Support Small Businesses: Death to the "Hook-Up"

Not too long ago, I had a friend who opened a new restaurant in my neighborhood. I was very proud of his accomplishment and was not only willing to dine at his establishment, but would always take a few paper menus to share with my network so they could also experience his wonderful cooking skills and great service.

One day, after only two years in business, he told me he was closing. When I asked him why he had to close he gave me a few reasons. One was the lack of business traffic. Not everyone was a regular customer like me and few people took the time to do what I did and assist him in spreading the word to their network. Furthermore, of those close "friends" who did solicit his establishment, he had a serious problem with their unwillingness to pay full price. Sure, they might bring a few friends to eat at his restaurant, enjoy the good music, order multiple drinks from the bar, and get so full from the multiple orders of appetizers they had to put the main course in a take home container. However, when the bill came they went into full "negotiation" mode. Sometimes they would coerce my friend to take as much as half from the final bill's cost. For the times that he would stand his ground on the bill the evil looks of disgust were enough to make any person cringe, but the ensuing lack of further "support" was even more discouraging.

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