# I'm a chef that owns his own restaurant!!! I need help!!!



## cajunfman (Aug 16, 2012)

I opened a QSR 2 years ago.

I need help getting my food cost down!!!

so far this year we have sold we have had 19,862.86 in sales. Our costs have been 19,782.43. So No profit and I can not even pay myself or my partner. How do I get the cost down....is there anyone that can help?

Thanks


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## chefbillyb (Feb 8, 2009)

$19,800 in sales divided by 30 weeks is $660 a week ????????? is that about it..........I figure QSR is Quick service restaurant ???? is that about right..............I don't think controlling cost is the problem, I think increasing sales, is the answer.........if you have low sales and high fixed costs your screwed. Whats the rest of the story ???????????? ChefBillyB


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

I agree with ChefBilly  you need to boost your sales, you need volume. If all you do is $660.00 a week you willo never show a profit and never be able to pay yourselves. At this rate I don't care if your in the lowest rent district in the world, between taxes, electricity, gas, permits,uniforms(aprons) you are screwed. Sell it and get into something else before you have to pour more in.


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## cajunfman (Aug 16, 2012)

We opened this location in April so from April to July that is just 16 weeks so thats about 1200 a week. We are a one of a kind in a low income area. We are working on advertising to let people know we are open. I know we need to get people in the door. But I need to know how to get food cost down. 

Please no judgments just information on how to do this would be great. :O)


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## cajunfman (Aug 16, 2012)

you can't sell something you created!!! And we are in a low income area Michigan!!!


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

Lock the back door, or at least put an alarm on it!

Check the garbage cans, cut your waste!

Eliminate spoilage.

Find less expensive suppliers.


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## cajunfman (Aug 16, 2012)

we use GFS and Sams club only 4 people work here we have hardly no waste and we sell everything before it goes bad.

May be our prices are to low?


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## meezenplaz (Jan 31, 2012)

you know, there be several good minds in here, and loads of managing experience, so we could probably help you figure some things out....but its a two way street--many factors go into running a food establishment, and trying to extract the info needed to help you piece-by-piece is likely to make the process a lot harder. Might I suggest you think over everything youre doing and maybe make a longer more detailed post expaining things?


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## cajunfman (Aug 16, 2012)

Meezenplaz said:


> you know, there be several good minds in here, and loads of managing experience, so we could probably help you figure some things out....but its a two way street--many factors go into running a food establishment, and trying to extract the info needed to help you piece-by-piece is likely to make the process a lot harder. Might I suggest you think over everything youre doing and maybe make a longer more detailed post expaining things?


Of course. What would you like to know. We are a 4 man operation. We are open 6 days a week from 11am to 10pm. we average 30 tickets a day but the last week of the month is dead maybe 15 a day. We are in Michigan. I have no idea how to estimate what food cost is. I need some easy formula to figure it out. How do I at the end of the day and I count my money do I split it up into different accounts or just go into on lump account? I just want to do what is right and make sure I'm not spending to much or not getting enough for my food. I can send you to my website if you like.

I just need some advice.


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

Add up your food invoices/receipts for a single month and that will tell you your food cost per month.

There is no _formula_ for food cost! There *is* a formula for calculating food cost percentage:

FCP = (FC/GS)*100, where FCP = food cost percentage, FC = $ spent on food, GS = $ sold

Sit down TONIGHT. Sort through ALL your receipts, check stubs, credit card receipts, debit card receipts, etc. and total up ALL that you spent for food in the last 30 days.

Hm, one curious thought, are YOU handling the register? Sometimes money has a way of evaporating...


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## chefbillyb (Feb 8, 2009)

Cajun, $1200 a week = $200 a day = $18.18 per hour. With these kinds of sales, you could not even make it in a food truck, with no labor, and basic overhead expenses. Food cost has nothing to do with you making money. You need to concentrate on bringing in bodies, 30 covers a day, with a one week a month with 15 cover days, is the beginning of the end. Get some people in the place, until then fire the whole crew.......ChefBillyB


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

Increasing sales will lower your costs. Sales can be increased by getting more people in the door,  or increasing check average, or by raising prices, or a combination of these.

Without sales increasing, the simpliest way to dramatically affect your bottom line in a four man operation is to lower your labor cost by eliminating a position or at least by cutting back hours.

