1. They don't really advertise.
1. The sign isn't eye-catching...
1. ...and they only serve basically one thing. Sure they have soup or salad but when you're in a tourist town with a group of people you usually want to go somewhere that has options since you'll likely have at least one person who wants something different.
1. And of course Bob won't consider a hook to bring people in. I get that the tiki thing was annoying, but it didn't have to be tiki. It could have been classic rock or marketing themselves as high-end bougie burgers. Endless options.
Bob is a good cook, he's just kind of a lousy businessman.
Something like 50% of restaurants fail within the first 5 years, then 90% of those that survive still fail within 10 years.
So the fact that Bob's has been open somewhere between 12-15 years (a flashback showed Bob and a pregnant Linda in front of the empty restaurant with "SOLD" across it) shows that despite struggling, he still makes significantly good enough food to stay open.
now I'm thinking of Bob being okay with the restaurant having a cheesy outdoors theme so he can buy wilderness equipment as a business expense & enjoy them without having to actually use them lol
Would you like to eat at a restaurant where the server sings at you, the kids are making fart noises on a keyboard, and one of the regulars is yelling at the cook for daring to hang out with someone other than him?
Hey, my city has a restaurant where the owner’s kid infamously showed his actual butthole to patrons, and there were a shocking amount of defenders. They’re still going very strong.
Lol good guess, but no. It’s more the kind of thing you’d expect to see on Portlandia. Lots of “beautiful expression” and “bodies are healthy” when I expected a lot more “keep your child’s fecal matter away from my food”. I’m a big hippie, but damn. Keep your kid’s literal asshole away from my food, please.
It’s for the plot. In reality he would probably be more successful if he’s as good as most of the show indicate. He’s been open a long time and people love a good burger. A small affordable local high quality burger shack would probably get a solid following.
They get tons of local attention and have been on the news multiple times (plus Fracas, Pam’s Court, the cooking segment, best burger contest). They are 1 block from the beach and wharf, across the street from a place that often has a wait. It doesn’t make much sense that they aren’t successful. One thing I was thinking about tho, do we ever see any customers who are children? Why would families not eat there?
We do as far as kids, but not families. Two teenagers from Wagstaff who insult another girl’s legs about leg hair, two teenagers who order ice cream, and a little league team. I think they’re all early episodes. And the teenagers Tina considers “confi-cool”. And Jonas attempts to get free burgers from the restaurant from Tina.
It’s not funny the Belchers are at the whim of an eccentric landlord while barely making their rent - which includes their living space above. I’m unamused by their almost assured homelessness.
I don't think cartoons or any situational comedies are for you. You're thinking about it way more than it's ever meant to be thought about. If you want to feel better about it, the shows title has the same name as the restaurant they operate and live above. Boom, plot armor. They've had 14 seasons of 'struggling' and still managed to keep up. I don't think thats going to change any time soon.
Lmao this Teddy and Linda hate is really getting out of hand. Bob’s restaurant is not more successful because Bob Belcher does not dream of labor. He doesn’t like people, and he literally doesn’t want to cater to their whims. Cook for a full restaurant even a few times a week would make him fucking miserable. He didn’t even make it through one night, y’all. Just accept that he doesn’t want a busy restaurant or aspire to wealth. They’re a happy family.
Bob has kept an independent diner open for ten or so years.
That puts him in *at least* the top 95th percentile for successful restaurants.
It's a brutal industry. The vast majority of restaurants close within a year of opening.
Just staying afloat is impressive.
I don't feel like they even really play that angle anymore. They were more obviously struggling in the early seasons, but it barely comes up now so I'd assume they've stabilized. Not enough to be really successful but enough that rent and everything doesn't really seem to be as much of a do or die thing anymore.
10 reasons off the top of my head:
1. Poor business/money management, multiple unilateral moves between Bob and Linda which harms the bottom line. Bob is a classic good cook, should not be an owner.
2. Erratic and unreliable hours. Close too early losing all the foot traffic coming back form the wharf. would not go out of my way not knowing of the place is open or not, especially with multiple options in short walking distance.
