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Restaurants are sometimes a feature of a larger complex, typically a hotel, where the dining amenities are provided for the convenience of the residents and, of course, for the hotel to maximise their potential revenue. Such restaurants are often also open to non-residents.

1 Kinds of restaurants

There exist many possible organizations for restaurants, depending on local customs and the formality and price of the meal:

• one sits down, a waiter comes to take one's order, and later brings the food; one pays after finishing eating
• one collects food from a counter and pays, then sits down and starts eating (self-service restaurant); sub-varieties:
  • one collects ready portions
  • one serves oneself from containers
  • one is served at the counter
    • a special procedure is that one first pays at the cash desk, collects a ticket and then goes to the food counter, where one gets the food in exchange for the ticket
• one orders at the counter; after preparation the food is brought to one's table; paying may be on ordering or after eating.

Depending on local customs and the establishment, restaurants may or may not serve alcoholic beverages. Often, laws governing the sale of alcohol prohibit restaurants from selling alcohol without a meal (which would be an activity for a bar, often with more severe restrictions).

Restaurants range from unpretentious lunching or dining places catering to people working nearby, with simple food served in simple settings at low prices, to expensive establishments serving refined food and wines in a formal setting. In the former case, clients are not expected to wear formal attire. In the latter case, clients generally wear formal clothing, though this varies between cultures.

Restaurants often specialize in certain types of food. For example, there are seafood restaurants, vegetarian restaurants or ethnic restaurants. Generally speaking, restaurants selling "local" food are simply called restaurants, while restaurants selling food of foreign origin are called accordingly (Chinese restaurant, French restaurant, etc...).

2 Restaurant guides

Many guides have been written over the years describing the best (and often the worst) places to eat. One of the most famous of these, in Western Europe, is the Michelin series of guides which accord from 1 to 3 stars to restaurants they perceive to be of high culinary merit. Restaurants with stars in the Michelin guide are formal, expensive establishments; the more stars, the higher the prices, in general. In the United States, the Zagat Survey rates restaurants.

3 Economics

In economics, restaurants are the end of the supply chain in the foodservice industry. There is usually too much competition in most cities since barriers to entry are relatively low, which means that for most restaurants, it is hard to make a profit. In most First World industrialized countries, restaurants are heavily regulated to ensure the health and safety of the customers.

The typical restaurant owner faces many obstacles to success, including raising initial capital, finding competent and skilled labor, maintaining consistent and excellent food quality, maintaining high standards of safety, and the constant hassle of minimizing potential liability for any food poisoning or accidentAlternate meanings: Accident (fallacy), Accident (philosophy), Accident (movie), Accident, Maryland An accident is something going wrong. Physical examples include an unintended collision (including a person or object unintendedly falling, and including as that may occur. This is why restaurants seem to come and go all the time.