Restaurant Management and Operations

Long working hours are the norm in restaurants. Some people like this; others get burned out. Excessive fatigue can lead to general health problems and susceptibility to viral infections, such as colds and mononucleosis. Many restaurant operators have to work 70 hours or longer per week, too long for many people tooperate effectively. Long hours mean a lack of quality time with family, particularly when children are young and of school age. Restaurant owners have little time for thinking—an activity required to make the enterprise grow.

In working for others, managers have little job security. A shift of owners, for example, can mean discharge. Although restaurant owners can work as long as the restaurant is successful, they often put in so many hours that they begin to feel incarcerated. Family life can suffer. The divorce rate is high among restaurant managers for several reasons. Stress comes from both the long hours of work and the many variables presented by the restaurant, some beyond a manager’s control.

One big challenge for owners is the possibility of losing their investment and that of other investors, who may be friends or relatives. Too often, a restaurant failure endangers a family’s financial security because collateral, such as a home, is also lost. Potential restaurateurs must consider whether their personality, temperament, and abilities fit the restaurant business. They must also factor the economy into the equation. New restaurants are always opening, even in a failing economy. New restaurant owners can count on the fact that, even in a bad economy, people still have to eat, even if they go out less often and spend less when they do.

Consumers are carefully watching how they spend their hard-earned money, and restaurant dining is a part of discretionary income, meaning people will spend first on essentials and then on niceties like dining out. They may trade down and dine at quick-service or casual restaurants instead of using fine-dining restaurants. Even grocery stores are going head to head with restaurants, trying to lure budget-conscious and time-starved consumers away from eateries toward a variety of prepared foods.

Christopher Muller, a restaurant professor at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, says that it would not surprise him if around 10 percent of restaurants closed in this the most challenging times for restaurants in decades.

A few years ago, the well-known and highly successful football coach Vince Lombardi described the perfect football player as “agile, mobile, and hostile.”

In the same vein, the perfect restaurant operator could be described as “affable, imperturbable, and indefatigable.” In other words, he or she is someone who enjoys serving people, can handle frustration easily, and is tireless.

Lacking one or more of these traits, the would-be restaurant operator can consider a restaurant that opens on a limited schedule, say for lunch only, or five nights a week. Alternatively, an operator can be an investor only and find someone else to operate the restaurant. However, most restaurants with limited hours or days of operation have problems with financial success. Fixed costs force operators to maximize facility use.


Operating a restaurant demands lots of energy and stamina. Successful restaurant operators almost always are energetic, persevering, and able to withstand pressure. Recruiters for chain restaurants look for the ambitious, outgoing person with a record of hard work. The trainee normally works no fewer than 10 hours a day, five days a week. Weekends, holidays, and evenings are usually the busiest periods, with weekends sometimes accounting for 40 percent or more of sales.

The restaurant business is no place for those who want weekends off. Knowledge of food is highly desirable—a must in a dinner house, of less importance in fast food. Business skills, especially cost controls and marketing, are also necessities in all foodservice businesses. Plenty of skilled chefs have gone broke without them. A personality restaurant needs a personality; if the personality leaves, then the restaurant changes character.

Whatever the true rate of business failure, it is clear that starting a restaurant involves high risk, but risks must be taken in order to achieve success. Restaurants may require a year or two, or longer, to become profitable and need capital or credit to survive. A landmark study by Dr. H. G. Parsa found the actual failure rate of restaurants in Columbus, Ohio, was 59 percent for a three-year period. The highest failure rate was during the first year, when 26 percent of the restaurants failed. In the second year, 19 percent failed, and in the third year, the failure rate dropped to only 14 percent.

Dr. Parsa’s study is valid because it used data from the health department in determining when the restaurants opened; some studies obtain their data from other sources, including the Yellow Pages. Parsa adds that many restaurants closenot because they did not succeed financially, but because of personal reasons involving the owner or owners. If a restaurant survives for three years, its chances of continued operation are high. This suggests that in buying a restaurant, you should choose one that is more than three years old.

One reason family-owned restaurants survive the start-up period is that children and members of the extended family can pitch in when needed and work at low cost. Presumably, also, there is less danger of theft by family members than from employees who are not well known. Chain restaurant owners reduce the risk of start-up by calling on experienced and trusted personnel from existing units in the chain. Even restaurants started by families or chains, however, cannot be certain of a sufficient and sustainable market for success. When a new restaurant opens in a given area, it must share the market with existing restaurants unless the population or the per-capita income of the area is increasing fast enough to support it.

Many restaurants fail because of family problems. Too many hours are spent in the restaurant, and so much energy is exerted that there is none left for a balanced family life. These factors often cause dissatisfaction for the spouse and, eventually, divorce. In states such as California, where being married means having communal property, the divorce settlement can divide the couple’s assets.

If a divorcing spouse has no interest in the restaurant but demands half of the assets, a judgment of the cost can force a sale of the operation.

When a husband and wife operate a restaurant as a team, both must enjoy the business and be highly motivated to make it successful. These traits should be determined before the final decision is made to finance and enter the business.