I think the number one sign is that something that was previously good enough to get you to return loses expensive ingredients, or the portion sizes dramatically shrink, or the place starts nickle and diming to death. It has never failed in my experience that such a place closes up within a month or two.
Most recently there was a middle eastern place that had a pricey but really good greek salad with good portion size, good amount of black olives and feta cheese with baby spinach and chickpeas. Also delicious hummus and a good portion size.
On my most recent return the salad was missing feta, olives, and chickpeas and was iceberg lettuce with tomatos and onions and cucumbers also a smaller portion.
And the hummus was a smaller portion and tasted horrible, like they didn’t put in the tahini or used peanut butter or something. When questioned they said that is just how they make it and always have. I expect them to be closed down within a month.
My husband and I used to go to a place called Steak & Ale. The last time we were there I joked that things must be bad because the big bowl of crumbled blue cheese was missing from the salad bar, replaced by runny bottled (jarred) blue cheese dressing.
A week later a news story that a holding group that owned Steak & Ale and Bennigan’s and some others was bankrupt and closing all their restaurants.
I can’t imagine owning a restaurant. It must be unbelievably stressful to have to stock a kitchen as if the place will be full, and when it’s not watch the food goes to waste. It’s like throwing away money. If enough people don’t come in you have to cut costs, which in turn causes you to lose customers. I’m giving myself heartburn just thinking about it.
Food orders are based on expectation of customers but also based on last week’s customers. Unless the drop off is very quick, usually you just order a bit less each week. You start to worry if food and labor start to reach the point where you just break even with no profit. Some restaurants can’t sustain a drop off of customers for very long at all. You can’t cut fixed costs so staff goes first, followed by cutting hours if few customers are showing up in the late hours. I always think it is pointless to cut food quality as by then it is much too late to save the place and cutting quality always speeds up the demise. Its better to revamp completely or look for a buyer.
The problems come in when the business is looked upon as a family venture and all their marbles are tied up in it. I want to satisfy customers but I look at it strictly as a business nothing personal.
I once worked at a restaurant and the owners would always be driving themselves to distraction worrying they would go out of business.
I would think the stress of worrying would be much more dangerous (and unhealthy) than actually going out of business.
These people worked round the clock thinking of new ways to promote their business. Every month they would come up with some new idea to attract new business. I can remember seeing the man’s hair going gray. It was all real, real sad.
The worst part was that the food was real good and so when they did finally go out of business, it was just real sad all over.
I’ve noticed if a place has a coupon in the “Entertainment” book, its probably long since gone.
Those bastards keep sending them to me, and about half of the places featured are out of business. I had to cancel the credit card those bastards had on file to get them to stop sending them.
So, if its in that book, its either dead or dying!
You know, intuition tells me that you’re on to something there, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. But you’re right. What’s the connection?
Hours cut, or specifically they stop being open for lunch or on a specific day. I’m so worried about my favorite Japanese place - now they’re not open on Mondays.
It’s funny you should say that. There’s a Mexican restaurant near my office, and I eat there maybe once or twice a month with a co-worker. Recently they’ve started charging for things that used to be part of the meal, and they’ve been getting stingy with the cheese. It’s a catch-22 for them, because they save money feeding the customers they have, but then those customers stop coming, so they have fewer customers, so they tighten their belts a little more, losing more customers. Circling the drain.
That isn’t the case in Australia. The Entertainment Books sold here are an absolute bargain and include many restaurants that as far as I can figure have no need to offer discounts at all. I get one every year and save a fortune with them.
I feel obligated to buy one of those Entertainment Books from my kids every year. In 10 years of buying them, I haven’t noticed many closures for the businesses advertising there. It is possible I just wouldn’t be intrigued by the ones that do close, though. I don’t use them to try out new places. I use them to save on places that we generally “have” to go to every so often already. Like, “wow the place that charges $60/hr for bowling has this coupon for free shoes” or the pizza place has a BOGO, or whatever. I’ve seen coupons for like a free entree at the restaurant built into the Holiday Inn or the random Mexican restaurant by the abortion clinic, but I’ve never been tempted to use them. So, they might close down and I don’t notice.
Frequent menu changes to old reliable standards as a cost cutting measure. Your previously hand battered cod fish and chips now are obviously purchased pre-battered and frozen. The roast beef for your hot beef sandwich used to be roasted in house and sliced per order but is now also obviously purchased from a food service company. Your butterfly shrimp is exactly the same as the stuff you bought at Costco and have in the freezer at home. When you see this happening to a favorite spot, it is in trouble.
Little bullshit charges that used to not exist and that will not amount to a hill of beans as far as saving the business goes. An extra charge for to-go orders or a 50 cent charge for the doggie bag box for the remainder of your meal.
And as already noted, curtailing of employee hours. One local Mexican food joint folded up a few years ago after they decided that there were so few people in the bar midday, that the cook could just come out every so often and serve the customers. Well, a person who comes in to a place in the middle of the day for a drink wants to talk to someone, that is what bartenders are for. After a bit of this the local guys who used to come in during the day all went across the street to talk to the actual live bartender and the place soon folded. They did not realize the extent that the bar was helping to carry the business. I live in an area with great tourism during the summer and you will not make it through the winter without the loyalty of your constant, local customers. If they leave you will sink.
One thing I see contributing to these constant changes in a few bar/restaurants in my own little town is a tendency to over manage now that systems can provide a manager with so much more information. The Bar Rescue and Restaurant Impossible shows on TV always include as part of the very first advice to overhaul the business, is to install POS (point of sale) machines. These connect the ordering with the kitchen, with the inventory, and provide a lot of information that can be used to help manage your costs. What is being bought on Tuesdays but not Thursdays, shit like that gets over thought.
And you should use some of it. But you should not obsess over all the data. Food service is a service, an art, and a business. The POS machines have made some places think that your restaurant is also a science and math problem. I have seen this drive some really anti-productive decisions for those new to the technology.
I have no idea how it works except that some of the proceeds go to charity, however there are about 300 cafes and restaurants in the book that I have as well as fast food places and hundreds of arts, sports, attractions and shopping discounts. As I say I save a lot of money each year and don’t go out of my way to use the vouchers. Even organizations like the Australian Ballet, the Sydney Theatre Company, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and all the Sydney museums have two for one offers.
So it’s hard to believe all of the hundreds of businesses included are stupid.
Well I was thinking about it and in many cases it’s probably just considered advertising or helping out the charity involved, not that they "need"to give discounts.
