing profits. & anything can crop up to repair, etc. at least a restaurant(I’ve owned 2), you can be proactive by raising prices or introducing new specials. Do u have liquor?
About a 10% constriction from last year. Overall really healthy and staffing is great.
We’re managing. We’re counter service and are thinking about going gratuity free after doing some research and wanting to change the way our industry treats FOH/BOH.
We have been gratuity free since opening 5+ years ago. I’d recommend it in a heartbeat.
im in a seasonal area so for us, its pretty much the same as last year. the down time, summer months, were off about 10 - 15% but the season so far has been about the same levels as last year. will see how the rest of the season goes.
Sales are down. Scrambling. Finally have a great staff, properly adjusted prices with no complaints. OC’s are right where they should be. And GME never went to the moon for me.
Service industry has been the same forever… slow in winter, busier in summer. Slow during layoffs, slow during recession, slow during inflation, slow during protests, slow during wars…
Booming a little in the 90’s followed by slow during Afghanistan/iraq/desert storm/etc… booming a little, then 9/11… booming for a bit then housing crisis/cash for clunkers/etc… booming for a bit then the next disaster
Also depending on location - hurricanes, tsunami, wind/fires
Also depending on location - protests, gang violence, tear gas, arson, theft, burglary
Also depending on location - homelessness, deification, urination, trash, harassment
If it’s not one thing it’s another
Market is brutal.
My company is organizing a way to make revenue share on sports betting out of restaurants and bars either the game on. QR codes driven to landing pages. Helps monetize.
It’s good but risky with high costs in food and labor. Got to keep the volume and maintain. Currently expanding the restaurant to handle the volume, taking a big risk but we are welll established and going into our 8th year. Trying to save enough to buy the 10M building.
In a different country than yours most probably, but shit is the same here. Rising cost and shrinking margin. Near impossible to succeed for new business, those will prevail must have a lot of cash reserves or financial backing. Every month is negative month.
I have five restaurants customer I sell ground beef to them and three are behind payments. Ya they are struggling hard.