A friend sent me a YouTube video (possibly the eight most dangerous words in the English language) with the title of “Restaurants are Empty” and a subtitle of “Why Restaurants Are Empty & Overpriced in 2025.”
Total click bait for doomscrollers – and a real downer for someone in our industry.
On top of that, last Sunday my hometown paper, The Dallas Morning News, chimed in with “North Texas restaurants are struggling to survive.”
Neither of these narratives is doing us any favors. They’re causing guests to wonder whether they might be missing something that everyone else knows about, and maybe they should stay home tonight and cook instead of going out.
On top of that, there’s another problem with the narrative of those two stories: I haven’t seen even one of these empty restaurants – they don’t exist!
The Real Story
If you suffer from occasional feelings of helplessness, as a restaurant owner you do not want want to read or hear that message.
But what’s really going on out there? Well, some restaurants are doing well, others are doing OK, and some will fail – more than have failed recently.
Unfortunately for content creators and news organizations, though, “Some Restaurants Do Great and Others Don’t” is a lousy headline over an article or video that no one will ever read.
The story that goes with that headline isn’t easy to sell to a consumer with a short attention span.
So, I’ll keep telling you that you can either sit around and worry about things you can’t control or you can get to work on your restaurants today, next week, next month, next quarter, and next year.
First, Do The Things Guests See
It feels odd that PPA – which I have previously encouraged my clients to use to boost bottom lines by millions of dollars – doesn’t even show up on the radar right now.
Cost management remains a means to an end to preserve your bottom line, but the only way for you to truly win today is to focus on guest count.
How will you attract lapsed users and non-users? How will you increase frequency among current guests?
You must:
- Understand guest perceptions of your brands to determine action. Determine the questions you want answered, and use focus groups.
- Take action to make the experience in your restaurant worth it – and more than worth it. Hone your offerings, execution, and service to the highest level in your history.
- Move away from people who are unable to support your strategy and move toward those who “get it.” Labor supply looks healthy right now – take advantage of that.
- Put guest count and Google and Yelp ratings into your bonus program. Give people the tools to earn that bonus.
- When the choice remains between going small and going big, pick the latter and be noticed.
One of my friends who owns 30 restaurants says I excel at pep talks. That’s nice to know. This feels more like a call to action than a pep talk. So start now.