At the beginning of the discussion, the first reason mentioned by everyone was Feng Shui.
Feng shui has been discussed in previous tweets. Feng Shui is to pass on those incomprehensible principles in the form of mysterious regulations. Feng Shui has many explanations for the restaurant closing, such as the road rush, the door is too big and the door is too small. Another example is that you want to add a lucky cat. As you can imagine, the frozen smiling face and stereotyped posture of the lucky cat are always reminders to the boss and customers, "Make money harmoniously, make money harmoniously." Always remember this belief, the boss will not treat customers badly, and his business will get better and better. This is probably the same reason that restaurants in the south often display idols of Guan, but instead of reminding customers to smile, they will firmly instill in customers the recognition of their boss's loyalty and faith. Boss can seriously practice loyalty, and the boss's restaurant will definitely go far.
Feng shui gives people a sense of ritual. The existence of a sense of ceremony shows that you have the minimum respect for what you do. I tend to think that restaurants that don't care about feng shui at all will soon die out. If the restaurant owner can keep the plants in the financial position dry and not clean up, then he is even more lazy to clean up other corners of the store. The whole shop must be dirty. Customers have nothing to expect from such a restaurant. It will be closed down soon.
I went fishing the day before yesterday and passed a noodle restaurant at lunch. It's an ordinary noodle restaurant in a small town near yuanjiacun. Two rows of six tables filled the hall, about half the size of the shop next door, but full of people. The next door is almost empty. As soon as he entered the door, his brother-in-law said that the house was beautiful and tidy.
The front desk of the noodle restaurant doesn't have such feng shui things as lucky cats, but the whole store is in good order, clean and tidy, which makes people feel very comfortable. Noodles are served in a large stainless steel basin. Bite it down, my face is slippery, the seasoning is sour and refreshing, which makes my appetite open immediately.
From the cleanliness of the store, we can know the owner's respect for details and the degree of care for the store. Such a shopkeeper will naturally respect these things stipulated by Feng Shui. In fact, those rules can only be the most basic bottom line.
So I think the reason why restaurants in the same place die one after another should not be Feng Shui. I've seen many restaurants change owners and decorate, and Mr. Feng Shui can't escape the fate of bankruptcy in the end. So it is very likely that feng shui is not the reason to close the door.
Feng shui requires the most basic degree of care in restaurants. If even the most basic requirements are not met, bankruptcy is a matter of minutes. This kind of thing is beyond our discussion.
Another reason may be that there is something wrong with the management of the restaurant.
The management of restaurants, especially small restaurants, is nothing more than a game between the boss and the chef. The boss and the chef are the same person, and this kind of family restaurant is beyond our discussion.
The only person the boss needs to manage is the chef. The boss needs a chef and almost depends on him. How to make the chef happy and earn money is all that the boss manages the restaurant.
How to make chefs get their expected income while ensuring their own income? How to find a balance point acceptable to both sides in a very unstable system is a subtle and necessary thing.
Too stingy boss and too greedy chef are bound to fail in this process, because if either side pursues a win-win situation, the result is bound to be a lose-lose. If the boss only cares about making a lot of money, it will be difficult for the chef to have any motivation and he will definitely leave or work hard. It's only a few minutes before the restaurant closes. If the chef only cares about making money for himself and seriously damages the rights and interests of the boss, he may only be fired and leave.
If both the boss and the chef pursue a win-win situation in this process, then everyone will make money, the boss will be happy, and the chef will work hard, so there will be no problem in restaurant management.
The boss is like the king of the kingdom, and the chef is like a general with national military power. It is impossible for a king to lead his troops to fight in person. Only the general can. The general's power is both a protection and a threat to the kingship. Foreign generals can keep the enemy out of the country, and domestic military forces may become the terminator of kingship. Monarchical orthodoxy may be a gap that generals dare not cross, but countless examples in history show how fragile it is.
This delicate balance is very important at this time.
Both sides should find out what their expectations are, and the boss can only let the chef get what he wants when his expectations are met. Once the expectations of both sides are met, there will be no big problem. This is a win-win story.
