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The article correctly calls out the long hours (and weekends) worked by many restaurant owners, many of whom prefer their offspring get well-paid office jobs an

The article correctly calls out the long hours (and weekends) worked by many restaurant owners, many of whom prefer their offspring get well-paid office jobs and avoid the life the parents had to live to make the restaurant business work. However, I would like to posit that there are a couple of other points that make it impossible to operate a profitable restaurant today, especially in large cities: (a) ridiculously high rents (b) increased regulation.

farrarstan 7y ago
Dude don’t posit something obviously wrong wtf
Pfhreak 7y ago
It's impossible to operate a profitable restaurant? I mean, that's obviously false. But let's say you meant difficult rather than impossible. Rising rents make things more expensive for sure, but regulation? Which regulation? I worked in a restaurant for years and I can't think of a regulation I had to deal with that wasn't about food safety and employee protections...
- unishark 7y ago
  It's not obviously false. If an old first-generation immigrant running a hole-in-the-wall downtown somewhere cannot attract the number of people at the prices they need them to pay in order to cover the bills, their business folds and there's nothing they can do about it. Maybe you can call on your buddies to front you a few million to make the necessary upgrades to stay competitive as downtown gentrifies, but not everyone can.
  - Pfhreak 7y ago
    > there are a couple of other points that make it impossible to operate a profitable restaurant today, This says there are zero profitable restaurants today, which, yes, is obviously false. I can think of several restaurants that do, in fact, turn a profit.
jws 7y ago
Long hours: for 15 years I have frequented the same tiny strip center Chinese restaurant. No matter the time of day, lunch to just before 10pm, any day of the week, the same lady has been there working. That’s hundreds of samples with a 100% hit rate. It appears to be an 80 hour a week job without time off. The cooks may be the same, I don’t get a good look at them, but she runs the front of the store and takes my order.

farrarstan 7y ago

Dude don’t posit something obviously wrong wtf

Pfhreak 7y ago

It's impossible to operate a profitable restaurant? I mean, that's obviously false. But let's say you meant difficult rather than impossible. Rising rents make things more expensive for sure, but regulation? Which regulation? I worked in a restaurant for years and I can't think of a regulation I had to deal with that wasn't about food safety and employee protections...

unishark 7y ago
It's not obviously false. If an old first-generation immigrant running a hole-in-the-wall downtown somewhere cannot attract the number of people at the prices they need them to pay in order to cover the bills, their business folds and there's nothing they can do about it. Maybe you can call on your buddies to front you a few million to make the necessary upgrades to stay competitive as downtown gentrifies, but not everyone can.
- Pfhreak 7y ago
  > there are a couple of other points that make it impossible to operate a profitable restaurant today, This says there are zero profitable restaurants today, which, yes, is obviously false. I can think of several restaurants that do, in fact, turn a profit.

jws 7y ago

Long hours: for 15 years I have frequented the same tiny strip center Chinese restaurant. No matter the time of day, lunch to just before 10pm, any day of the week, the same lady has been there working. That’s hundreds of samples with a 100% hit rate. It appears to be an 80 hour a week job without time off. The cooks may be the same, I don’t get a good look at them, but she runs the front of the store and takes my order.