Restaurants A dying industry

[FlickerOfLight]

I've had this on my mind for a while, so I'm just going to treat this like a campfire circle and just get this off my chest. With all the craziness and conspiracy going on I just want to shift gears for a minute with this thought. 

The restaurant business was something I came into at about 20 years old. I served at first for about 5 years. Did a little bartending for a bit then switched over to the kitchen and cooked for another 7 years or so. I was pretty good at all of it, and fell in love with food along the way, as well as the business itself. I reached the level of fine dining and worked in some high end-well reputable places. I spent almost 13 years in restaurants, and honestly I enjoyed every bit of it. The chaos, excitement, stress and success of it was a thrill that got ingrained into me. But as I got older and my son started school I chose to step away and get a 9 to 5 gig with weekends off. I found other jobs I enjoyed, but none like I enjoyed those years in those restaurants bars and grills; and none that I was as good at. That industry just came naturally to me. I actually did enjoy my job back then. I left the industry back in 2007.

Fast forward to today, and the state of the restaurant industry, as well as the food and farming battles we are going through. The restaurant industry has taken a massive hit and is teetering on the edge of going under in a big way.

Things like $20 happy meals isn't going to help matters much, as well as the difference in attitude towards the business these days. 

I recently had to take a cook job at a sports bar and grill. This was a huge coyote ugly type of place. They had events like corn hole tournaments, billiard tournaments, karaoke night and live bands. They had every matter of bar game you could think of. This place had a huge out door patio area with a tiki bar in the back. We'd have bikini bike wash days, or seafood boils. This place had it all and was the coolest bar I had ever worked in. We did have some fun in there. The change was so obvious though. 

There were many things I noticed after being away from the business for so long. One was the work ethic, or attitude towards the job. I won't get into that, but I noticed the lack of business as well. This is a place that should have been jumping, but the business just wasn't there, post covid. This was a major bummer to me, as I've seen so many places like this going down like a sinking ship. It's just getting harder and harder as costs go up to keep these places in operation. I'm writing this because this is something that actually weighs pretty heavy on my heart. 

I had even noticed how social media played a role in the totally different attitude towards the job and environment. It certainly over complicated things within the "house" and family feeling restaurants used to be notorious for. 

It's sad to watch this happen to a once fun and vibrant industry. Pretty soon the robots will take over and it will become a full blown lifeless industry. 

It's a shame to watch this go down, along with so many other industries like it.

But we march on to a new day. Change is inevitable, but some changes are hard to watch. Restaurants not only paid the bills but brought me friendships, and many years of work I loved.

Thanks for letting me get that out, rogues. Hope everyone has a good day.

[GeauxHomeLittleD]

The restaurant business has been going downhill for a long time, even long before covid. Exactly 10 years ago I found myself back in the restaurant business after several years of doing other things as a way to save up a decent amount of cash in a hurry, something that was once very easy to do if you were good at your job. Even then I saw the difference in attitudes. Everyone from management down to dish washers spent more time playing on their phones than doing their jobs. Employees were more interested in hooking up with other employees than serving customers. The customers for the most part have become entitled assholes, each feeling they should take priority over all of the other entitled assholes and most don't tip worth a damn- and the ones with kids just let them run wild.

I found myself constantly having to not only wait my own tables but the surrounding tables because their servers disappeared after taking initial orders, too busy with their phones or trying to "hook up"- even the married ones. Several times I had to jump in and become an impromptu dishwasher after we completely ran out of clean dishes, etc. because dishwashers all decided to take hour long breaks at the same time and the kitchen manager too busy playing on his phone to care (we are talking about a huge, busy restaurant in a large city). Nobody does their side work, hostesses don't seat customers in the different sections equally, management hides out in a locked office, cooks are all illegals and refuse to speak english (and talk nasty shit to employees they assume don't speak spanish).... I could go on for days and days.

