How Much Does It Cost to Run a Restaurant?

Mei Mei in Boston opens its books to the public to show, dollar for dollar, what it takes to run a successful restaurant, from staff wages to merchant fees

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"to share the nitty-gritty financial info with her team. She wants the public to understand it, too.

“The lack of willingness to talk about finances in this industry is holding us back,” says Li. “Culturally, we don’t talk about money at all, and my experience, even with other restaurant owners who I’m really friendly with, is that we’ll talk about all kinds of stuff. HR drama, health inspections — warts and all — but we definitely don’t talk about money. I feel like that is the last barrier that we have to break down in order to really all get on the same page and all figure out how to do a better job.”

Armed with...

Mei Mei in Boston opens its books to the public to show, dollar for dollar, what it takes to run a successful restaurant, from staff wages to merchant fees

...

"to share the nitty-gritty financial info with her team. She wants the public to understand it, too.

“The lack of willingness to talk about finances in this industry is holding us back,” says Li. “Culturally, we don’t talk about money at all, and my experience, even with other restaurant owners who I’m really friendly with, is that we’ll talk about all kinds of stuff. HR drama, health inspections — warts and all — but we definitely don’t talk about money. I feel like that is the last barrier that we have to break down in order to really all get on the same page and all figure out how to do a better job.”

Armed with the blessing of her most trusted friends and family, and a lot of nervous “wows,” Li decided that 2020 was the year to start the conversation. So, in the middle of the restaurant, as the Friday dinner crowd was beginning to pick up, we sat down to review the full profit-and-loss statement for Mei Mei for 2019 — something that any diner will soon be able to do. ..