Why a restaurant fails:

by Miss Terry Diner

I have just returned from having probably the worst Masaman curry I have ever had. The potatoes were so hard I bent the spoon trying to break them up. The curry itself was watery and there were no peanuts as Masaman curry should have. It takes around 20 minutes to cook the potatoes, so the dish they offered me had not been cooked long enough. I estimate their Masaman had been on the stove for around 5 minutes and that was all. I won’t go back there to eat in future.
And that is one of the first rules in being a restaurateur. One bad meal and you have lost not only that customer, but the 10 people he speaks to as well. In this case, thousands!
The problem with the restaurant business is that you are selling a product. Not just the food, but the venue and the service as well. Unfortunately, all three have to be first class for your restaurant to become a success.
Having run a successful restaurant for six years myself, and then watching the new owners go bust in 12 months, here are some lessons for newbies at the game.
When I handed over the keys, I offered to stay on for two months to introduce regular customers to the new owners. My offer was turned down, as “We’ve had restaurants before. We know what to do.”
Since restaurants are very much a ‘people’ business, you either have to stand guard yourself every night, or you employ a very good maitre d’. People like to be recognized. Little items remembered such as what is their favorite pre-dinner drink makes the customer feel as if they have a special part in the restaurant. That will influence their decision on where to go next time they want to dine out.
Back to my previous restaurant in another lifetime. The new owners did not believe that there was any need for them to interact with the customers, and since the regulars were no longer made to feel special, they drifted away. This, of course, reacted on the bottom line, so to build it up again, what did they do? They bought cheaper ingredients to lower the overheads. Unfortunately, this lowered the quality of the food, so the restaurant became less popular, and the bottom line tumbled to a new low.
So what did they do next? They increased the price to get the bottom line up. And that was the last straw for the customers. The food was not as good as it used to be, nobody made them feel special any more, and now the price went up as well, so the value wasn’t there. Within 12 months the restaurant was closed.
Madame and I dine out at least two times a week. One of those will be an ‘official’ review, but during the other times we will be looking at restaurants to review that have some potential. That covers food, venue and service.
Here are some recent (bad) examples. A breakfast restaurant serving up what I later called “chicken surprise”. The wrap I ordered was not Caesar chicken, but scrambled egg with salsa. Perhaps they sounded the same? I won’t eat breakfast there again until the staff changes (and that’s about once a fortnight - there’s a basic problem with staff management). Service is important.
We usually inspect the toilets when we are out dining. If the loo is dirty, to which the customers have ready access, what is the kitchen like, which is behind closed doors and not open to the paying public? If you are not up to individual hand towels, at least supply a paper towel dispenser. A solitary towel on a nail is simply bad manners these days, to say nothing about hygiene.
Of course, when we review a restaurant and find it is not up to scratch, or what should be expected from a restaurant of its caliber, we do not name it or write about it. I have said before, and I still believe, it is not a journalist’s right to break someone’s rice bowl.
An interesting venue coming next week!

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French Onion Soup

There are many, many variations on this theme, but this is a very easy one which can be made quickly and easily. The original recipe called for whole meal toast, but I believe that any old toast will do. The cheese should also be a mild cheddar so that the taste does not overpower the onions.

Ingredients                          Serves 4 Onions, sliced                       6 large Butter                                   2 tbspns Grated lemon or lime rind       1 Beef stock                            2 liters Sherry                                  4 tbspns Cheddar cheese grated          8 tbspns Toast                                   4 slices

Cooking Method
In a large pan cook the thinly sliced onions in butter until they are soft. Add the stock (three cubes in two liters water) and grated rind of one lemon (or lime) and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain off the rind and return the onions and stock to the pan, adding the sherry and simmer for another five minutes while you make the toast. Pour soup into four soup bowls.
Put the grated cheese on top of the toast and pop in the microwave for about 1 minute on full power to melt the cheese. Now place the toast with melted cheese on the top of each soup bowl and serve immediately.