This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Andrew Schnipper, cofounder of multiple restaurants, including Schnipper’s and Hamburger America. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
When my brother and I opened Schnipper’s in 2009, we thought having a broad menu made sense. We were focused on burgers, but we also served salads, sandwiches, and other comfort food.
At the time, we thought people would want variety because, honestly, even we were asking ourselves how many burgers someone could eat every week.
What I’ve learned over the years is that today’s customers are looking for specialists. They want restaurants that do a few things really well. That’s one of the biggest reasons our newer concept, Hamburger America, has such a focused menu.
If you look at Hamburger America, there are a couple of burgers, a couple of sandwiches, and that’s pretty much it. We’re very focused there, and as a result, we do those things very well.
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I think one of the hardest things about running a large menu is that almost everything sells to somebody. You’ll have a few blockbuster items, but even the lower-volume dishes develop loyal customers. That makes it difficult to remove anything once the menu grows too large.
Looking back, I probably would have built a more focused concept from the beginning.
How my brother and I built our restaurant business
Courtesy of Andrew Schnipper
My brother and I first got into the restaurant business in 1990 when we opened Hale and Hearty, a soup concept in New York City.
We eventually built 18 locations before selling our interest in the business in 2006. Later, we launched Schnipper’s, and eventually, we partnered with George Motz to open Hamburger America.
George had spent decades documenting hamburger history through books, documentaries, and pop-ups, but he didn’t want to open a restaurant without experienced operators. My brother and I already had experience building and running restaurants, so we decided to partner with him.
Our partnership works because we have different strengths. My brother trained as a chef and focuses heavily on the food and culinary side of the business. I focus more on operations, accounting, and building restaurants.
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We trust each other in our respective areas, and I think that level of respect is critical in any partnership, especially a family business.
Rising costs have changed the restaurant industry
The restaurant industry has changed a lot since I started. Food and labor costs have gone up dramatically, especially since the pandemic.
We’ve never seen prices increase the way they have in the last several years. We’re paying about double for meat compared with when we first opened our burger business, and prices have also gone up significantly since the pandemic. Labor costs have increased, too.
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Most restaurateurs I know want customers to feel like they got a good value. That creates a challenge because ingredient costs and labor costs keep rising, but there’s only so much you can pass along to customers before prices become too high.
I think most of us in the industry are absorbing part of those increases ourselves. We’re making a little less money than we used to.
Why I still love restaurants after all these years
Even with those challenges, I still love the business.
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However, there’s not a week that goes by that I don’t look at my brother and ask, “Why would anybody voluntarily do this for a living?”
Then you watch customers come in and enjoy what you built, and it reminds you why you’re doing it.
There’s something extraordinarily satisfying about putting out a product that people love and come back to. Especially in the lunch business, you realize you’re part of somebody’s day. People enjoy the experience, and that gives us a huge amount of satisfaction.
I really believe you either have hospitality in your DNA or you don’t. If you’re doing this just to make money, I think it’s probably a terrible idea. You really have to love hospitality, love food, and enjoy making people happy. That’s what has kept my brother and me doing this for decades.
