business help: My Restaurant is very close to failing. - Help.com

Oh, boy….

Right now, the economy sucks. It’s really, really bad. And people are reluctant to spend money on luxuries like pizza when they’re not sure they’ll have jobs next week.

It sounds like you’re doing most of the work that employees should be doing. You should be paying minimum wage to someone to do the grunt work, so you can concentrate on the other things that need to be done.

I’d stop offering discounts, too, as it sounds like you’re already selling at a loss. Cutting expenses is always best, but if that’s not enough, you will have to raise prices. You might want to just have some kind of special thing once a month or something, but otherwise cutting the discounts is probably a must.

See what you can do about moving to a better location. But in the meantime, do what you can to be more accessible. People shouldn’t have to walk more than a few yards from car to door, and those in wheelchairs and such should be able to get in easily.

Finally, internet research is pretty worthless. The only line you need to be reading is the bottom one. If you’re not making any profit, then it might be better to fold up, sell what you can, and try something else. I know it’s hard to let go, but sometimes success comes from another direction, and there’s no shame in giving up so that you can move up.

A restaurant’s success — perhaps more than any other type of business — is based on the specific details of that particular restaurant. I’d be happy to consult (in person or by phone) if you’d like and see if there’s some way I can help you. I realize this post is three months old at this point, and hopefully you’ve managed to survive to this point. Now it’s time to figure out how to thrive. People are still eating out, even here in New York where prices and unemployment are both high. If you’d like to chat, let me know.