It is dangerous for both the boss and the chef to break this balance. Especially small catering enterprises. Because this balance is a balance between two people. In fact, it will be easier to balance more objects, because there may be more opportunities to find a balance point. For example, for formal enterprises or larger restaurants, a clear ownership structure, a reasonable incentive mechanism, written rules and a corporate culture that advocates contracts will make management easier.
Management problems are everywhere, but they can't explain why stores opened in the same place die one after another. Management should not be the essential reason we are looking for.
There are three decisive factors for the success of a restaurant: location, location and location. If the location is not good, no matter how hard you work, or if you need to pay more than others, you can only get twice the result with half the effort.
Before brother XL left, our rice ball often went to a noodle restaurant on Tuanjie South Road near Keji Road. That noodle restaurant is almost a fixed canteen for our rice balls. For several years, we went back there to eat noodles every day. The restaurant next to the noodle restaurant changed from one to another. When reading, the school canteen always gives people a feeling of "fading out of birds", and the back street of the school is full of small restaurants with toothache for students. The best of these restaurants are always crowded with people. Only when these shops are full will students go back to choose other restaurants.
The restaurant next door is your competitor. If Haidilao is next to your restaurant, I'm sorry, you chose the wrong place. This is competition. Under the big tree, nothing grows.
But those two streets are both restaurants. It is the collective gathering effect of these restaurants that makes diners go there on their own initiative. It is a good thing that competition becomes a thing at this time. The advantage of the cluster effect is that more people will come here when they think about eating.
There is no doubt that there is a big restaurant tree next to it, which has a great influence on the surrounding restaurants, but the whole street is full of restaurants, which will bring good advertising effect and attract more people.
The whole street is an industry. If an industry is a new industry, more talents and funds will come in. Of course, the competition in this industry is undoubtedly fierce. One of the most obvious benefits of this industry is that there is a lot of money, and of course there may be 996.
For a restaurant, location is as important as choosing a job. If you enter a rising company or industry, you can always get twice the result with half the effort. Just like the Internet IT industry.
If there is only one restaurant in a street, you may have monopolized it and made money, or no one will come to eat in this street at all. Otherwise, you may be the only restaurant. There are many reasons why there are no other restaurants. For example, there is no large flow of people at all, there is no reasonable conversion rate, this street is strictly restricted by smoke and dust, and the surrounding environment is not suitable for dining at all.
If you find that other cars are going backwards, it's likely that you are going backwards.
So competition may be one reason. Just like the domestic Internet industry has BAT, all competition with them has become no suspense. In such a competitive environment, newcomers have almost no chance to compete, either being acquired or being defeated. Therefore, if there are excellent competitors next to a restaurant, such as Haidilao, then the survival of this restaurant will undoubtedly be challenged.
So the competition between neighbors may be one reason.
Sunk cost refers to the past time, energy, money and other expenses that have occurred and cannot be recovered.
Besides competition and location, will there be other reasons? Like the landlord? Landlord is actually a major factor affecting restaurant business. A good landlord will know how to be courteous and harmonious and win-win. But there are other landlords who will ask for a rent increase when your restaurant is on the right track and starts to make money. Such landlords often force restaurant owners to face the impact of sunk costs, such as time, experience, store decoration costs and so on.
It is said that Mahatma Gandhi once accidentally fell off a Mercedes-Benz train while riding the train. Just when many people felt sorry for Gandhi, Gandhi threw down the other shoe. So lucky people passing by the railway may find two shoes. In fact, Gandhi lost his second shoe without extra loss, but the person who found it may have unexpected gains.
This is the best example of dealing with sunk costs. The loss caused by transferring a shoe under the train is a pair of shoes, which is the sunk cost and cannot be recovered. I have lost myself, whether to keep the other shoe has no effect on the result. At this time, the best decision is to forget the sunk cost and do something valuable, such as helping others. There is a proverb in the western world that expresses the same meaning, that is, "don't cry for spilled milk."
The best choice is to forget the sunk cost, change the location of your restaurant as soon as possible, and stop the loss in time. At this time, don't regret the cost you have paid, and don't let the sunk cost affect your decision. What has been lost has been lost, including decoration, including time and energy. All sunk costs already paid have been lost. Stop loss in time is the best choice at this time.
The entanglement of sunk cost is the most important reason why many people are unwilling to re-select and stop loss in time.
Running a restaurant is the same as running our life. I wish everyone a smooth operation!