The national average profit margin for restaurants is in the 2-6% range. QSR restaurants are usually at the 6% end. You are at about .6%. If you increase your number of guests by 1%, raise your prices by 2%, increase your check average by 2%, lower your labor cost .5%; then you will be there.

What is your web site?


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

Your costs were $19782.42. How much did you spend on food and beverage? Take that figure and divide it by 19862.86. Then multiply that by 100 and that will be your food and beverage cost percentage. For a QSR it should be around 32%.

How much did you spend on labor. Take that figure and divide it by 1982.86. Then multiply that by 100 and that will be your labor cost percentage. For a QSR it should be around 29%.


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## someday (Aug 15, 2003)

Yeah, we'd need a lot more information before we could begin to help you in a more meaningful way.

I don't say this to be cruel, but you seem to have little to no idea about what you are doing. You say you opened this location in April? But you also opened it 2 years ago? Is it seasonal? Or do you have multiple locations?

Everything everyone else said is 100% right of course. You seem to be confusing some terms as well. *Food* *cost* is how much money you spend on food. You should not have to estimate this number...you (I assume) have invoices and receipts from all your purchases for food, so all you have to do is add them up to get the amount of money you spend on food.

The food cost percent is how much of a percentage you spent on food as it relates to your gross income. The lower you can get this number, obviously, the more money you have to spend elsewhere and/or profit.

There are a few ways to go about this. If indeed it is true that you have hardly no waste and sell everything you make before it goes bad, then I would look at a couple factors first.

The first thing I would do is make sure your prices are where they should be. If you don't charge enough for your food, you won't make money. In fact, I've seen places that actually end up loosing money on some items by the time labor and other things are factored in. You need to know how much money it costs you to put a portion of food on a plate and make sure you are making money at the price you are selling it at.

Do you use a lot of pre-made, frozen, convenience food that you either deep fry or reheat? Things that you "just add water" to and pull out of the freezer? These things, while convenient, are (at least as a general rule) more expensive than the house-made alternative. If you, for example, use pre made frozen chicken fingers instead of cutting and breading your own chicken, you are almost assuredly paying more. Same thing goes for soups, sauces, onion rings, hush puppies, etc.

Are your employees stealing from you? Hey, I'll let you in on a secret. If you run a restaurant/kitchen, your employees WILL steal from you. I would say that 100% of restaurants in the country have some form of "theft." Theft can be things like making themselves lunch, sending a friend an order of "free" fries, drinking soda. It can, of course, be more damaging and obvious things like walking home with a steak wrapped in clingfilm in their pocket, or taking money from the till, or alcohol, or office supplies, toilet paper....the list goes on.

I'm not suggesting that everyone in every restaurant is a thief...though that also might depend on your tolerance level and what you consider theft. Is the waitress drinking a Coke really a THIEF? It depends on your definition and what you allow....if you allow employees to have a cup of coffee or two in the morning, or to make themselves chicken sandwiches for lunch, that is OK and totally up to you. You just have to know and account for it.

I don't know if Sam's Club is cheaper than a vendor....I would think that Sam's Club would still be more expensive than ordering things from a vendor, but I haven't done a lot of shopping at Sam's Club so I don't know. Just make sure that you are looking at more than one vendor so you can bargain shop and get the best prices.

Did you know you can sometimes negotiate with vendors? A lot of chef's don't do it, but you can sometimes talk them down...especially on meat and fish prices. Never hurts to ask for a deal. Say..."hey listen, I'm thinking of putting tilapia on my menu, but your price is a little higher than I would like. I'm going to be buying a lot of tilapia in the next 6 months, is $8 a pound really the best you can do?"

You might also try a book search on amazon for basic restaurant food cost and controlling costs in restaurants. There are many out there....


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

How can any of us help you bring food cost % down?

      We don't know what you are selling, and  what your selling price is, nor do we know what you are buying and at what price.

    Nor do we know your portion sizes

 . You give us some of these and MAYBE we can help you.

Also based on your volume it would be cheaper at costco or sams >

    Why ? because if you needed a # 10 can of tomatoes to prep something , you would not have to buy a case and have 5 cans sitting in the storeroom for a month. Thats your MONEY tied up on shelf.

