Gerry said (May 23, 2019):

Guess what popped up in the local newspaper, The Province, but a story headlined, ‘It’s been a pleasure’ Jamie Oliver’s bankrupt restaurant empire marinated in red ink.

LOL, not even celebrities can catch a break and why any celebrity would want to open a restaurant is beyond me. Jamie however, won’t be suffering with apparently a 400 - million fortune?

And as much as I understand his bankruptcy I’m still trying to get over the news in same paper of rents for a 2 bedroom apartment going for 3000 dollars a month here in Vancouver? Tell me really who can afford such and imagine this isn’t commercial? This whole sticking shite is going to collapse and sooner than anyone realizes!

David C said (May 22, 2019):

I moved to Portland (OR) to attend the Western Culinary Institute, because I always loved cooking, and thought it would be a good career for me.

After I got a job working in a resteraunt for awhile, however, that changed my mind. Cooking for other people, using set recipes, took all the fun out of it, plus it's hard work. Executive chefs at expensive restaurants make good money, but they also work their butts off, and those jobs are very difficult to get.

I rarely eat out anymore, but prefer an open kitchen when I do. It's fun watching the food get prepared, and you can appreciate how hard they work. We have many "pod" food businesses now, clusters of food pods, which offer a variety of options, which seems to be a phenomena in most large cities.

Unfortunately the food usually isn't very good, but usually not bad either. I like restaurants that offer recipes I don't usually cook myself, and we have plenty of variety here in Portland, possibly the highest proportion of restaurants per capita. Then too we have some food businesses that are thriving, for reasons I can't fathom. "Voodoo Donuts" (supposedly owned by pedophiles) often has huge lines outside, like it's a social scene to wait in line for designer donuts here now - wtf?

I enjoy cooking for my dog now, who eats the same food as me, except he gets some meat I wouldn't eat, and raw bones. Cooking for your dog or cat is actually less expensive, and much healthier for them, plus it saves on vet bills. I've developed a repetroir of doggie dishes, approved by Renji-sama, my faithful service dog, spirit guide, guardian angel, and doggie jitsu master. I'm considering making a website specializing in cooking for dogs and cats, because the food in pet stores is getting VERY expensive, and it's mostly low-quality food. Our beloved fur babies deserve to eat the same quality food as their service humans eat. Food is the most important medicine! "Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food" ~ Hippocrates (father of holistic medicine).

Paul said (May 22, 2019):

The main reason I don't go to restaurants is that as a minimum-wage earner, I'm not going to tip a server (and there goes my refills). So I go to the counters such as Subway, Tim Horton's, McDonalds, etc. I hate it though because I'm supporting big companies that get massive tax breaks but I can trust the portions and the hours and most of those that work in chain restaurants get benefits that match other corporate places. I honestly don't know how independent restaurants do it but the following are reasons that people do get into the restaurant business:

1) In owning one's own business there are tax breaks people can take advantage of.

2) One can be creative on many different levels.

3) The compliments one can receive for good service and presentation can be rewarding.

4) If they cater to the niche they themselves are a part of, the owners now are surrounded by a group of friends.

5) On the off-chance something clicks, millions might be made.

That said, restaurants are hellholes and only the insane last but are often lifelong addicts of one kind or another.

When I was young I worked in restaurants because they reinforced my view that life was totally out of control. Now I avoid working in them or giving them my money.

Chad said (May 22, 2019):

I would definitely eat out more, if more restaurants had organic and non-GMO selections. That’s unfortunately, unfeasible for most establishments, given the cost of these foods.

John said (April 6, 2018):

Been eating at particular restaurant for more than 17 years plus in South Bay and surrounded by four hotels they have always been busy for breakfast and lunch meals. Have seen plenty of waitresses come and go. They even have another restaurant just north several miles with same the menu. The problem with Diner's is they have the same thing repeatedly as pointed out in this article. I particularly target restaurant for one or two items on the menu and that is it and do the same for the rest of eateries that are visited. In the end you have to eat somewhere beside at home. Occasionally, food poisoning issues occur. It is thankless job at times but someone has to do.

Robert K said (April 5, 2018):

Overall only one in ten businesses survive ten years. They are fighting an economic environment designed by puritanical economists according to the principle that economics is the study of “the use of scarce resources”. And the primary resource in short supply is non-debt money—a situation that drives people into the thrall of banker-created debt.

Imagine the waste involved in the effort to build viable businesses in an inherently adverse financial environment. Sisyphus would understand!

M said (April 5, 2018):

This is why Chinese restaurants employ their entire family and keep slaves (either other Asians or illegal Mexicans) in the kitchens and pay off health inspectors. They grew up in a communist county and know how the corrupt 'system' works.

It's the same in the USA and "Immigration" or whatever they call them now usually turn a blind eye due to kickbacks. It's almost impossible for an independent restauranteur to "play by the rules" and survive. If you don't bribe the health inspector and every other government leech, you won't last long.

Duane said (April 5, 2018):

The only thing MORE dumb than opening a restaurant is FREQUENTING them....

JG said (April 5, 2018):

Resteraunts today have fallen victim to the new two-tier economy. We have the millionaires and billionaires, and then we have everybody else who is living week to week.
Bars are also taking a big hit. The days of the average young man working hard all week and then going out to the bar on the weekend to meet some women or blow off some steam are fading fast. Joe Six Pack went broke also.

My grandfather who was a combat WW1 veteran who had a restaurant during the depression. He was stunned one day when an out of work lawyer applied for a job as a dishwasher at his diner.