I only stayed long enough to save what money I needed and gave notice. Manager begged me to stay and when I couldn't be convinced offered to re-hire me if I ever wanted to come back. After waiting on a party of nearly 40 people completely alone (all with separate checks, that's how they got away with tip not being added automatically) for over 3 hours and only getting a $20 tip in the end I assured her that I would definitely never work in a restaurant again. For many years restaurant work was my chosen profession, these days I'd rather be waist deep in a septic tank!

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

There were many things I noticed after being away from the business for so long. One was the work ethic, or attitude towards the job. I won't get into that, but I noticed the lack of business as well.
Thanks for letting me get that out, rogues. Hope everyone has a good day.

It is not just the work ethic. It is more so their overall attitude.

People no longer respect others. So many are rude, uncouth, hostile and aggressive. Complete lovers of themselves.

I don't eat out very often. I don't like paying for something that I can make at home for one tenth the price, and I don't trust people I don't know with my food.

I especially don't trust fast food. I don't trust the food, and anyone that touches it, or has anything to do with it on the way to my purchasing it. I know it sounds weird. I have other idiosyncrasies that are weirder.

I am staying away from the booze or I might be tempted to share them.

[EndtheMadnessNow]

After the Corona fiasco is when the restaurant business really tanked, at least around my area. However, as previously mentioned above the 4 & even 5-star restaurants started going downhill, well before Covid hit our shores not to mention absurd skyrocket prices and as you said the overall attitude on service has descended to rock bottom. Least from my perspective. The chain & fast food restaurants I avoid like the plague...not just the food itself I do not trust, but also their employees. I use to be a frequent patron of sports bars; not anymore.

My brother did a stint at the Culinary Institute of America in NYC so I use him for advice on where to go, what to eat and what to avoid.

I either eat out or do take-out every Friday. That's been routine for past 8 years. However, I restrict myself to the private/family owned eateries and not any of the chains. That includes pizza take-out too. Those too are becoming fewer & fewer. Around my area these privately owned restaurants are only open 3-4 days a week and some now only do dinner while others have permanently closed their doors because after Covid they weren't able to find good help even after raising their wages. Sad times.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

I either eat out or do take-out every Friday. That's been routine for past 8 years. However, I restrict myself to the private/family owned eateries and not any of the chains. That includes pizza take-out too. Those too are becoming fewer & fewer. Around my area these privately owned restaurants are only open 3-4 days a week and some now only do dinner while others have permanently closed their doors because after Covid they weren't able to find good help even after raising their wages. Sad times.

I only buy from local Mom and Pop eateries or from those owned by folk I trust. The problem I see locally, is that they are bringing in way too many new residents, and they are bringing in way too many commercial businesses to our backwoods country area. Unless the new folk will be financially strong enough to support all the new businesses, we are going to have a lot of empty shops or ghost malls around, helping the new development to go to seed really fast.

[F2d5thCav]

Flicker, you ought to come to Europe and work the restaurants there.

I just got back from Portugal.  The food was awesome and the service was very correct.  Had at times Iberian pork or grilled sea bream ... food to die for.  And the restaurants had no shortage of clients.

Cheers

[Ninurta]

The son we have staying with us here works in the restaurant industry. That's been his job of choice for many years now. He works in a pizza joint in another state, and has to drive an hour and a half each way to get there and back.

He applied for several places closer to home, but out of all the applications he got only one bite. They're just not hiring around here. I chalk that up to Virginia raising it's minimum wage to 12.50 an hour - they just can't afford to hire staff at those rates. They've had to raise prices to cover the shortfall resulting from wage outlay and increased stocking prices, and can't afford to increase the wage outlay even at that. The one place he could find to work locally capped him off at 15 hours a week due to the wage increase, and he couldn't afford to work for that, so back to Kentucky he went.

Regarding the work ethic, he's now a manager there, and has the same complaints I had when I was a manager in a non-restaurant industry. Kids these day just aren't interested in working for their pay, and seem to think they are owed a paycheck for simply showing up... or even not showing up, as the case often is. With workers like that, service is sub-standard unless you can put the fear of God into them and get them motivated to lay their fucking phones down and get on to doing their damn jobs. Service like that will cost customers, and exacerbate the problems caused by increased wages.