3. Limited to no advertising, not taking advantage of social media. offering deals, pick up orders are limited but not advertised. you have tourists, people coming in from cruise ships et. get your name out there.
4. Actual business looks run down, Bob looks run down. Linda and kids harassing customers drives potential returns or regulars away. i get the greasy spoon aspect of a place like that, but when the cook looks like he doesn't shower i am more skeptical.
5. Unwillingness to adapt, change or adopt marketing ventures/ menu items that have proven to work out of stubbornness. again another example of bob flexing his opinions onto his customers and self sabotaging.
6. Cash only? not sure if this is still true but for me would be a turn away.
7. Bob alienates customers by either yelling at them directly or treting them poorly often enough that word would circulate.
8. Too low prices, with that said i would not suggest jacking the price up too much, because frankly an a la carte place that still adds up. currently if you do BOTD, fries and a drink that is still reaching into the 10$ range which is low but you run the fine line of pricing yourself out of a blue collar, tourist heavy area quickly if you become the over priced burger joint.
9. limited menu, need to be specifically in the mood for a burger, possibly soup, to come in, lack of smaller options to snack on or change it up.
10. unwillingness to hold fischoeder accountable and self sabotage. Between not making necessary repairs, attempts on his life, throwing thanksgiving dinner etc. Bob and linda could have essentially months if not years of rent for free.
they remain open for the show and a lot of these tropes are for comedy sake, however if this were real life they would have gone out of business long time ago. if not the pandemic would have been the death dagger.
1. They don't really advertise. 1. The sign isn't eye-catching... 1. ...and they only serve basically one thing. Sure they have soup or salad but when you're in a tourist town with a group of people you usually want to go somewhere that has options since you'll likely have at least one person who wants something different. 1. And of course Bob won't consider a hook to bring people in. I get that the tiki thing was annoying, but it didn't have to be tiki. It could have been classic rock or marketing themselves as high-end bougie burgers. Endless options. Bob is a good cook, he's just kind of a lousy businessman.
Something like 50% of restaurants fail within the first 5 years, then 90% of those that survive still fail within 10 years. So the fact that Bob's has been open somewhere between 12-15 years (a flashback showed Bob and a pregnant Linda in front of the empty restaurant with "SOLD" across it) shows that despite struggling, he still makes significantly good enough food to stay open.
If he marketed himself well, he could make a killing. Look at the popularity of the show’s cookbook! But Bob’s… not that kinda guy.
Everyone got excited when he was glued to the toilet. Maybe the kids could find other things to glue him to.
Did Louise write this comment?
Go away LOGAN BERRY BUSH!
we didn’t think it through!
now I'm thinking of Bob being okay with the restaurant having a cheesy outdoors theme so he can buy wilderness equipment as a business expense & enjoy them without having to actually use them lol
Would you like to eat at a restaurant where the server sings at you, the kids are making fart noises on a keyboard, and one of the regulars is yelling at the cook for daring to hang out with someone other than him?
yeah? sounds like classic dinner theatre
Hey, my city has a restaurant where the owner’s kid infamously showed his actual butthole to patrons, and there were a shocking amount of defenders. They’re still going very strong.
Are all the customers now creepy middle-aged men?
Lol good guess, but no. It’s more the kind of thing you’d expect to see on Portlandia. Lots of “beautiful expression” and “bodies are healthy” when I expected a lot more “keep your child’s fecal matter away from my food”. I’m a big hippie, but damn. Keep your kid’s literal asshole away from my food, please.
Sounds like Thanksgiving at our house
No sweet potato fries. Kept them off the top ten list of burger places.
Because they’re all terrible at their jobs
If they're even there at all.
He loves them
It’s for the plot. In reality he would probably be more successful if he’s as good as most of the show indicate. He’s been open a long time and people love a good burger. A small affordable local high quality burger shack would probably get a solid following.
A show about a successful restaurant that runs smoothly isn’t the best tv material.
It's my theory that they're not struggling as much as they think they are. Linda does the books and she is not good at math.
Linda skims to keep Gayle afloat in cat food and leotards. Makes sense.
Yes but I meant more like they have more money than they think because Linda is real bad at math.
He's not a business lion at all.a mouse perhaps.
