4 ms·

I don't mean to come off as unnecesarily dismissive of the author, but I have serious doubts about the quality of their MBA education after I read this sentence

I don't mean to come off as unnecesarily dismissive of the author, but I have serious doubts about the quality of their MBA education after I read this sentence: "The situation in this industry has created a mercenary frenzy where everyone is running around trying to maximize what they’re able to make per hour." That describes the general trend in human behavior worldwide for the past six thousand or so years. This seems like such a foundational truth that I question if the author is writing it in good faith. The author seems to have the numbers straight in terms of personnel costs required to run a sustainable business, but what's confusing to me is that this analysis was not run before they decided to start this business. It seems like the numbers were hopelessly unfavorable pretty much any way you cut them. To me, that says that there simply wasn't a business worth creating. I acknowledge that the problems outlined in this piece are real. The commentary about the SF healthcare plan only being available within the city limits when many of its beneficiaries live far away calls attention to how badly dysfunctional our healthcare system is. Nevertheless, I keep coming back to the conclusion that most of the hardship (on behalf of the author) here was self inflicted. Running a restaurant is generally a very poor means of making a living as the author repeatedly points out. It's great that this person was following their passion, but doing so is usually expensive. As a mental exercise to the outraged reader of this article, try substituting the word restaurant with the word yacht and all the positions with various nautical ones. I think you'll find yourself a lot less sympathetic. I'd argue that they're semantically identical in this case.

krschultz 8y ago
How would a restaurant be in any way analogous to a yacht? I own a boat, it is not a place of public accommodation. The neighborhood is not better off because I have a place to hang out with my family and friends. The point being, this article is not one person complaining that they can't "follow their passion". It's someone pointing out that the economics make running a restaurant untenable in SF. Restaurants have always been run on razor thin margins, but the piece makes a compelling case that it's tipped beyond that.
- stickfigure 8y ago
  I believe the parent was referring to a yacht "for hire". It makes sense read that way.
- repsilat 8y ago
  > How would a restaurant be in any way analogous to a yacht? The GP meant that it's a business people get into because it's their passion, and it is a lot of people's passion when compared against the market for it. I'd say a comparison against "glamourous" creative industries like acting and journalism is more apt -- good profit to the ones people remember the names of, and cutthroat for the 90% fighting over the rest of the market. > Restaurants have always been run on razor thin margins, but the piece makes a compelling case that it's tipped beyond that. Maybe it's an echo-chamber thing, but a large fraction of my friends in SF rarely/never cook dinner. Almost none bring their lunch to work. We don't have a shortage of places to buy prepared food. The cost of eating out will probably scale closely with the cost of running a restaurant. Demand is solid (though not entirely inelastic.) Profits will always be thinner than in other industries. Lower rents would help, but there would probably also be negative second-order effects of lower meal prices. And positive third-order effects of increased demand because of price elasticity...
ascar 8y ago
I don't think maximizing hourly rate is the general overall trend. Sure it describes the small ambitious part of society, but I would argue the majority of workers (not society, because less than 50% of the society works), just strive for decent work conditions and adequate pay.
flaque 8y ago
> Running a restaurant is generally a very poor means of making a living as the author repeatedly points out. This is a really awful way of reading this article. I like restaurants. I like good food. I can buy into the argument that the cost of living is making it really hard for me to get good restaurants.
- m0zg 8y ago
  What you're saying does not contradict what the parent said, though. Running a restaurant is a hard slog anywhere. Prices have been going up, people have been eating out less. Seems like these trends are merely a bit exaggerated in SF.
jancsika 8y ago
> "The situation in this industry has created a mercenary frenzy where everyone is running around trying to maximize what they’re able to make per hour." That describes the general trend in human behavior worldwide for the past six thousand or so years. That's fascinating-- in exactly that same time span there's been a worldwide trend toward blockchain technologies. Do you think there's a connection?
yesenadam 8y ago
>"The situation in this industry has created a mercenary frenzy where everyone is running around trying to maximize what they’re able to make per hour." That describes the general trend in human behavior worldwide for the past six thousand or so years. This seems like such a foundational truth that I question if the author is writing it in good faith. It's hard to respond to that, as it's not clear to me at all what you're claiming. What's the 'general trend'? Towards everyone running around in a money-making frenzy? Perhaps it's extremely metaphorical and nothing of the kind is meant. Just that people are..constantly trying to increase their incomes. Or something. What is the 'foundational truth' - that there's a general trend towards that frenzy? ..So after 6,000 years, we've reached that state, or are close to it? What you said sounds like something I want to criticize, but I'm not at all clear what that was. All I can say is, it sounds like you're in the USA, talking like that. One of the parts of the USA that's particularly like that. The whole world is not like that.
jakelazaroff 8y ago
> "The situation in this industry has created a mercenary frenzy where everyone is running around trying to maximize what they’re able to make per hour." That describes the general trend in human behavior worldwide for the past six thousand or so years. This seems like such a foundational truth that I question if the author is writing it in good faith. I think you're missing the broader context here: employees are maximizing their take home pay at the expense of other benefits, like health insurance and retirement savings.