  Again we can't give you info unless you give us some .You have over 200 years of experience  in these answers above  USE THEM.

   Also re theft  Sorry but Most everyone has a bit of larceny built into them. Thats human nature. A secretary takes 2 paper clips from her office, Thats theft but nothing substancial, but now times it by x amount of employees 250 days a year and becomes  a lot.


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## cajunfman (Aug 16, 2012)

thanks for all the answers!!! We opened our 1st location 2 years ago. The building was hell and the owner fixed nothing spent almost 10 grand getting it ready for inspection passed had it open for a year and a half. Not a good location and the building was falling apart. Found a better location with tons of traffic so we moved there. atouchofcajuncafe.com is the website. We only use frozen fries and jumbo shrimp. Everything else is fresh. we buy #10 cans of tomato paste and ketchup. Our meat market gives us the best prices in town. Fryer greas is killing me at $32 a box and it takes 2 per fryer and I have 2 fryers that have to be changed oh every 3 to 5 days. We do give big portions. Our tacos are the cheapest in town. We use ground chuck and get it for 1.89 a pound. Cajun sausage is really expensive. Um we use red & green peppers and onions in everything.

There are not a lot of venders in our area so we have to look in Detroit. I am waiting for a call from Sherwood but they mostly deal with meat. I am not really sure of any other vendors that deliver here. Most restaurants in the area deal directly with Sherwood or GFS

My partner is working on Marketing. We are doing our best to get bodies in here. Working on contracts with the plants in the area. DOing tons ov fest and events to let people know we are open.

I think that our prices are low. Although guest come in and say "hmmm Catfish and fries 5.99 how many pieces", I say "1 its a 7 ounce fillet", they say "thats to much, when I can get 3 down the street for that".....that is frustrating although I know there catfish is see threw and that they slice the fillet into 3 instead of just giving them the one.


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## rbrad (Apr 29, 2011)

using the catfish as an example ... it has a lot to do with perceived value ,especially in a low income area ; you would be better off giving three smaller pieces than one 7 oz fillet. also giving them another piece for $2.99 is giving two people a chance to eat a substantial meal for just over $4 each. most of the prices seem too low but the price of the platters in comparison to regular menu prices appear disproportionately high. i wonder if your chicken platter that consists of chicken wings and two sides would go over better if it was a roasted chicken with two sides. how much alligator and frog legs do you sell .... dead stock isn't good for your numbers. having a grilled cheese for $1.49 is a bad idea,if you give people a choice of something that cheap they will go for it;even if your margins are fine if 100 people ordered that you still would only have $149 in the till which is nothing. $1 hot dogs... same thing. unless you're using it as a vehicle to sell booze $.70 taco tuesday is a waste of your time and money. a kids hotdog is more than a regular hotdog, does it include fries? your website says ..... daily specials ---- call for specials , it might be better to update every day or use facebook or twitter to let people know. are there a lot of people from louisiana in the neighbourhood or are you you kind of an ethnic place? you mentioned mardi gras, do you serve alcohol and if you do would you do better by becoming a new orleans style neighbourhood bar instead of a cafe? dirty rice and jambalaya as sides are the same price ... has the menu been costed out or did you just pick prices you thought the market could bear? it probably would be good to bring in a consultant to do some menu design and costings but be careful; make sure it's someone with a good reputation. if you want to run cheaper specials to bring people in only do it during the last week of the month when everyone is broke. if you use red and green peppers in everything what is the ratio .... the cost of red peppers in february can kill you. there just seems to be a lot of small things becoming a big thing, i think with a little more structure you might be able to pull it off.


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## brandon odell (Aug 19, 2012)

cajunfman said:


> I opened a QSR 2 years ago.
> 
> I need help getting my food cost down!!!
> 
> ...


You can't know you need to get your food cost down if you don't already know your food cost, so we don't know that food cost is even a problem.

I completely agree with everyone who brings up sales. You just can't make a living running a restaurant that only does $50K per year. In a well run QSR, you can expect your prime cost (food plus labor, taxes and benefits) to be at least 50%, and up to 60%. Most well run restaurants still spend 8-10% of sales on occupancy costs (rent, CAM or triple net, property insurance, equipment leases), in addition to 10-12% on other expenses. That means a well run quick service restaurant can only make 20-30%. The national average is 10% according to the National Restaurant Association.

