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Can we please have some perspective here? The business owner's livelihood was not "destroyed". His business failed. That is a risk every business owner takes wh

Can we please have some perspective here? The business owner's livelihood was not "destroyed". His business failed. That is a risk every business owner takes when they start a business, and even that failure generally leaves them more equipped for their next effort. The article even explicitly talks about what he's doing next, which will almost certainly do well by him. He's going to be fine, and the OP of this thread has done and can do nothing to prevent that. This kind of extreme overreaction to criticisms of people who have incredibly opportunities ahead of them no matter what they did wrong or failed at is just silly.

downandout 11y ago
Bad Yelp ratings routinely destroy businesses (which usually function as the livelihood of the owner(s)). When OP said "good riddance," he was saying that he was happy to see the demise of this restaurant because he disliked the part of Europe his wine was from. IMO, that is the kind of "extreme overreaction" you are referring to.
- stormbrew 11y ago
  That businesses fail because customers are unhappy is a bit tautological, don't you think? That we have some visibility into the grapevine doesn't mean the grapevine never existed or that the grapevine (now called yelp) is to blame. Again, my point is that conflating the fate of the restaurant with the fate of its owner (as with any business) is the extreme reaction. The owner is fine, the restaurant is closed. Does it suck for the owner? Yes. Is it career ending or livelihood ending? Not by a long shot. Is it part of opening a business? Absolutely. Most businesses fail. And restaurants fail far more often than other businesses to boot. I have no doubt this owner knew all that going in.
- ufmace 11y ago
  I'm gonna go with stormbrew on this one. You say "destroy business" and destroy livelihood as if this guy is going to be kicked out on the streets because his business didn't work out. Give me a break - yeah, it's sad for him that his business failed, but I'm sure he'll find another upper-middle class job soon. Being a special snowflake founder doesn't excuse him from being criticized about running a fine-dining establishment badly. We would all do better to break out of this 1950s idea that losing a job or closing a business is cataclysmically bad. It's disappointing for the founders, but everyone involved will most likely find something else just as good very soon.
  - vacri 11y ago
    Running a restaurant on a small budget is an 'upper-middle class job'? I agree with you about the current problematic trope of losing a job = destitute for life, but at the same time we seem to have converted every small-businessperson into a '[startup] founder'.
  - Mikeb85 11y ago
    Please, restaurant jobs are blue collar, working class jobs. Even operating a restaurant is long, hard labour. Most restaurant owner/operators I know work 12 hour days, 6-7 days per week, and if they were to go bankrupt, certainly wouldn't be able to just jump to the next project... Capital doesn't simply line up for restaurateurs because there is no big exit. The most you can hope for is to make a profit by the time your lease runs out, and maybe pay yourself a salary.
    - stormbrew 11y ago
      I don't think anyone is arguing it's easy to run a restaurant, or even to start one. That's not the point. The point is that someone having a business that's failing, or losing their job for that matter, has not had their "livelihood destroyed". They have had one tool in maintaining their livelihood removed, it does not mean they have no more. And while capital does not (and really should not) line up easily for restaurateurs, I would still argue that someone who can raise capital once has a well above average chance of being able to raise it twice, regardless of the risk of the venture. This also assumes the only choice a business owner has when their business fails is to start another.

downandout 11y ago

Bad Yelp ratings routinely destroy businesses (which usually function as the livelihood of the owner(s)). When OP said "good riddance," he was saying that he was happy to see the demise of this restaurant because he disliked the part of Europe his wine was from. IMO, that is the kind of "extreme overreaction" you are referring to.

stormbrew 11y ago
That businesses fail because customers are unhappy is a bit tautological, don't you think? That we have some visibility into the grapevine doesn't mean the grapevine never existed or that the grapevine (now called yelp) is to blame. Again, my point is that conflating the fate of the restaurant with the fate of its owner (as with any business) is the extreme reaction. The owner is fine, the restaurant is closed. Does it suck for the owner? Yes. Is it career ending or livelihood ending? Not by a long shot. Is it part of opening a business? Absolutely. Most businesses fail. And restaurants fail far more often than other businesses to boot. I have no doubt this owner knew all that going in.
ufmace 11y ago
I'm gonna go with stormbrew on this one. You say "destroy business" and destroy livelihood as if this guy is going to be kicked out on the streets because his business didn't work out. Give me a break - yeah, it's sad for him that his business failed, but I'm sure he'll find another upper-middle class job soon. Being a special snowflake founder doesn't excuse him from being criticized about running a fine-dining establishment badly. We would all do better to break out of this 1950s idea that losing a job or closing a business is cataclysmically bad. It's disappointing for the founders, but everyone involved will most likely find something else just as good very soon.
- vacri 11y ago
  Running a restaurant on a small budget is an 'upper-middle class job'? I agree with you about the current problematic trope of losing a job = destitute for life, but at the same time we seem to have converted every small-businessperson into a '[startup] founder'.
- Mikeb85 11y ago
  Please, restaurant jobs are blue collar, working class jobs. Even operating a restaurant is long, hard labour. Most restaurant owner/operators I know work 12 hour days, 6-7 days per week, and if they were to go bankrupt, certainly wouldn't be able to just jump to the next project... Capital doesn't simply line up for restaurateurs because there is no big exit. The most you can hope for is to make a profit by the time your lease runs out, and maybe pay yourself a salary.
  - stormbrew 11y ago
    I don't think anyone is arguing it's easy to run a restaurant, or even to start one. That's not the point. The point is that someone having a business that's failing, or losing their job for that matter, has not had their "livelihood destroyed". They have had one tool in maintaining their livelihood removed, it does not mean they have no more. And while capital does not (and really should not) line up easily for restaurateurs, I would still argue that someone who can raise capital once has a well above average chance of being able to raise it twice, regardless of the risk of the venture. This also assumes the only choice a business owner has when their business fails is to start another.