Posted on 03/19/2020 5:17:21 PM PDT by david1292
Independent restaurateur Tim Love, who lives in Fort Worth and owns 14 restaurants that employ 540 people, says he and his fellow restaurateurs never could have planned for a global pandemic that would force consumers to stay home for weeks.
“It’s worse than a tornado, it’s worse than a hurricane, it’s worse than a fire,” he says. “This is going to destroy everything that I’ve built.” Timing is bad, too: He opened three new restaurants in Houston less than a week ago.
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“Most restaurants average between 8% and 10% margins. That’s what they make. So do the math on that real quick: You’ve got 10% of a month to make it. If there are 30 days in a month, what’s 10% of 30? Three. So three days is how much cash people have, without any revenue.”
“Some people have double that, so call it six days. So a week," Love says. “That’s the norm, especially for mom-and-pops.”
Bradley Anderson — co-owner of Boulevardier, Veritas Wine Room, Rapscallion and Hillside Tavern in Dallas — agrees with Love. So does Ian Tate, executive chef at Lake House Bar and Grill near White Rock Lake in Dallas: Their restaurants can’t survive a crisis if profits are down for even one week.
“Most restaurants don’t have a cushion in the bank,” Anderson says. “It’s night to night.”
And, with the uncertainty of the coronavirus, Anderson says he’s “not confident there will be a solution.”
Love believes that half of Dallas-Fort Worth’s restaurants might close. The Texas Restaurant Association is predicting that 25% to 30% of independent restaurants will close if conditions continue.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
Profit is dirty word. I’m sure Bernie and Bloomberg, et al, can teach us how to run a socialist restaurant. Can’t see it being any harder than farming. You know, dig a hole, put in the seed and up pops the corn.
I feel very bad for people in the industry.
That being said, perhaps the general population should go back to cooking. It’s a fun skill, a healthy skill, a family skill, and you can save money by not eating in restaurants so often. I’m not saying “for the duration”. I’m saying people should live a life in which you can provide for yourself.
His math makes no sense.
It only matters if they are deep in debt.
If they are not operating, they have little or no labor costs, no food costs, little utility costs.
They might be renting, then they have to pay rent.
So they shut down, and reopen in a few months, at worst.
There is still the possibility of delivery and pickup, with greatly reduced staffs.
A lot of businesses will be hurt very badly, it is true.
They would only have three days cash if they spent all their money every month, keeping only one month's profits in cash.
There are many restaurants in the Yuma area which operate through the winter, and shut down for the summer.
If this stretches into the Summer,”
Way before summer. Large amounts of the economy just suddenly stopped.
What we’re doing now is absolutely insane. There is no catastrophic glut of deaths. We are literally setting fire to the economy and causing more pain with family hardships , suicides and murders will go up etc. insane!
I promise to beat it to Texas Roadhouse as soon as this panic subsides....hopefully soon....
Last week I predicted that this fiasco would last no more than two weeks before small business owners start openly defying any stupid shutdown orders.
There is still a demand......for curbside takeout.
One restaurant I patronize said they’re doing quite well switching to takeout.
It’s a breeze. You pull up.....the wait staff come out and take your order.
In no time, they bring out your food.
Today I drove around for the first time in about a week. It had the feel of the times when I had to work on Christmas Day. Little traffic, parking lots that were usually full were empty, plenty of on-street parking in front of places. I made great time to my destinations.
And then I stopped for a few items the grocery store. I was the person in those photos from other countries looking at bare shelves with a mix of dismay and wonder.
What are we doing?
Today I went to one of my favorite restaurants. They were still serving food - but only as a take out. I was happy to see the owner and he was happy to see me and others who had made the effort to get there. I hope his restaurant (and many others!) survive.
If they are not operating, then the employees are essentially laid off. They are not making money either. Millions of people are going to be out of work.
That’s a depression.
And it’s not going to be just a few months. You’ve got people already saying this is going to go on until they have a vaccine out in 1-2 years! When you “flatten the curve” you don’t end the pandemic, you actually prolong it.
We need a liberty movement now more than ever . Pansy Ohio governor Mike DeWine started all this
This is being exploited by so many to push multiple agendas and goals.
Deep State and globalists decided to let their media friends overhype this and spin everything negative on Trump, and tank the economy.
Hell it makes us venezuela a ,ot faster and easier if we all go along with it, you know, in the name of safety.
I am really pissed about the restaurants the numbers do not come close to such an extreme move.
https://www.nola.com/news/coronavirus/article_431af154-6966-11ea-9c18-b7269539f6aa.html
Massive layoffs at New Orleans restaurants days after coronavirus-caused closures
In Virginia we are picking up dinner out at our favorite resturants. I want them to be there after all this is over and it helps us maintain our own reserves.
Good luck taking on the health department. They will be sitting out their time in stir.
back to the future, drive in restaurants and movies!
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