Even if you are running in tip top shape and turning a 30% profit margin like a few pizza places, Sonics and delis, that is only $15K on $50K in sales. That would be okay if you were able to pay yourself a living wage out of the restaurant payroll. At $50K in sales, your labor budget can't be more than $15K itself. That's not much money to pay four employees. I assume only two of the employees are getting paid and the two partners are working for free? If you had your 30% profit margin (which isn't a reasonable expectation despite the fact several restaurant can achieve it), that would only be $15K to split between you and your partner. What a waste of time for all your hard work.

The point to my post is this; You need sales. Nothing else matters. Two employees are enough to serve 30 customers a day. Let the employees run the restaurant and get out there on the street to get people into your restaurant. Forget the festivals and trade shows. That isn't where your market is. Your market is within a mile of your restaurant. If you have heavy vehicle traffic, easy access and a good sized parking lot, your market is within a 3 mile radius. Forget everyone else until you actually capture the people in that radius.

You have to get your food into people's mouths. From 10am until your lunch rush, you and your partner both should be passing out samples on the street and taking them into area businesses with copies of your menu. You need to be wherever people are before lunch, to give them a reason to come eat at your restaurant. A decent tradeshow usually costs $500-$1000K for a booth. For that cost, you could pass out free tacos every morning for two weeks, and people would know what your food tastes like.

From there, it's just a matter of making sure your product is great, and you can get it into your customer's hands within 2 minutes of them ordering it. 3 minutes max.

Another thing. If you only have 30 customers a day, you don't need a big menu. You would be better off having two or three great items that can be fired out fast, allowing you to serve more people during a rush, use less employees and make more revenue.

Brandon O'Dell


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## meezenplaz (Jan 31, 2012)

Some additional thoughts, (and I fear I may be restating some things...)

so far as the money/theft is concerned, first question is, are your drawers for each shift balancing?

All cash in drawer plus all credit receipts coinciding with the total ticket amount for that shift?

And are all the tickets consecutive numbers--no missing ticket numbers?

Also does your cash register have an internal duplicate receiptsystem? (I have seen THAT one feature catch more "disappearing receits" than just about anything.) So it's the dollar bills-with-legs, and the vanishing tickets you have to keep the closest eye on, not so much the coffee and fries, especially with you determining a low waste/product loss number.

As to accounting, like any other sales system with monthly variables, the longer you "walk it out" the more accurate your numbers are. So a 3 or 4 month tally of materials costs would be more spot on than one month--something to keep in mind.

Regarding suppliers, keep a close eye on what youre spending--as your sales volume increases (which MUST happen) you'll eventually reach a point where sams/costco is less economical than a supplier. It's all about volume--the bigger the order the better deals you can (potentially) get.

Prices....I could be wrong, but I'm intuiting that it might be better to keeep your prices stable right now, and concentrate on badly needed volume, than risk losing any of your current business to higher prices. Seems to me you cant afford to lose even one steady customer right now, because he/she got irked that they have to pay more for their lunch than they did last week. I've seen 10-year regulars "walk away" from a restaurant & never return over 30 or 40 cents. Same appplies to the menu... you go tampering with it now to compensate for low sales and you may just be further feeding those low sales.

Now  its up to you how to keep customers happy, e.g., like whether its strategic to cut your catfish into pieces to appear more competitive, etc., a judgement call on your part.

　

-Meez


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## chefbillyb (Feb 8, 2009)

Hi Cajunfman, Happy Sunday, you off today. As far as food cost goes, the Tacos at .80 and .90 cents has to be a loser, the sliders also at .75 is another one that needs looking at. What is a Cat Fish Fillet going for now ?????????? I was just on the Oregon Coast, Fish and Chips in all places, $14 to $16 a order wit h fries and slaw. The fried seafood platter is $17, I think you see where I'm going with this.