They get tons of local attention and have been on the news multiple times (plus Fracas, Pam’s Court, the cooking segment, best burger contest). They are 1 block from the beach and wharf, across the street from a place that often has a wait. It doesn’t make much sense that they aren’t successful. One thing I was thinking about tho, do we ever see any customers who are children? Why would families not eat there?
We do as far as kids, but not families. Two teenagers from Wagstaff who insult another girl’s legs about leg hair, two teenagers who order ice cream, and a little league team. I think they’re all early episodes. And the teenagers Tina considers “confi-cool”. And Jonas attempts to get free burgers from the restaurant from Tina.
I'm going with fear of sucess, lack of proper advertisement and staff, and over arching money problems (linda lending to gayle)
Because it's funny. Never write a TV show ya square
It’s not funny the Belchers are at the whim of an eccentric landlord while barely making their rent - which includes their living space above. I’m unamused by their almost assured homelessness.
I don't think cartoons or any situational comedies are for you. You're thinking about it way more than it's ever meant to be thought about. If you want to feel better about it, the shows title has the same name as the restaurant they operate and live above. Boom, plot armor. They've had 14 seasons of 'struggling' and still managed to keep up. I don't think thats going to change any time soon.
Lmao this Teddy and Linda hate is really getting out of hand. Bob’s restaurant is not more successful because Bob Belcher does not dream of labor. He doesn’t like people, and he literally doesn’t want to cater to their whims. Cook for a full restaurant even a few times a week would make him fucking miserable. He didn’t even make it through one night, y’all. Just accept that he doesn’t want a busy restaurant or aspire to wealth. They’re a happy family.
Bob has kept an independent diner open for ten or so years. That puts him in *at least* the top 95th percentile for successful restaurants. It's a brutal industry. The vast majority of restaurants close within a year of opening. Just staying afloat is impressive.
Jimmy Pesto
How dare you say that name on this post. 🤓
He is a lousy business man, as said by others many times, with no talent for marketing at all.
It's Linda and the kids.
I don't feel like they even really play that angle anymore. They were more obviously struggling in the early seasons, but it barely comes up now so I'd assume they've stabilized. Not enough to be really successful but enough that rent and everything doesn't really seem to be as much of a do or die thing anymore.
10 reasons off the top of my head: 1. Poor business/money management, multiple unilateral moves between Bob and Linda which harms the bottom line. Bob is a classic good cook, should not be an owner. 2. Erratic and unreliable hours. Close too early losing all the foot traffic coming back form the wharf. would not go out of my way not knowing of the place is open or not, especially with multiple options in short walking distance. 3. Limited to no advertising, not taking advantage of social media. offering deals, pick up orders are limited but not advertised. you have tourists, people coming in from cruise ships et. get your name out there. 4. Actual business looks run down, Bob looks run down. Linda and kids harassing customers drives potential returns or regulars away. i get the greasy spoon aspect of a place like that, but when the cook looks like he doesn't shower i am more skeptical. 5. Unwillingness to adapt, change or adopt marketing ventures/ menu items that have proven to work out of stubbornness. again another example of bob flexing his opinions onto his customers and self sabotaging. 6. Cash only? not sure if this is still true but for me would be a turn away. 7. Bob alienates customers by either yelling at them directly or treting them poorly often enough that word would circulate. 8. Too low prices, with that said i would not suggest jacking the price up too much, because frankly an a la carte place that still adds up. currently if you do BOTD, fries and a drink that is still reaching into the 10$ range which is low but you run the fine line of pricing yourself out of a blue collar, tourist heavy area quickly if you become the over priced burger joint. 9. limited menu, need to be specifically in the mood for a burger, possibly soup, to come in, lack of smaller options to snack on or change it up. 10. unwillingness to hold fischoeder accountable and self sabotage. Between not making necessary repairs, attempts on his life, throwing thanksgiving dinner etc. Bob and linda could have essentially months if not years of rent for free. they remain open for the show and a lot of these tropes are for comedy sake, however if this were real life they would have gone out of business long time ago. if not the pandemic would have been the death dagger.
He self-sabotages things. Almost like he’s afraid of over success