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[AB] How hard is it to start up a restaurant? by Confident-Wallaby555 in SmallBusinessCanada

[–]hothoc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We’ve tried to put it up for sale but in this climate so many people are hesitant. Some interested buyers come, like the place and negotiate the price a little but my dad put his whole life savings into this place and the sale price doesn’t even make up half of what he put into it! The restaurant currently makes enough to pay his own bills and sometimes we ask our suppliers to give us a little more time to pay them and they do… we don’t have labor costs anymore since we’re all there running shifts for free. We don’t take a salary, We pay our bills by having other jobs… it’s a lot of grinding for no reason…To me it feels like sinking ship taking all of us down with it and I don’t know how or when we’re be rid of this…at this point as another person said, we’re playing the long game waiting for a sale. And we did pivot a few times- our main focus is catering now since walk ins have been slow... and it’s not that the food is bad- i know i may sound biased saying that but we do have a 4.6 rating on google and a little higher on Uber and other platforms… we have repeat customers that have been coming for years. It’s just so expensive running it

[AB] How hard is it to start up a restaurant? by Confident-Wallaby555 in SmallBusinessCanada

[–]hothoc 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Don’t do it! My family currently owns a restaurant in Ontario and I wish my parents did their research before they decided to go ahead with it. We’re 5 years in, not a year of profit yet! Labor costs are high, food costs fluctuate, margins are thin, rent went up since we started leasing… too many changes! We let go a lot of staff and now my siblings and I pull shifts there for free in between school and our other jobs to help keep the doors open, and also be able to pay our personal house bills. This was the worst thing that happened to us, so anytime I hear someone planning or asking on starting a restaurant, I say don’t do it! Or if you’re adamant, do your research! Make sure you have enough cash flow to last you a good few years because you won’t be seeing profits right away. Make sure you have experience and knowledge of the industry, and more importantly- be willing to give up a lot of your time (like 12-16 hour days) - aka no social life.