  I think, you are in the wrong place with your restaurant, you need to be up town dealing with people that can afford your kind of menu. Your Restaurant doesn't have any YELP reviews or Tripadviser reviews, this tells me, your only known in a small area to a few people, and this isn't a area that people want to travel down to at night. I would rather move up town that try to grind it out with people nickle and diming you to death. Your food looks good, the menu may need some tweaking, but all in all you just need bodies. I don't think the bodies you have in a mile radius, are the bodies that will bring you over the top and make you a successful operation..............ChefBillyB


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## cajunfman (Aug 16, 2012)

rbrad said:


> using the catfish as an example ... it has a lot to do with perceived value ,especially in a low income area ; you would be better off giving three smaller pieces than one 7 oz fillet. also giving them another piece for $2.99 is giving two people a chance to eat a substantial meal for just over $4 each. most of the prices seem too low but the price of the platters in comparison to regular menu prices appear disproportionately high. i wonder if your chicken platter that consists of chicken wings and two sides would go over better if it was a roasted chicken with two sides. how much alligator and frog legs do you sell .... dead stock isn't good for your numbers. having a grilled cheese for $1.49 is a bad idea,if you give people a choice of something that cheap they will go for it;even if your margins are fine if 100 people ordered that you still would only have $149 in the till which is nothing. $1 hot dogs... same thing. unless you're using it as a vehicle to sell booze $.70 taco tuesday is a waste of your time and money. a kids hotdog is more than a regular hotdog, does it include fries? your website says ..... daily specials ---- call for specials , it might be better to update every day or use facebook or twitter to let people know. are there a lot of people from louisiana in the neighbourhood or are you you kind of an ethnic place? you mentioned mardi gras, do you serve alcohol and if you do would you do better by becoming a new orleans style neighbourhood bar instead of a cafe? dirty rice and jambalaya as sides are the same price ... has the menu been costed out or did you just pick prices you thought the market could bear? it probably would be good to bring in a consultant to do some menu design and costings but be careful; make sure it's someone with a good reputation. if you want to run cheaper specials to bring people in only do it during the last week of the month when everyone is broke. if you use red and green peppers in everything what is the ratio .... the cost of red peppers in february can kill you. there just seems to be a lot of small things becoming a big thing, i think with a little more structure you might be able to pull it off.


We sell a lot of alligator!!! Right now our supplier can not get it and our waiting list grows everyday...have over 50 people on the waiting list.

We are a take out restaurant with only 5 tables and some counter seating. We do not sell booze. Kids hot dog come with fries and a drink

The specials page has not been updated on the site.

We have twitter and 2 facebook pages (fb is updated throughout the day everyday we are open)

Dirty rice and Jambalaya are the same price.

We are the only Cajun restaurant in a 100 mile radius. Mardi Gras is our theme and my family is from New Orleans

Red peppers cost me 23 bucks for a case of 30 lasts us about 2 weeks and is used in just about every dish

We love the menu but are taking off a few things to include the grilled cheese & kids meal.


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## cajunfman (Aug 16, 2012)

well I love all of your thoughts and ideas.

Here in Saginaw Michigan the economy hit hard.

I know changing prices tooo much will throw off our regulars. So I have to do that slowly.

Every other restaurant sells tacos for 1.25.

Our sliders are 2oz burgers and they cost more then white castle.

We are doing our best to get customers in. We are applying for a federal grant to move out to the "good" side of town but because there are only 3 restaurants on the east side we thought we would do well as this community has taken us a loving to us.

I costed out most sides but I see they are still under the curve.

Any other ideas please please send them on my way


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## cajunfman (Aug 16, 2012)

> A decent tradeshow usually costs $500-$1000K for a booth. For that cost, you could pass out free tacos every morning for two weeks, and people would know what your food tastes like.
> From there, it's just a matter of making sure your product is great, and you can get it into your customer's hands within 2 minutes of them ordering it. 3 minutes max.
> 
> Brandon O'Dell


we have festivals here that the whole city come to and the food there is local restaurants we do them to get out name and food out there. They cost 100 bucks for the fee. So we always sell out and then we get some traffic from them.

All food is cooked to order so there is no way to get wings out in 3 minutes...or a half chicken. Then what?


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## cajunfman (Aug 16, 2012)

big question....where do you add the cost of the to go containers? Is that part of food cost?


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

For a takeout place, YES, in my opinion.

Not really a "food cost", but still a cost.

