Most of my favourite Ghanaian restaurants and bars in London have closed down—they pop frequently and shut down just as they come up.
According to my colleague in New York, the story is the same out there: most Ghanaian restaurants, bars and clubs do not last—they seem to have an average life span of two years.
From afar, it’s is difficult to ascertain the cause of the many set ups and their predictable close downs—but as a customer, two factors come up as the possible candidates responsible for the non-sustainability of Ghanaian restaurants abroad.
They are: the low patronage by Ghanaians abroad and what seems like extortionate prices these restaurants charge. I understand these two factors are related—with the latter capable of giving rise to the former.
But let’s treat them as exclusive—meaning, the restaurant owners would blame their business failure on the fact that Ghanaians do not like to patronage their outfits, independently. And the Ghanaian customers will also perch the prices of the foods being sold by these restaurants with others, saying, they are extortionate.
In between the two groups of people, let’s share our opinions and experiences to establish who is at fault.
I’ve always had issues with waiting times when it comes to Ghanaian restaurants and I have in the past written about this. Mostly, the entire customer service makes you not want to come back—that’s if you don’t die waiting for over an hour for your order.