为什么中餐馆在客人寥寥无几的情况下还能继续经营下去？（上） [美国媒体]

How do some Chinese restaurants stay in business when there are hardly any customers?

为什么中餐馆在客人寥寥无几的情况下还能继续经营下去？（上）



Tuck Emswiler, I did everything - wash dishes, fast food, gourmet, management, cook &serve
Answered Jun 8, 2015 • Upvoted by Tilman Ahr, trained chef, ten years experience from pubs to hotels and Jeffrey Shih, MBA Business, The University of Texas at Austin (2012)
I worked at a Chinese restaurant. All the answers hit various parts of why they last when they don't seem busy.
We were in a small shopping center with very little walk in traffic. If you came there for the most part, it was your destination. The best part of where we were is that we were on the road in to town, and there was a lot of grab dinner on the way home. The next part was the delivery which I did. So a lot of traffic you didn't see and very little eat in.
The employees were the husband and wife, their sisters and families. I was the only one not related. I worked 5 days a week, 4 or 5 hours a day and got $5 an hour cash plus tips. Got a free meal, half the time from the special menu, half the time what they went eating, which was served family style, each person with a bowl of rice.
Everything was made from scratch, as was said food costs are low. Very little waste. They made money on everything.
This one rented, the rental cost was higher than some but not outrageous. All the supplies came from an "uncle" in the city.
The one point made about not trying to make a lot of money is true, but making enough to live day to day with a few perks. As they usually are family, they cut both personal and business costs. They all lived in the same house, between the small group they worked most of the hours, shared a car, ate together usually at the restaurant, and didn't have a lot of what Americans call essentials. It's like a mom and pop store where they own the place, and live upstairs. The true American dream.
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我在一家中餐馆工作过。很多回答都有在点上。
那家餐馆位于一个小小的购物中心里，位于通往市中心的必经之路上，所以很多人在回家路上会打包带走，还有就是我负责的外卖部分。所以很多流量你是看不到的，很少有客人在店里吃。
员工就是夫妻二人，还有他们的姐妹和家人。我是唯一的外人。我每周工作5天，一天工作四五小时，时薪5美元加上小费。免费晚餐，一般是特殊菜单上的，一半是他们自己吃的家常菜，就是中国式的那种，每人一碗米饭。
一切都是从零开始，食物成本很低，很少浪费。每个东西他们都赚了钱。
店铺是租来的，租金比某些店铺高，但不是非常贵。所有供应都来自市里的一个“叔叔”那里。
没有赚很多钱倒是真的，但是赚够了生活费。通常都是一家人一起干，所以个人和商业成本较低。他们都居住在同一个房子里，他们大部分时间都在工作，共享一辆车，通常一起在餐馆里吃饭，没有很多的生活必需品。有点像夫妻店，就住在楼上。真正的美国梦。



Liam Casey, Cycling massage therapist, in San Francisco since 2000
Answered Oct 1, 2016
About two years ago, a Chinese restaurant opened down the street from my house. I’d walk by on a regular basis, and it was always empty. Maybe one or two tables had diners, but no more. After a couple of months, I decided to check them out. Maybe if they were good I’d become a regular customer and could encourage friends and neighbors to do the same. So my girlfriend and I walked in around 7pm on a weeknight, prime dining hour. We were the only ones there.
And in the time it took us to order, be served, eat, and pay (maybe 45 minutes), we watched them make at least 20 takeout orders.
Takeout is a huge part of the Chinese food market in the US. If everyone getting takeout had opted to eat there instead, the place would’ve been packed with a line out the door. Instead, we got to enjoy a quiet meal together, and the waiter/host/owner could enjoy his newspaper.

两年前有一家中餐馆在我家附近的街道上开张了，我经常走过，总是空荡荡的。可能有一两张桌子上有客人，仅此而已。几个月后，我决定去一探究竟。如果好吃的话，我会成为常客，或许还会介绍亲友去。所以我和女朋友在晚上七点的时候进去，用餐高峰期。几乎只有我两。
在我们整个就餐的过程中，可能有45分钟这样，我看到他们至少准备了20份外卖。
在美国的中餐市场里，外卖占据了很大一部分份额。如果叫外卖的人都去店里吃饭的话，肯定要排队等候的。所以我和女友就享受了一顿安静的晚餐，而服务员和店主则可以看看报纸。

John Freeman
Jan 12, 2017 • 70 upvotes
I did a sabbatical in Israel (even though I am not of the Hebraic persuasion), and the scientist I worked with, who had a great sense of humor, claimed that during the Viet Nam war, a boatload of 45 Chinese escaped on an un-seaworthy craft and was rescued by the Israeli Navy and given refuge in Israel. One year later there were 45 new Chinese restaurants.

我在以色列休假时，我一个共事的科学家，他很幽默，说在越战期间，有45个中国人坐着一首小船逃跑，在海上被以色列海军救起，然后在以色列避难。一年后，那里开起了45家新的中餐馆。

Mike Wu
Jan 26, 2017 • 5 upvotes
How did Viet Chinese end up in a boat off Israel?

越南华人怎么会坐船飘到以色列海岸附近？



Leah Ma
Jan 14, 2017 • 29 upvotes
All of this is true—but! There are many Chinese restaurants that go bottoms up, many more than anyone realizes. That’s because far too many Chinese think they can open and run a Chinese restaurant. They see all these restaurants that are doing so well and they think, oh boy, I want to get a piece of that pie! The problem is that if you have no experience at all in any aspect of running a restaurant, then you are almost definitely doomed. I know this is true. First of all I’ve read about it. Second of all, I had some relatives (who knew NOTHING at all about the business) attempt to do so—and fell flat on their collective faces!!!

你说的都是真的，可是也有很多中餐馆都关门了，可是很多人不知道。因为有太多中国人认为自己可以开餐馆。他们看到其他餐馆都做的那么好，所以也认为自己可以，想分得一杯羹。问题是如果你没有运营餐馆的经验的话，那么绝对失败。我知道，因为我看过这方面的内容，而且我有些亲戚试图这么做但都失败了。