What is founder dependency and why does it matter?

It is when the restaurant only works while the owner is physically in it — holding the standards, the relationships and the decisions in their head. It feels like dedication, but it is a structural weakness: the business cannot scale, cannot be sold for its full value, and breaks the moment the founder tires or steps back. Building the systems that let the operation run without you is what turns a job into a business.

From Why Restaurants Fail: The Honest Reasons, From the Turnaround Chair — the full reading, with the method behind this answer.