Labor and overhead, i.e. rent, utilities, laundry/Linens, etc., are monthly expenses. $2,600/month = $100/day, divide that be the number of tickets and you can see how much each ticket has to supply to overhead, if you have 30 tickets, on average, $3.33 of each ticket goes to overhead

Food and Takeout supplies, i.e. clamshells, cups, napkins, forks & spoons, are all variable costs.

Takeout supplies probably run somewhere around $1.25 to $1.75 per ticket, maybe less, depending on what you are using. Obviously, a paper hot dog boat is not that much but a styrofoam clamshell, fork, knife, and spoon, napkin, salt & pepper can easily add up. Even paper bags cost $$$!


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## brandon odell (Aug 19, 2012)

cajunfman said:


> we have festivals here that the whole city come to and the food there is local restaurants we do them to get out name and food out there. They cost 100 bucks for the fee. So we always sell out and then we get some traffic from them.
> 
> All food is cooked to order so there is no way to get wings out in 3 minutes...or a half chicken. Then what?


Restaurants that brand and build themselves as "fast food", who can't get their food out fast fail. If you can't get it out in 2-3 minutes, it doesn't belong in a fast food restaurant. Chickens can be roasted and held warm to sell, so they can be done easily in under 2 minutes if you have the equipment. If you don't, you shouldn't sell them in my opinion. Concepts that bill themselves as "QSRs", but don't meet the expectations of QSR customers, namingly _fast_ food, don't usually make it.

Here's something else to think about since you don't have much seating. If I have an item I can make and serve in 2 minutes, I can serve twice as many of them in the same amount of time you can serve a 4 minute preparation item. That might not make a difference now since you aren't packed all the time, but consider how much more money you can make selling twice as much food from 11:30 to 1:30 during your lunch rush. There is no place in a quick service restaurant for items that take longer than 3 minutes to cook, unless it can be cooked and held until ordered, without hurting the quality. That's pretty hard to do if you only have 30 customers a day.

In the short term, I wouldn't worry about the menu OR the costs. If you don't get more people coming in your restaurant, nothing else will matter.


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## chefchrisd (May 20, 2012)

Just an observation  -  if you find your customers constantly complaining that they can get a better deal else where, cut your portion sizes and be THE cheapest in town. Everyone is on a budget nowadays and the poor are only getting poorer. The customer is always right yeah? Your menu looks great as does the pictures of the food chef, but sometimes there's not always a market for grandiose cuisine, you're going to make more money cutting your portion sizes, advertising you're the best deal in town for catfish and whatever else, all the while still making the best tasting food around. The photo of the inside of your restaurant looks very small, you should also push quick food. Is there a business group you can capitalize on in the area? Maybe drop some po' boys off to an office complex?

I don't think nickle and diming your operational costs is going to get you very far in this situation.

Good luck,

Chris


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

EVERYBODY WILL TELL YOU THEY CAN GET IT CHEAPER. YOUR ANSWER SHOULD BE CAN YOU GET IT AS GOOD?  i have to agree with Pete re to go containers . You must add it in. $2600.00 per month is $86.66 per day divided by 30 covers is $.2.88 . If no hi volume very hard to work with example divided by 60 covers would be $1.44 with only thing that should increase slightly would be food cost%. Electric,labor,linen rent,  garbage removal, stay the same be it 30 or 60 or even 100.  With only 30 a day be honest wit you it doas not even pay.


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## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

Really great advice from the chefs.

Being in pastry I can only speak to that.

Drop the cookies and add a bread pudding made with your stale rolls and buns.

Offer a kick ass sauce with a touch of whiskey and a handful of plumped raisins and toasted pecans.

If your baker is open to this suggestion, swap the pineapple rings for crushed and drained pineapple.

Pineapple upside down is one of my faves and this way every serving has the same amt of pineapple /brown sugar goodness.

I said I was not gonna do this but, why the tilapia?

If you want to have 2 fish choices, do a "fresh from market" daily.

Get up at four am and visit the market with an open mind.

Snapper, cleaned and scaled (leave on the head), stuff the cavity with fresh parsley and dill (still on the stem) lemon wheels and garlic butter, then make a few slashes on the side and add more butter and lemon and maybe some pepper.... properly broiled falls right off the big bones that are inherent to this type fish.