krschultz 8y ago

How would a restaurant be in any way analogous to a yacht? I own a boat, it is not a place of public accommodation. The neighborhood is not better off because I have a place to hang out with my family and friends. The point being, this article is not one person complaining that they can't "follow their passion". It's someone pointing out that the economics make running a restaurant untenable in SF. Restaurants have always been run on razor thin margins, but the piece makes a compelling case that it's tipped beyond that.

stickfigure 8y ago
I believe the parent was referring to a yacht "for hire". It makes sense read that way.
repsilat 8y ago
> How would a restaurant be in any way analogous to a yacht? The GP meant that it's a business people get into because it's their passion, and it is a lot of people's passion when compared against the market for it. I'd say a comparison against "glamourous" creative industries like acting and journalism is more apt -- good profit to the ones people remember the names of, and cutthroat for the 90% fighting over the rest of the market. > Restaurants have always been run on razor thin margins, but the piece makes a compelling case that it's tipped beyond that. Maybe it's an echo-chamber thing, but a large fraction of my friends in SF rarely/never cook dinner. Almost none bring their lunch to work. We don't have a shortage of places to buy prepared food. The cost of eating out will probably scale closely with the cost of running a restaurant. Demand is solid (though not entirely inelastic.) Profits will always be thinner than in other industries. Lower rents would help, but there would probably also be negative second-order effects of lower meal prices. And positive third-order effects of increased demand because of price elasticity...

ascar 8y ago

I don't think maximizing hourly rate is the general overall trend. Sure it describes the small ambitious part of society, but I would argue the majority of workers (not society, because less than 50% of the society works), just strive for decent work conditions and adequate pay.

flaque 8y ago

> Running a restaurant is generally a very poor means of making a living as the author repeatedly points out. This is a really awful way of reading this article. I like restaurants. I like good food. I can buy into the argument that the cost of living is making it really hard for me to get good restaurants.

m0zg 8y ago
What you're saying does not contradict what the parent said, though. Running a restaurant is a hard slog anywhere. Prices have been going up, people have been eating out less. Seems like these trends are merely a bit exaggerated in SF.

jancsika 8y ago

yesenadam 8y ago

>"The situation in this industry has created a mercenary frenzy where everyone is running around trying to maximize what they’re able to make per hour." That describes the general trend in human behavior worldwide for the past six thousand or so years. This seems like such a foundational truth that I question if the author is writing it in good faith. It's hard to respond to that, as it's not clear to me at all what you're claiming. What's the 'general trend'? Towards everyone running around in a money-making frenzy? Perhaps it's extremely metaphorical and nothing of the kind is meant. Just that people are..constantly trying to increase their incomes. Or something. What is the 'foundational truth' - that there's a general trend towards that frenzy? ..So after 6,000 years, we've reached that state, or are close to it? What you said sounds like something I want to criticize, but I'm not at all clear what that was. All I can say is, it sounds like you're in the USA, talking like that. One of the parts of the USA that's particularly like that. The whole world is not like that.

jakelazaroff 8y ago