MidwestLandlord
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- Dec 6, 2016
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One of the most successful fast food restaurants is In-N-Out with just fries and three different burgers on the menu. People want quality not quantity. There's minor details such as windows instead of a wall at the drive thru line so that people know it's fresh. Most restaurants die because of low revenue per sqft. Costs rarely have anything to do with restaurants dying.
Actually, windows into the kitchen is the exact opposite of current thinking in franchise restaurant chains, as it as been proven time and time again to reduce sales. People say they want to see that, but in reality they don't, because the kitchen will never be up to standards regardless of how tight a ship you run.
Costs rarely have anything to do with restaurants dying? Are you for real?
Ever have your vendor tell you your cheese slices are going from 5cents a piece to $1 EACH??
Ever have your competitor get desperate for employee's, and beat your starting wage by $5 an HOUR??
Ever have your bread vendor double your rates, without corporate franchise approval, and then get slapped with a $5,000 fine from your franchiser for buying bread outside of approved vendors...even though you could no longer get bread from the approved vendor because corporate was suing them??
People want quality, not quantity? Actually, in the fast food biz, they want acceptable quality AND large quantity. It is not an either or, and the quality only has to be high enough to not turn people off.
Oh, and restaurants typically measure revenue as "dollars per labor hour" NOT off square footage. (only academics with no actual restaurant experience do that)
Source: I actually owned multiple restaurants. Was a consultant for one of the worlds largest restaurant chains. Ran a 10 state region for another large restaurant chain.
OP,
Restaurants are a BITCH to get right. Even with the backing of formal processes and systems from a franchise they are difficult, I can't imagine doing it without that, or any experience at all.
For example, having too many seats in a dining room can drastically reduce sales, which is counter-intuitive, but how would someone know something like that without experience?
Sounds like you gave it your all though...bravo. Also sounds like you learned where you went wrong, which will help with future projects.
Hopefully the debt isn't too bad.
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