Woman With Two Kids Tells Dave Ramsey Her Husband Wants To Quit And Sell Their Home To Start A Restaurant Without Research Or Business Plan

Lindsey, a woman in her 30s, recently wrote to Dave Ramsey with a major concern: her husband wants to quit his job and sell their fully paid-off house to open a restaurant. The glaring problem in the whole situation is that he has no experience, has done no research, and doesn’t have a business plan.

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Ramsey’s Warning

In a post on X and a related video from “The Ramsey Show,” Ramsey naturally didn't hold back.

“The No. 1 way to go broke is to open a restaurant,” he said. “It's like freaking guaranteed.”

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Lindsey explained her husband's plan: sell their $500,000 home, move the family into an apartment, and use the money to buy a restaurant, despite having no prior experience. Meanwhile, she would continue working and bring in their only steady income of $85,000 a year.

“Oh no,” Ramsey’s co-host Rachel Cruze repeated while reading the letter. “Oh, geez. I don’t even know if I can get through this.”

Cruze emphasized that Lindsey has a voice in the matter: “You have a vote too. This is your life as well.” “And you’re on the deed of that house. So don’t sign it,” Ramsey added before pointing out that restaurants are not only risky but have one of the highest failure rates in the business world. 

He mentioned that the average restaurant has a 300% employee turnover rate per year, making it a difficult and high-stress environment to manage. “You lose all your people three times a year. That’s a lot of drama. That’s a lot of stuff to put up with.”

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A Safer Way To Pursue The Dream

Instead of jumping headfirst into such a risky move, Ramsey laid out a much more practical and safe path for anyone dreaming of opening a restaurant.

“You do a business plan,” he wrote on X. “You go to work in a restaurant. You learn the restaurant business. You work in leadership in a restaurant, management in a restaurant. You understand purchasing in a restaurant.”

He continued: “Then you redo your business plan, because now you're going to be smarter. Then you start a catering business on the side. And you grow your catering business so big that you buy a food truck.”

By that point, he said, you'll be earning enough from the catering and food truck business to open a restaurant with your own money. No need to sell your house or quit your job.

Ramsey also referenced real-world examples of failed restaurants, pointing to last year’s bankruptcy of Red Lobster. “Just ask Red Lobster. They just filed bankruptcy,” he said. “Too many shrimp.”

For Ramsey, the main point is that dreaming big is fine, but doing it without a plan or experience can result in losing everything. In Lindsey's case, he urged her to stand her ground.

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