Page 109 - SOUTHERN OREGON MAGAZINE FALL 2019

and Jacksonville Inn was a good business opportunity that allowed him to do so.

Jerry Hayes from Bella Union liked the industry after studying fish and wildlife sciences, had COME SEE WHY WE HAVE BEEN
been a manager at Sandpiper in Idaho, and moved here with them in the 1980s. Tom Bates and VOTED THE BEST
Christian Hamilton, who are taking over ownership, have also been doing this for most, if not 5 YEARS RUNNING!
all, of their working lives and have a personal connection with the industry. In many ways, they
are the hybrids. They are the employees who became the family that takes over the business. OPEN 11 AM TUES-SAT
LUNCH & DINNER
Just loving doing something is not always enough to experience the kind of long-term success (must be over 21 at all times)
these people have. There are other things that make a restaurant last for decades.

To a person, these owners site consistency as a major key to their longevity. People need to know
what they’re getting when they enter an establishment. Whether that’s a quality of service, kind
of environment, or type of food may be immaterial. Each of these places has different things to
offer, but they agree that doing it the same way every time has contributed to their longevity.

Another place where they agree is employees. You have to hire the right people. A restaurant can
be like a movie script. If you have a great script but bad actors, it’s probably not going to be a
very good movie. If you have Academy Award winning actors, however, even a mediocre script 210 SW 6th Street
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As a family business, Arbor House has relied heavily on family over the years. However, a trait Reservations for Parties of 8 or More Only
of longevity in the restaurant industry also seems to be getting those employees who become
family, stay with you for years, and take ownership of the business. Evans, for instance has had
four servers with him for over 20 years, and one guy for over 30.
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In some cases, like Bella Union, long term employees feel such a sense of ownership, they step
up and buy the business. This is the case with Bates and Hamilton. Both have worked for the res- Southern Oregon’s
taurant since its inception, and they shared with me a sense of obligation to keep the continuity Premier Bistro
going. They essentially became the family that inherited the business.
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This much is clear: good employees can make a business successful, but it takes great employees
to make a restaurant last for decades. When treated well by the owners, great employees put in
long careers, bucking the trend of high turnover that plagues the restaurant industry.

Over time, things change. Consistency can help you be knowable of a public choosing where to
spend dining dollars. There also is a way in which a long-lived restaurant has to change with the
times, and be nimble enough to understand the different challenges along the way. This means
that if you see a restaurant open for a good amount of time, they are both consistent and nimble.
Not an easy task in any industry. Even though the prognosis of long-term restaurant viability is
not as terrible as most think, it’s still not particularly good with only about a quarter of them
open after 10 years.

There’s basically only one way a restaurant closes: it’s not profitable enough. It’s either not
profitable and never was, is not profitable enough to keep the attention or sustain the lifestyle
of the owners, or it becomes more expensive over time in a way that leads to losses. Sometimes
trends can change, or increases in competition make it harder, but these are ultimately tied to
profitability.
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According to Hayes, the biggest challenge is “making a profit in a not very profitable business.” Wine Selections
He admits that he thought it would get easier over the years, but never has. Evans also mentions
that you have to “run a tight ship,” because “there’s not a lot of profit in the industry.”

Without getting bogged down in the specifics of why there isn’t a lot of profit in the industry,
just understand it’s a game of pennies, seconds, and ounces, economies of scale, compounding
costs, and total uncertainty. There are a lot of moving parts: wage increases that increase your
employee comp insurance, ever-changing employee costs, spoilage, wasted product, breakage, Award Winning Chef

fall 2019 | www.southernoregonmagazine.com 107