Abstract

This research was carried out to assess the performance of micro restaurants in Cross River State, Nigeria. The study was based on primary data obtained from a proportionate random sample of 132 restaurant enterprises and analyzed using descriptive statistics, cost and return analysis, profitability ratios, and multiple regression (ordinary least square) analysis. The result of the analysis showed that ownership of restaurants in Calabar metropolis is largely dominated by females (83.3 percent) and that majority of the entrepreneurs (53.79 percent) had secondary education as their highest level of education. Monthly cost and return analysis revealed that gross margin and net income of a restaurant entrepreneur amounted to 181,258.97 naira and 172,397.63 naira respectively. The profitability index (0.26), rate of returns on investment (0.35), rate of returns on variable cost (1.36), and operating ratio (0.72) combined to suggest that restaurant business was profitable. Age, training received, years of educational training, age of business enterprise, hours spent on the business and total cost of production were among the socioeconomic variables found to have significantly contributed to the total revenue of the entrepreneurs. Restaurant operators were encouraged to explore avenues of increasing the efficient use of variable inputs in order to grow the profitability of their enterprise.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.