I freakin hate restraunts

[juniorc82]

I have a couple of restraunts in town and I am about at my wits end . I made a call today to offer a free touchup on a traffic lane after I thought it needed some improvement ( mainly because the district manager of the ruby tuesday restraunts cut way back and I only clean it quarterly versus every 6 weeks). I havent raised my price either yet they are saying I cost too much and the guy before me was 35 bucks cheaper . I told her that when I first started they had me clean alot more and I have to use alot more time labor and chemicals for marginal results due to their cutbacks. This lady tells me they are thinking of doing the carpet themselves to save money! have fun with that hard black restraunt grease and a rug doctor and domestic chems lol! are these people stupid ? they cant expect me to believe they are that strapped for money they have to wait every three months and saving that extra 35 bucks is life and death to them. these people are full of shit. I would almost rather be doing rental propertys at least I wont have to clean grease off of my hoses everytime I get done. I swear once I grow my business and get more residential rolling in I could give a shit less about getting lowballed to clean a pos restraubnt ever again.

 

[hogjowl]

Pull up your panties and go get some real work.

Oh, and stop whining. It pisses me off.

 

[juniorc82]

ya ya ya im bein a whiner but Ive had this acount for a while and they are jerking me around . I think we have all been there. you gotta admit there general hill billy that restraunts are at the bottom of the carpet cleaning food chain

Pull up your panties and go get some real work.

Oh, and stop whining. It pisses me off.

 

[hogjowl]

Yes they are. Even I don't do them.

So why do you?

 

[juniorc82]

ote="admiralclean"]Yes they are. Even I don't do them. because 4 years ago when I started ,me like every other new carpet cleaner I went after restraunts and rentals. Now I have been around for long enough to realize that restraunts are typicly a junk account that is nothing more than busy work

So why do you?[/quote]

 

[Jimmy L]

.

 

[hogjowl]

For a couple of years, I did some of Chavez's cousins restaurants because they were all illegal and had to pay in cash. Then, one night they turned the music up real loud and all got drunk. I rolled up my hoses halfway through the job and left before they could stab me in the back.

 

[Askal]

I will take all the restaurants I can get. Kind of like the bank robber said: Thats where the dirty carpets are. We do as well or better hourly on commercial than residential and it is great in the winter. That being said I will agree if you can't hit the production numbers then it is no good.
Al

 

[diamond brian]

Used to have a couple of Ruby Tuesdays I did here in town. When the first one opened, they took bids on monthly carpet cleaning. They called and talked me down $15! Then they quit doing it monthly. They were so cheap, I finally dumped 'em off on an up and coming porty operator.

 

[Duane Oxley]

Back when I cleaned, I did several restaurants.. A Thai, a Chinese, an Indian, 3 Italians, an "eclectic" a Mexican and a bar that served good "bar food".

The Chinese guy did exactly what you're talking about. The first time I cleaned his place, he was amazed at the results. So was I. But it took me 3 hours to do a place that should have taken 1 at the most. Since he was so impressed and all, I was sure he'd call me the next month. He didn't. I called him. "Oh. No, not yet.", he said. "I'll call you." This went on for 3 months, until he finally called me. The carpet was trashed as before (It looked like someone took buckets of soy sauce and threw them into the traffic areas. The carpet was normally emerald green.) So, 3 hours later, he was pleased as before. I lectured him on the necessity of monthly cleanings, which he agreed to. Yet, it was 3 months before he called me again. I told him that I quit working at night.

I actually liked doing restaurants. I had super heat and flow and a good pre-spray. But every now and then, I'd run into one like the above. The thing is that they were all Chinese, for some reason.

 

[Nate The Great]

Back when I cleaned, I did several restaurants.. A Thai, a Chinese, an Indian, 3 Italians, an "eclectic" a Mexican and a bar that served good "bar food".

The Chinese guy did exactly what you're talking about. The first time I cleaned his place, he was amazed at the results. So was I. But it took me 3 hours to do a place that should have taken 1 at the most. Since he was so impressed and all, I was sure he'd call me the next month. He didn't. I called him. "Oh. No, not yet.", he said. "I'll call you." This went on for 3 months, until he finally called me. The carpet was trashed as before (It looked like someone took buckets of soy sauce and threw them into the traffic areas. The carpet was normally emerald green.) So, 3 hours later, he was pleased as before. I lectured him on the necessity of monthly cleanings, which he agreed to. Yet, it was 3 months before he called me again. I told him that I quit working at night.

I actually liked doing restaurants. I had super heat and flow and a good pre-spray. But every now and then, I'd run into one like the above. The thing is that they were all Chinese, for some reason.

Racist bastid!

I know what you mean. We have a pretty big population of Asian people here and it's mostly the ones from a 3rd world that are like that. :shock:

 

[Jimmy L]

.

 

[KevinL]

I still do a few but I fired the Chinese. And the damn word "restaurant" is so hard to spell.

