What r/restaurantowners keeps coming back to
Complaints raised here by more than one person. One-off posts are not included.
69 recurring problems · 242 threads read · read since September 2026 · Reddit
Raised more than once here
Most people first.
- 46How to deal with uncooperative coworkers who don't do their work“We recently have been receiving complaints from a cook A about cook B.”
- 37How to stop doing everything at once as property manager“We're busy dude - most of the time it takes all of the capacity that we have to just get the food out and on to the next order”
- 33Why are clients suddenly ghosting contracts and sales slowing down?“Just had the slowest day ever 33% loss for today.”
- 28How to handle clients who demand refunds and bully you“Anyone else get days where customers are so rude?”
- 24Why does Etsy automatically refund buyers without seller approval?“customer orders the dish but with a lot of mods.”
- 23How to handle high-pressure roofing salespeople“For example, my restaurant did about $250K in sales on UberEats/DoorDash, but $125K was discounts. So they charged royalties on $250K, even though $125K was my sales.”
- 21Why do purchased reviews disappear and drop my ranking?“Especially with DoorDash where the bag has to be sealed. How can anyone expect to-go fries to be hot and crispy? But a couple times a week we get 1 star reviews based on our to-go fries showing up cold and soggy.”
- 21How do you deal with a rigid and untrustworthy service provider?“They had already deposited the certified check I gave them but I noticed they also pulled the same amount as an ACH the following day (I had provided them ACH authorization for future transactions).”
- 20How to clean reusable cloths and sponges without cross contamination“Anyway we started washing towels ourselves, but how do you get them super clean? We use bleach & a heavy duty soap but they still have an oily smell.”
- 19Should I keep going with my stagnating business or quit?“The problem is that this guy is a fast, slick talker and so far he hasn't really done anything.”
- 18How to respond when a client says your rates are too high“I never put prices on my website. Somebody takes a look at my website on September 1 and then on December 30 they are ready to place a BEO and if the price doesnt match up...it's always some hurt feelings”
- 16Why pay for an expensive SEO suite when you barely use it?“we used to use marketman, then switched to xtra chef but found that we're paying like $500/month for a ton of fluff we don't really use... we ended up building our own and have been very happy with it.”
- 16Why do restaurant fly lights and cleaning fail to stop flies?“Hi i recently took over additional space with full kitchen and tables. We have fly lights but still seem to have issues. We mop floors and wipe down tables Any suggestions ?”
- 14How do you know HubSpot and QuickBooks are still in sync?“Between POS fees, payroll, inventory software, online ordering, and endless integrations, it sometimes feels like we’re spending more time managing software than running restaurants.”
- 11How to work on low energy days without feeling guilty“Some hours we aren’t hitting even $100 in sales. I can’t cut down to a 20% labor cost or 33% labor cost if the sales just aren’t there.”
- 11How to stay competitive when wholesale food suppliers merge“Restaurant Depot is the only reason some of us can stay competitive on proteins. I go there twice a week for chicken, pork, and whatever produce is running high from my main distributor.”
- 10How to manage multiple stores selling the exact same products“Scheduling is one problem. But Im also dealing with inventory, ordering, labor costs, employee availability and keeping both locations following the same processes. Right now we have different spreadsheets and systems for different parts of the operation, so I spend too much time pulling information together and checking that nothings been missed.”
- 10Why are marketplace seller fees so high?“It seems like a broken system. We might cancel because it isn’t really our customer base to begin with.”
- 10How do I keep posting on social media when I am too busy?“I personally hate social media but I think you must have some kind of presence on there.”
- 9Why are restaurant and cafe startup costs so high?“Complete remodel of a leased space for a new tenant -- what did you pay for and what did the landlord pay for?”
What this forum worries about more than the rest
How much more often a topic shows up here than across every forum we read.
hospitality industry87.3×food delivery87.3×commercial kitchen87.3×restaurant ownership87.3×