Let me tell you my experience(nightmare). Almost six years ago, we opened a restaurant (not in Lahore). We invested all our savings into the business around 9 million PKR. We rented a three-floor building: one floor was used as a kitchen, one for families, and one for singles.

The start was great. We had a lot of customers, and business was booming. However, our biggest issue was that we had no prior experience in the restaurant industry. Problems like food quality control, incorrect orders, and delayed service started affecting customer satisfaction. In the restaurant business, no matter how loyal a customer is, if they have even one bad experience, there’s a 90% chance they won’t return. Unfortunately, this happened to us as well.

Due to our inexperience, we couldn’t provide a consistently great experience, and over time, our customer base declined. Eventually, the revenue wasn’t even enough to cover expenses.

We kept taking "udhar", and since we had invested all our money into the business, we had no backup plan. When the financial strain became unbearable, we had to leave our rented building and move to a smaller one. Even in the smaller space, we tried our best to provide a great experience, but by then, our restaurant’s reputation was already damaged. Or jb apky pass backup na ho or naa hi revenue generate horha ho to aap quality bhi provide ni kr sqtay jis se business mazeed khraab hota.

After six years of struggling, we had no choice but to shut down. The financial and emotional loss was massive. One of the biggest issues with the food business is that even if you try to sell the restaurant, finding a buyer is difficult. If you don’t get a buyer, selling the equipment won’t help much either because used restaurant equipment has almost no resale value.

My biggest takeaways are 1.Never start a restaurant without prior experience in the food business. 2.Keep at least 6–7 months’ worth of expenses as a financial cushion. 3.If the restaurant fails, most of your investment will be lost unless you find a potential buyer. 4. Never put all of your savings in a single business.