What is wrong with business owners
SOME! not all. This is a vent.
Time and time again I see small business owners step away from their restaurants, hire GMs to run the day to day and neglect their responsibilities all together. Time and time again I see these businesses fail.
I’m currently in a business where the owner has stepped away. As a GM my job is the day to day, ordering, scheduling, prep, serve, clean the whole 9 yards. It’s a very small business with me and 4 other staff. The new owner bought us a year ago and has stopped coming around.
My problem is I’m in the dark. No books, no numbers, no labor reports. I can only really see the daily sales. I release a schedule praying i don’t fuck up labor. I order hoping the food budget isn’t too high. I’m expected to run our Instagram along side strenuous prep. Please trust me, I’ve sat with him begging him to send me reports and the only answer is “it doesn’t matter as long as the work is getting done”. He’s told me he only looks at the books quarterly. How are we supposed to know if labor is bad? Run bad labor for 3 months and fix it later? Crazy…
I’ve heard this from so many chefs that lost their jobs because of neglectful owners. I envy other business’s around mine when I see their owners working. THEY know how to run their business and what needs to be done.
In reality… I get paid well for what I do and I’d also be so screwed financially if I left. There’s the pay off. Endless. Cycle. Of running a kitchen. I love what I do, I’m just scared it’s all going to be for nothing.