Poor Business Environment
I believe you have got all sorts of comments from the industry on how bad the business it. My company, Fat Angelo's, are suffering a lot as well. 10-15% drop in sales. And our friends in other restaurant chains see the same drop (at least) in revenue. And we all foresee even worse will be coming. We have prepared for another 10-20% drop.Anyway, I just want to share a personal thought with you and see what you think. We were discussing where our customers go these days during our management meeting yesterday. There is generally no increase in competition in the neighbourhood. But the business keeps going down. The unemployment rate hasn't raised a lot, and people should still have the money to spend. Is the atmosphere so bad that people don't dare to spend any money? I don't think so. In 1997, we still have a line outside the door waiting to be seated.
But one thing I can see is people are not going home early any more. In the past, people walked up the esculator in Central to go home around 7:00pm. Now, the peak is shifted to 9:00pm. When in the past, they stopped in the restaurants for dinner, they now go straight home for bed. So many companies have laid-offs, and workload is put onto the remaining employees. Overtime is common across all industries. In the past, Tommy Tang used to work from 10-6. Now, he works from 9:00am to 9:00pm. I don't think these people will have the mood/energy to go out for dinner at night. Even on weekend, they'd rather take some more rest.
I think, in the past, people usually get off from work at 6:00pm. Then they have more leisure time, and they want to look for entertainment. Even in 1997, people were still willing to spend money, as they had time to spare. Now, they don't. I begin to believe that LEE Cheuk-yan is right on limiting maximum working hour, although I don't like this guy. With the max. working hour, at least we will have people spending money. I think if we don't have any customer, what's the point of cutting more salary. Of course, it may lead to other problems. Anyway, I just want to express my opinion. And please correct me if I am wrong. Should you have any advise for us, the restaurant operators, at this though time, please let us know. Thank you.
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