One of the hardest things about finding a restaurant or snack shop you love is knowing it probably won’t be around for many years.
That’s because the food service industry is a notoriously difficult one to operate in.
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It’s estimated that nearly one in five restaurants will close down within the first year of operation. After five years, that estimate goes up to one in two restaurants.
And it’s not hard to understand why this industry is so challenging to crack.
To start, it typically takes a lot of initial investment to start a food service business.
Expensive equipment, pricey rents to attract customers in high-foot traffic areas, and design and renovation almost always take a lot of upfront capital.
And once the restaurant is ready to go, business owners must find and hire labor, which is notoriously difficult and highly seasonal. Most restaurants also suffer from high employee attrition.
Plus, a restaurant’s inventory is food, which is a highly perishable good. This often results in a lot of waste. Plus, it’s difficult to plan for food price increases.
Once a restaurant is up and running, it must maintain impeccable service from day one. If a customer has a bad experience, reviews can hurt business before it even starts.
See’s Candy is closing a popular location.
Image source: MyLoupe/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
It’s harder to operate in changing cities
But the situation gets more complicated depending on where a business operates.
For example, before Covid, some cities had a vibrant workforce that was good for other industries, like the restaurant and hospitality business.
San Francisco was one such place.
Once Covid hit, however, and many companies turned to remote work, these tangentially related businesses suffered, since they relied so heavily on proximity to these workers.
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In addition to the loss of regular business, a spike in retail crime — which included theft and organized crime — continued to hurt profits.
This resulted in something of a doom loop for San Francisco; the Bay Area Council Economic Institute estimates that over 27,000 businesses have closed in the city since 2020.
Popular candy store closing key location
And now, one large chocolate and candy shop is closing down after 30 years in business.
See’s Candies, which is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, is shuttering its Sunnyvale, Calif., location on May 11.
The store is located at 1238 W. El Camino Real, located just outside of San Francisco near San Jose.
The company has not given a reason for its closure, though it is permanent.
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The large operation was popular among tourists and locals for its large volume of offerings. It sold chocolates in large, iconic, black and white boxes and specialized in bulk orders and business gifts, per its website.
See’s Candies had operated its Sunnyvale location since 1994.
There are still approximately 200 See’s Candies locations, clustered mostly around the western U.S. in California, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.
The brand has been owned by Berkshire Hathaway since 1972.