Redfish on the half shell (simply clean and split from stern to bow, leave the scales) dot each half with butter and some cajun spices then bake (cover with some foil or an oven proof pan, then remove covering at very end to get some color.) Meat will be moist and tender and flavorful as well as easy to eat as the flesh can be spooned up in huge chunks.

Whole flounder can be served whole, stuffed with chefed's seafood dressing recipe.

Drizzle with butter, bake and then flash in the salamander for some color.

Serve with some lemon wedges.

All three of these dishes I have either eaten or seen on a menu in NOLA (and other than the fish, you should have all the mise on hand already).

What I am getting at is you need a dish that is so addictive that you have customers coming back for more (and bringing a friend).

If done right, your covers should increase exponentially.


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## cajunfman (Aug 16, 2012)

flipflopgirl said:


> Really great advice from the chefs.
> 
> Being in pastry I can only speak to that.
> 
> ...


This is the partner...a baker LOL

We do bread pudding and I do the pineapple that way!! LOL

I have to keep cookies because I get orders everyday for them.

Why tilapia because it is a fave up here!! We sell alot of it and catfish and well it is cheap to get cost me .87 cents a fillet. All other fish is crazy expensive here and the fish msrket will not budge.

We would have to drive 2 hours to detroit to get any kind of deal and well with gas being 3.93 today that is just not something we can do. But I love those recipes and will keep them in mind.


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## cajunfman (Aug 16, 2012)

Well I think I am hearing we are just not a QSR then. And that is something we do not want to be. We want fresh home cooked meals. Something you just can not get in this area. We know our food is better then the other 3 restaurants here because we have tried them all. We know we give the most food and our customers know that to. Esp when the owners and families of the other businesses frequent our establishment. And then add our stuff to their menus.....


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Try and build your menu withingredients that cn beused as a component part of a large amount of dishes. This way your inventory of items is less. As you say you use peppers in everything BUT when they are not in season or price is realy hi what do you do.  As far as frying oil if you strain daily and when not at peak time turn 1 off. and the  other one temp down it will last a lot longer.


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## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

Sorry!

I had looked at the menu and saw the cake with rings and no mention of bread pudding!

Should have known better, right?

About the fish... you are being squeezed out by the larger places.

Does no one know how it feels to be just starting out and trying to keep your head above water?

mimi


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

So you are breaking even.  That's good.  Consider yourself well capitalized.  You don't need much more to take you into the black.    A couple more covers during lunch and dinner will get you there. 

One suggestion is to look at your best selling items and consider pricing on those.  If something is selling through the roof then you might consider raising the price by a quarter or so.  If something isn't selling despite the low pricing then just cut it out.  This will make your inventory easier to manage.

I also like that idea of serving 7oz of fish in three portions.  The perceived value will be better.


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## cajunfman (Aug 16, 2012)

thanks everyone!!!


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## chefgrape (Aug 20, 2012)

start with your menu.....streamlining off the items that are not selling or are low sellers.....are you cooking yourself?.......i was in south Florida for 20 yrs and found i had to be multi-functional in food......when weddings and catering were slow the restaurant picked up....when the restaurant was slow.....found myself manufacturing items like chocolates to distribute online and to retail vendors....there are many ways to increase revenue....in today's economy your restaurant needs to be multi-functional to earn a profit.....I would need to actually see the menu and a picture of the business to really make suggestions it also depends on your location and whats available in your area.....simple changes make big differences.....like spending your time wisely and getting the right help in the right place....standard food cost should not exceed 33 percent for sure and the labor/time to make that item should be considered....i found myself waiting tables at times to cut the shifts just to make the difference in the long run at the end of the year.....there are also methodical ways to cut cost like counter service verse table service.....but not knowing the operation i could not begin to guess....hope this has been food for thought for you.....your welcome to contact me <edit> by PM, if you need an outsiders look and thoughts....i'm retired now and enjoy a challenge! <edit>


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## atibbs314 (Aug 20, 2012)

cheflayne said:


> Your costs were $19782.42. How much did you spend on food and beverage? Take that figure and divide it by 19862.86. Then multiply that by 100 and that will be your food and beverage cost percentage. For a QSR it should be around 32%.
> 
> How much did you spend on labor. Take that figure and divide it by 1982.86. Then multiply that by 100 and that will be your labor cost percentage. For a QSR it should be around 29%.


