Obligations and Responsibilities

Running a small business, you must obey certain rules and regulations. Added to which are social norms that will promote the strength and welfare of the business.

To Your Community

Restaurants are often pioneers in neighborhoods, creating a social scene. These experiences spread by word of mouth and deed. Their popularity brings in additional customers from outside the immediate area. A tipping point is reached. Other pioneers will find the risk worth taking and open additional businesses, bringing in more commerce.

As your restaurant extends beyond its walls, you might take positions in the arts, farmer’s markets, or fundraisers. Your involvement will make you more than just another business. In fact, customers may find you specifically because of your community involvement. Especially in smaller communities, this responsibility is the mantle of a restaurant, its moral and ethical duty.

When and where possible, restaurants can be leaders of the business community. If the municipality cannot provide guidance or help resolve a situation, restaurants should insert themselves into the process and help. Offering up space for meetings or providing food for a fundraiser—all of these help. People look to individuals or organizations to step up in times of need. Restaurants can be part of the solution.

I can’t in good conscience leave out the specter of gentrification. We know there are upsides and downsides to this phenomenon. According to Joshua Sbicca (A Recipe for Gentrification), the process evolves over three stages. First the coffee shops and bars move in, get a toehold, establish a customer base. More expensive restaurants follow, offering more service and higher-end food. Finally, the box stores and chains arrive on the scene. Throughout this process, the business of food evolves and expands.

To Your Customers

Introduce willing guests to new products, original tastes, fresh ingredients. This nurtures growth and fosters awareness of options. It’s not a “nicety” when a restaurant offers tastes of a small selection of wines for a guest to compare—it’s doing the right thing. And it’s not generosity when a server brings an appetizer for the guest to sample—it’s doing the right thing.

Sometimes it is more than taking the order. We had a customer, an elderly gentleman whose eyes darted around trying to follow as the others in his party ordered. Words ricocheted and gestures danced around the table while his glasses failed him. We took action: An alert server took the bull by the horns and read to him, subtlety doing so, trying not to call attention to his eyesight issues.

To Your Staff

Here are some ways to show your staff that you appreciate them: Pay a little more than the surrounding restaurants Tip out more often, not less frequently (i.e., daily vs. weekly). Help your staff financially when you can: contribute a few bucks toward rent; appear in court to help support them; loan money to help them move. (Arrangements to pay it back can be made in hours as well as cash.)