Quote:
Originally Posted by retiredguy123
I wonder if a restaurant can operate at 50 percent capacity and still stay profitable?
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They can operate at 50% of their in-room capacity, IF they make other changes.
Well first off, they can't reduce their staff 50%. If a restaurant only has 4 cooks, and they're open 7 days a week, they can't reduce to 2 cooks. Unless each cook doesn't mind working 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, and they're not allowed to take any days off, or sick time, or vacation time, or anything else.
They can probably get away with 2-3 fewer servers per day - but not per shift. There has to be some overlap, just as there always has had to be some overlap.
The dishes need to get done, no matter how many or few there are. So someone has to load the machine, every shift. So they can't do with fewer dish washers.
What they CAN do, is increase delivery, take-out, and curb-side (or parking lot) service. I think we'll definitely see some of this becoming a trend even after the country is re-opened. I think this will be part of the "new normal."
Even driveway parties can be improved by having a restaurant bring all the goodies to the driveway for a reasonable delivery fee, or allow you to pick up the entire order in trays, and perhaps get discounts like frequent-diners - there's a pizza joint back home that sells thermal pizza bags. If you use that bag to pick up your order, they take $1 off the pie. Their reasoning: they recognize that a piping hot pizza tastes much better than a lukewarm pizza, so they want to keep it hot between their counter and your dining room table. It ensures that you'll be going back to their shop for more.
I think you'll see a lot more of this. And I think that's a great thing.