logoalt Hacker News

PlatoIsADiseaseyesterday at 11:13 PM2 repliesview on HN

If only food service paid decent money.

I know the majority owner of a pretty massive fast food chain (600 stores, most franchises) and he was telling me he was offered 10M to sell the company. His entire life he worked day and night, and he would be getting $3M. (Mind you, he owns dozens of franchises, so he still keeps those)

He brought his kid into the business, and I can tell he has a bit of envy that I own a small software company that within a few years is approaching 1M in revenue. There is less glamor and margins in food.

I have some ideas of using my math/engineering skills to make low cost recipes that taste good, using my masters in Industrial Engineering to lower cooking/labor costs, but... economics pushes me towards high value. Any time I do the math on food service, I see myself making 100k/yr, and never 1M/yr.


Replies

tempest_yesterday at 11:22 PM

Sysco makes a billion a year basically doing that.

show 1 reply
dismalafyesterday at 11:42 PM

You act like $100k/year isn't still well above average. Hell it's above what SWEs make in any country that's not the USA.

But pertaining to this article, the key to tiny Japanese restaurants such as these snack bars is that their startup costs are extremely low, rents are low and since they're tiny, they don't need staff so they keep all the profit. Probably good enough to make an average living without too many worries.

show 1 reply