We have owned a restaurant for seven years. When it comes to health-care, we've not had good luck. We provided and paid fifty percent for the first couple of years. Our problem was that even with 60 + employees, we had a hard time getting the minimum number of people required for the plan to stay on the plan. Our rates are raised yearly while our coverage is decreased. Many of our employees simply would not sign up, so we ended up having to cut the plan to a management only policy.
We are worried now because we do very well some of the year, but lose money during the 'off season'. All well and good under normal circumstances, but these aren't normal circumstances for any business owner, but even worse, I feel, for restaurant owners. We've been hit with sky high food costs, mandatory increased minimum wage costs, and 'fuel charges' all in the span of a couple of years. We've played around with the idea of going strictly seasonal so we can retain the money we have in our savings, but we don't want to lose the staff and we're afraid a lot of our locals would simply find new places to go.
Still, things are looking bleak in our checkbook and as you pointed out, it's unlikely we'll see any 'bailout' money.
Susan
of CO
@
Dec 04, 2008 16:01:52 PM
Previous comment
I agree with you that many startups shouldn't have started, just want to add that avoiding the doomed startup is also the point of helping them to plan their business. One of the main uses of a business plan in this context is to break that dream down into specific meaningful and manageable pieces, to make the uncertainty more visible and easier to deal with.
Good planning includes filtering the ideas from the opportunities, so that after working the plan the entrepreneur is more easily able to see whether or not there is a real opportunity, worth pursuing, or just an idea.
Tim Berry
Tim Berry
of OR
@
Nov 20, 2008 14:03:33 PM
Perhaps the BEST help to would-be small businesses is to help many never start in the first place. The failure rate is huge and the cost of losing one is usually more than the entrepreneur imagined.
Susan of CO @ Dec 04, 2008 16:01:52 PM
Tim Berry of OR @ Nov 20, 2008 14:03:33 PM
of @ Nov 20, 2008 13:13:43 PM
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