We're not too far away from a total crash of the economy we once knew. Marxist economics is like a game of monopoly. Sooner or later one man and his multiple holdings winds up with all the money.

Patrick N said (April 5, 2018):

I always loved this article and its comments because it reminds me of the b.s. about "reaching for the stars" and "being anything that you want to be" that we're fed from our youth. They will usually cite a handful of successful examples of overcoming the odds (the beneficiaries usually being predetermined or guided dupes) while never mentioning the countless sincere all-in attempts that ultimately end up in failure.

It reminds me that what we're taught it means to be successful in this world is not worth pursuing.

Derek V said (April 17, 2015):

have often pondered the explosion of sushi restaurants on every street corner many of which look desolate. An explanation that somebody served to me was that as part of the provincial nominee program would be permanent resident seekers with money can agree to "invest" in local business which often translates into opening a sushi restaurant and keeping it running for the required time period. The success of the establishment isn't the main objective.

Adrian said (April 16, 2015):

What you describe can be summarized as:don't open a restaurant in a "developed" nation where taxes and government meddling ruin any hope of self determination. As evidence, just take a look in Asia: Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. There, TOTAL taxes are around the 25% mark and oppressive meddling not yet arrived. Result: 20 times more successful restaurants than in "developed" nations. Often the cooking is "right in front of your eyes", so there are no worries about quality.

Joe said (April 15, 2015):

Like so many other Americans my first job as a young teenager was in a restaurant (a pizzeria in the small town I grew up in). I loved it - made a little money, kept busy, responsibilities, etc., but I quickly realized the pros and cons of owning a restaurant. Realizing the cons had greater weight; the seed was planted to never purse that idea. The owners were burnt out after several years and no matter what they could not control who would come through the doors. Memories I wouldn't change.

Fast forward twenty years to present day and I abhor eating out in restaurants. Why? The entire setting is phony. Your waiter/waitress is rushed to seat you, they spill out the same speech introducing themselves and how they will take care of you (by this point I'm usually ready to leave). They next throw menus in front of you and want to take your order within 1 minute! Your meal comes later and maybe it's good or maybe it's not. Maybe it's warm or maybe it's not. When you're close to finishing the meal the waiter/waitress brings the bill (because in their mind they're done with you) and you're expected to pay (and leave a tip) and get the hell out of there! And did I mention the food is mostly not healthy?

What I described above is the typical American restaurant. It's not meant to be enjoyable. It's not meant to be relaxing. They want you in and they want you out - nothing more.

I've been very lucky in life as I have been to Europe and other foreign places many times and I have experienced real restaurants (even small pizzerias) and real service. If you want to stay and drink and enjoy life you do. No worries. Nobody is pushing you out the door. A very different point of view that what we have in America.

Good luck to all people who want to open a restaurant. But don't count on me eating there - I've already been boycotting you for years.

Tony B said (April 15, 2015):

Wow! I've lived too long. Have done too many different things in my life. One of those things was managing the soda fountain of a restaurant when I was 17. But before I turned 18 I was, by default of others, made the night short order cook and then the chef. I learned on the job in the days when restaurants had stock pots, ovens and hot tables instead of everything coming out of five gallon buckets (mostly full of soy beans with a little flavor added) as they are today. We used real food and prepared it. We even made our own fries in those days and all deep fries also used real food - lard; not unhealthy soy bean oil.

Some of the things I learned:

1. You are married to a restaurant job. But you hate your spouse.

2. As a man who had a radio show on making money (forget his name) periodically mentioned, most people who want a restaurant are thinking of manning the cash register, greeting customers and taking money. His advice to them (the great majority asking about this business were school teachers) was to take a job as a dish washer and learn the business, then see if they still wanted to do it. This made most of those inquirers irate but he knew whereof he spoke.

3. You do not "manage" a restaurant from a distance or you will be broke almost instantly. Much more food will walk out the back door than will be sold to customers.

4. You will be giving up most all the holidays that your family wants you to celebrate at home.

5. Some customers will use you as a foil to show off to others how much better they can prepare food by sending it back for redoing when it is fine.

6. You will be called in on your day off anytime someone else doesn't show up because you are trained for that particular restaurant while strangers would be lost.

7. No matter how much better than your customers you understand good food you had better give them what they are used to or you will be running a mausoleum in no time.

The list could go on and on. Not the happiest way to make a living.

SS said (April 15, 2015):

Allow me to make some observations about buffet clientele. Of course the vast majority are white Americans. Of the obese, women are the majority.

I see more fat women and skinnier husbands than I care to. Of course there are obese men, but far fewer than women, at least in the buffets I attend. Needless to say, some people have lost control. Moving on to the overweight division, women lead that class too.

I believe it is in large part due to the entitlement demographic, basically doing nothing but sitting around waiting for the next stipend.

Besides gaining weight, Americans are cheap. Most leave no tip. Many waste food, some shamefully a lot. Water is the new restaurant beverage. Why? Because it's free. I hope the restaurant industry starts charging for water. You can't go into a convenience store and get it for free except in the bathroom sink, how nice.

And last but not least, on Sunday, all my Christian brethren gather to extoll the virtues they've learned in fellowship at church in one final demonstration of breaking bread at the Chinese buffet by eating like pigs, wasting food and leaving virtually no tip or worst yet dropping pocket change, at least here in Missouri. I am ashamed.

But, just another day in Paradise, Henry.