RISKY BUSINESS: In booming 1979, a restaurant...
RISKY BUSINESS: In booming 1979, a restaurant was opening in Orange County every 34 hours, but in recession-ridden 1993, the pace had slowed to about one every third day. . . . Usually, 85% fail within two years, but casualties may be greater for the new crop, says an industry expert. Nowadays, half the county’s restaurants are said to be struggling with profits of 2.5% or less.
FANTASYLAND: The tide in the county’s restaurant business is definitely running against Mom and Pop, says restaurant consultant Rudy Miick. There may still be room for the small, family-run restaurant, but start-up costs are getting beyond reach--$100,000 for just a lunch counter, about $700,000 for a bare-bones coffee shop. . . . And remember, it is a business, Miick warns. “Cooking for 10 friends is a warm, fuzzy feeling, but running a restaurant is not a lot different than running a shoe factory.”
HELPING HAND: Times are tough, so any help is welcome. Take El Adobe in San Juan Capistrano, where President Richard Nixon liked to eat when he lived in San Clemente. Since Nixon’s death put him back on Page One, locals and tourists are ordering El Adobe’s El Presidente plate and requesting the chair in which he sat. . . . That’s fine with Richard J. O’Neill, owner of El Adobe, who also happens to be one of the county’s most prominent Democrats: “I spent my life campaigning against that guy, and now he’s helping my business. I’m revising my opinion. He’s a great American.”
TROUBLE AHEAD: Orange County likes its food fast. In 1992, the year with the latest tally, local fast-food restaurants sold $889 million worth of Big Macs, Whoppers and what-have-yous. Yet the future is threatening for these franchises, says James Doti, economist and president of Chapman University. The 15- to 34-year-old population, which buys the most fast food, will decrease in Orange County by 6% over the next four years and probably continue shrinking, Doti says. “The industry is in for some stress very soon.”
Eating Out
Through economic booms and recessions alike, the number of restaurants in the county has steadily increased. 1994: 7,065
Source: Orange County Health Care Agency
