As a retired restaurateur, I’m always disappointed with my active brethren who are quick to lay blame on outside influences for disappointing results in their business. Yes, we probably have too many dining options right now, and we certainly always think the game is easier once you aren’t playing anymore.

But the game isn’t easy, nowhere more so than in the Twin Cities and especially Minneapolis. If you want to blame local government policies for difficulties in your business, you have an energetic partner in our city council. The old pie-chart of costs (a third for food, a third for labor, and a third for everything else) was turned upside down with the passage of the new Minneapolis minimum wage scale. I watched as my little local (Eli’s downtown) got hit with a likely $50,000 annual labor cost increase, which ate up all or almost all of any meager profit it might have been making. A lousy return on investment went to a net loss with the stroke of a pen.

Today, if you don’t have a hefty expense account, your nights out for dinner will be reduced in direct proportion to the increase in prices required to run a business. Now my neighbors and I stand with our noses pressed against the shuttered windows at Eli’s, hoping that rumors of a new tenant for the space someday come true.

But there are some who have stopped whining and built a formula that does succeed. When one of the third-third-third slices of the pie is obliterated by outside influences, you need a new formula. Look at Eli’s North, or A-Side in St. Paul. Check out uber-successful spots like Diane’s Place, Oro by Nixta, and Vinai, or the venerable Murray’s and Mancini’s. Or, of course, see any of the Hazelwood restaurants. They offer quality food, relatively friendly pricing and perceived value, well-trained staff, plus the rest of the package (cleanliness, lighting, music/TV, sound level, decor, parking, and hard, hard work).

In my opinion, many city restaurants have tried solving the new problems by cutting head count, reducing service levels, shaving business hours in a downward spiral, shortcutting food quality, and playing menu games, like increasing side-salad pricing because you need so many dollars per seat (ignoring the revenue from the other three seats at the table). Worst of all: confusing guests with fees for “fair” wages, healthcare, service, and now-ubiquitous credit card charges.

When we were learning the business working at Lutsen Resort on the North Shore, our chef created professional standards that a lot of people either hadn’t figured out or chose to ignore. One of his favorite complaints was that our Lutsen highway sign said “Home Cookin.” He said, “We’re professionals here, if you want home cookin’, stay home and cook.”

You may have started in this business because you love to cook or you’re a hospitality natural and you want to follow your passion. Good for you, but grow into the professional standards that will sustain your business for the long term—the sooner the better. A professionally run business provides a quality product at a fair price. That price is defined up front and includes all of the elements of a professional restaurant mentioned above. Don’t play games, don’t be greedy, treat your staff like professionals, make a reasonable return on your investment of time and money, work as hard as you need to for the business to survive, and love and appreciate your guests. They will know that they are getting a quality product for a fair price.

When Americans are in Europe, they know what they are going to pay when they look at the menu. You don’t have to add 30% at the end and do arithmetic to figure out what you can afford. We can do that here if we rethink and rework our business plan to make it seamless for our guests. They have problems of their own and want to be cared for when they come to us.

John Zesbaugh lives in Minneapolis and has worked at Lutsen Resort, Trump’s in Stillwater, and Tejas in Minneapolis, and he was owner with wife Mary of Manhattan Beach Lodge and Bites Grill & Bar in the Brainerd Lakes area. They are now retired.