His restaurant does about 1600 to 2000 dollars an evening, and the one across town - same chain, same pricing - only does half or less than that, usually around 600 bucks a night, barely enough to pay the bills and keep the doors open. I expect it will go belly-up before long.

Lately, I've had a craving flung on me for fish and chips. There used to be a fish and chip chain in America called "Arthur Treacher's", so I went to research where the nearest location to me was. Turns out the nearest location is now in the Cleveland-Akron Ohio area, roughly 480 miles away. The chain used to have about 820 locations nation-wide, but no more. Now they are down to 2 original locations, both in the northeast Ohio corridor, and one attempt at revival by another chain trying to sell Arthur Treacher products in addition to their usual fare, somewhere in New Jersey which only recently opened. I've still got the craving, but it's not a "hell yeah, let me drive 480 miles to satisfy it!" craving.

I wonder if Door Dash would air drop an order from Bell's Fish and Chips in England for me? I've kinda got my doubts about that...

Arthur Treacher's went belly-up in the early 80's, so can't really be blamed on this current crisis. It was founded in 1969 in Columbus, Ohio. Dave Thomas, of Wendy's fame, was in on the ground floor of it. By the nid-70's they had 820 or so locations nation-wide. In 1979, "Mrs. Paul's" frozen seafood brand bought out the Arthur Treacher's franchise. During those times, there was unrest in Poland (Solidarnosc movement) which peripherally affected their business. Mrs. Paul's made a disastrous decision - they insisted that Arthur Treacher's source their fish ONLY from Mrs' Paul's and further, insisted that instead of the more expensive Icelandic Cod fillets, Treacher's start using Mrs. Paul's less expensive Alaskan Pollock fillets. Quality went down, and the franchisees rebelled... but too late. Combined with the Polish fishing fleet no longer able to supply the required amounts of fish due to Solidarnosc problems, Treacher's got stuck with the lower quality Alaskan Pollock, and folks stopped buying there.

Within 2 years, the franchise locations had been cut in half, to under 400 joints. The decline continued, right to the current day, with only two locations remaining open and a third experimental outlet recently being opened.

So, in addition to labor woes, at least some restaurants are getting it stuck to them by piss-poor management and supply chain woes, and with the price increases, they are seeing less traffic in part down to lowered service expectations.

Frankly, I'm amazed that any of them can remain open in this day and age.

We've had a lot of mom-and-pop shops close down here during and in the aftermath of covid, adding to their woes. "The Rainbow", which used to be a meeting spot for dinner meetings and drawing clientele  from far and wide had to close during the scamdemic, and has never re-opened, for example... and it was a pretty popular place. Quite a number of other mom-and-pop shops locally suffered the same fate, and the ones who are left are struggling mightily to stay afloat because of all the challenges being thrown at them in the modern day.

Before much longer, I fear that if you want someone else to do your cooking, you'll either have to get married, hire a maid, or wait for a local pot-luck to happen, as the restaurants will either all be gone, or the remaining ones so far away that you'd starve driving to them.

.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

Before much longer, I fear that if you want someone else to do your cooking, you'll either have to get married, hire a maid, or wait for a local pot-luck to happen, as the restaurants will either all be gone, or the remaining ones so far away that you'd starve driving to them.
.

Much the way it was when I was young.

Seems much like we are indeed going backwards.

Not that everything about that would be bad. How does that adage go, "Every day may not be good, but thee is something good in every day"?

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

See why I I don't trust the food industry.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/indian-comp...rcna144082

[GeauxHomeLittleD]

See why I I don't trust the food industry.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/indian-comp...rcna144082

One thing I learned working in the meat, dairy and frozen departments at Walmart- NEVER buy the raw, frozen seafood! All of it is imported from China and India and they do not have near the oversight they have in the US. They raise the fish, shrimp, lobster and crawfish in artificial ponds and for all we know they are feeding them human and animal feces- in fact I'm fairly sure of it!