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Notice that amongst all the discussion of money and wages, one thing that is completely avoided is any thought of operating on a lower profit margin. All the ha
by joosters 13y ago
Notice that amongst all the discussion of money and wages, one thing that is completely avoided is any thought of operating on a lower profit margin. All the hand-wringing about poorly paid staff, but never once any thought about taking less money for himself to aid their plight!
- jessaustin 13y agoMost restaurants operate on exceedingly thin margins, especially compared to the sorts of businesses HN people run.
- milesskorpen 13y agoDid you read the top of the article? He opened with a section about how hard it is to actually reduce profit because many/most places don't have any! I agree that in many industries, this is an option, but I don't think most restaurant owners are rolling in cash.
- joosters 13y agoHe doesn't go into much detail about his quoted 4% margin. Is this the average including all unprofitable restaurants? If so, then they will drag down the average of all the others, and there's no point worrying about the wage structure of a restaurant that is doomed to go out of business as it is losing money. If we sampled just the restaurants who were viable, profitable concerns, or simply those that had been around longer than (say) a year, you'd find that the average profit margin would be much higher.
- maaku 13y agoWhat margin? Restaurants are barely profitable, if they are at all.