 

[Duane Oxley]

I know what you mean. We have a pretty big population of Asian people here and it's mostly the ones from a 3rd world that are like that. :shock:

The Thai restaurant I did was actually owned and operated by Laotian people. They had me do it once a month and were super- clean. They had a large window into the kitchen, with the woks on the other side, so you could stand right there and watch them cook.

Great food. (I ate there several times a week, especially in Winter.) Super- nice people. (They always invited me to eat with them on nights I was cleaning their place.)

 

[tmdry]

I fired my last account which were 4 filthy restys we were doing monthly yet they wanted it done 6-8 weeks and always complained about every freaking thing. The stress was unreal w/ these idiots. Deff not worth it, you will have a panic attack dealing w/ morons like that.

 

[Bjorn]

 

[roro]

We give two prices - initial clean and maintenance clean.
Period between cleans is stipulated by us.
If it goes over that period then they get charged at the intiial price again.
Works for us.

roro

 

[Ron Werner]

I've got one resty I've been cleaning since 96, every month to every other month, give them a decent rate. They give me a meal each time too. Good food!

When I raised my min to $150, a resty that I had been cleaning for $100 stopped using me. I just told him that I understand but that I couldn't drive into the city for 11 pm and spend an hour and half for $100.

I've a couple others that I clean at 40 cents/sf.
I don't have many, and a couple I've quoted didn't call back. Fine by me.

 

[rhino1]

I don't do restaurants....EVER!!! When they call I tell them I'm sorry but we don't clean restaurants. If they want to know why I tell them that carpets are usually in bad condition, they take too long to pay, and they are only looking for the cheapest price - they will drop you the minute some newbie with a porty comes along for $10 cheaper.

 

[BLewis]

Not to be different however, I love doing restaurants. I grew to loath managing and supervising them after 34 years of working all weekends and all holidays.

Now I feel it refreshing to be getting paid extra for cleaning them at night after all those years! Yeah, they are fickle and their bottom lines are shrinking like everone elses except for hospitals and banks. I think they are less likely to change carpet cleaners than resys because once they have settled on a company that does a half way decent job and are fairly dependable they don't usally like taking the risk of switching. I find it very hard to break this bond that they form.

However I will look very forward to going to the mailbox and getting their checks out this winter.

 

[Ken Snow]

We make restaurants pay at tie of service, they take in plenty of cash, or with gift card.

 

[hogjowl]

I've heard that Billy has a unique way of making sure they pay him on time.

He just sends his little boy in to talk them to death until they pay him to leave.

 

[Mikey P]

I enjoy the occasional grease pit.

Lets me try out all this free crappy cancerous pre spray.

 

[Ernie G]

When we sold our first business 24yrs. ago in So. Cal., we cleaned over 100 restys a month. It was a love-hate relationship, we loved the steady income, hated the hours and head-ache's. We charged 2-3 times more than anyone in the area, so it was profitable. When we started our business, I always said, cleaning restys would be temporary, until I got the business going. Well, the resty business grew much faster then anything else, at one point we had 125 restys, good money, lousy hours. We don't clean restys anymore, when they call we just tell them we can recommend someone else.

 

[ACE]

The money is where you find it. I have a few customers I will be telling to KMA in the spring. Some companies make great money cleaning rentals and restaurants others don’t find them profitable. You defiantly have to negotiate and be proactive with restaurants to make it work. Ross’s initial price and maintenance price it a good idea.

 

[Ernie G]

On commercial work in general, there is almost always a first time restoritive cleaning charge, and then a maintenance cleaning program with a discounted price based on often we clean.

 

[Leslie Judson Jones]

 

[Bjorn]

 

[Chris A]

I only do one, and it's a nice steak type joint. No big deal, hit it in the morning before it opens.

 

[BLewis]

Good one Marty! Fortunately I haven't had to send him in lately!

I have two accounts that I get paid on by cc so money in bank by that night. I have 3 others that if job is completed by Wed. I will have a check in mail by Friday. Gotta loves these. Most others pay very regularly at 30 days once the first payment is recieved.

I have been blessed to only have one that was late on paying the first time, meaning we were cleaning every 2 weeks and we had cleaned it 6 times going on 7 before I turned my wife loose on their accounts payable at the corp office. However about the time they were caught up they decided to go to cleaning only when they called. I told them fine (actually was kinda glad on this one) however, the price would go up $100 since they would not be cleaning on a regular basis. From my experience when you are getting paid late it is because they have "crap" managers operating those places. They're not good at running their units and even worse at making a bottom line profit. These mgrs are the ones that are always behind on posting invoices and lack disicpline.

Ken, that's one thing I like about the China and Hispanic ran restaurants, is that you get paid when the job is complete without even asking. I have found with our methods and the Vortex that these usually only take about 30 min to an hour longer than others.