What is QSR? just curious.


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

Atibbs314 said:


> What is QSR? just curious.


QSR = Quick Service Restaurant


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## everydaygourmet (Apr 4, 2012)

On of the best business models is to limit your hours. Couple of years ago a place in NC called 12 Bones got nationwide critical acclaim as GMA(?) best BBQ in the country, been there it is very good, they control costs by only being open from 11-6, 5 days a week, and the place is packed. No W/E and the owner told me that they created demand, limited the menu and hours to control labor, insurance, utilities, and waste, quit frankly thought it was brilliant, sounds like you have a similar niche.

BTW PM me and I'll give you a gator source in Florida.

Best,

EDG


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## altes (Oct 2, 2012)

contact me at [email protected]


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## chefbuba (Feb 17, 2010)

Altes, What's your agenda?


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## chef santos (Aug 16, 2014)

what is your current menu now and are you making everything from scratch?


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Where in South Florida  I was there many years. Everglades Club, St. Andrews, Ballen Isles, Hunters Run etc. all mostly Palm Beach area


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## everydaygourmet (Apr 4, 2012)

Hey @chefedb & @Chef Santos this thread is 2 years old almost to the day and the last "recent" response besides youall was10, 2012, fyi.

Food for thought,

EDG


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## meezenplaz (Jan 31, 2012)

LOL So easy to do on this site, 'specially when the months and days line up. 

Quick rule of thumb: if the post shows an actual date, rather than a number of hours or a number of days, 

look twice at the actual date.


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## everydaygourmet (Apr 4, 2012)

@Meezenplaz true, so true, in his defense, Chef Santos is new and this was his first post! Don't feel bad @Chef Santos has happened to most if not all of us here on CT. Have posted in "dated" conversations usually start with something like, hey know this is an older post or sorry I'm late to the party but had something I wanted to add.

Welcome to Chef Talk btw.

Cheers!

EDG


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## chefboyog (Oct 23, 2013)

I'm glad it was resurrected, good reading material! I really hope they are doing well. The bottom line; so many angles to it. 

My food cost tip is micro manage everything. 

Know where your food is and where it's going and why. 

Every dollar counts. 

I'm so cheap. 

Only way to save money is don't spend it.

Sales fix everything.

Haha good luck


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

I think they folded. Restaurant reality hits again.  It's so hard to run a southern food place up north.

http://atouchofcajuncafe.com/


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## someday (Aug 15, 2003)

Yeah, hopefully he got out before it was too late, and didn't lose a house or anything like that.


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## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

I hear ya.

If he wasn´t even making enough money to pay his employees salary, i can only hope, the dude managed to get some cash in to pay everyone and cover his losses, Hopefully he didn´t lose too much or anything aside from time, and money he had...

Agree with @chefboyOG that im glad the thread was ressurected, it was a good read and who knows who else it might have helped.

Aside from that i enjoyed reading everyones advice and i plan on keeping some of them.


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## sandsquid (Dec 23, 2013)

cajunfman said:


> Cajun sausage is really expensive.


If you have the time, and if needed, can get the variance from the local Health Dept. I have found that I could save quite a bit by making any kind of sausage. Once you pay for the grinder and stuffer, and a cheap smoker, you are ready to kick some ass. Even if you "cheap out" and get a Kitchener #32 meat grinder, and a Kitchener 5-Lb. Stainless Steel Sausage Stuffer. and do it by hand, I dare say you will come out ahead. (I have both of these products and process 200+ pounds of venison yearly.) Granted, Andouille, is usually smoked twice, once as the Butt, then again after stuffing but I can't see it adding that much to the overall cost. If you are paying more than $4.00/Lb. for your Andouille through the door, I dare say it might be a viable way to save some $$$.

During our "down time" at the Club, we cure our own bacon, and produce all our own sausages. Even with the added labor cost, we easily do it for less than ordering it in from Sysco.
(Cryovac boneless pork butt is $2.09 per pound, and the spices are dirt cheap...) I'd put the quality and flavor of our hand-made product up against any pre-made commercial product, even at twice the cost.

These are some Kielbasa and bun sized "Kellies" we made this week:





  








keilbassa.jpg




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sandsquid


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Aug 18, 2014












  








kellies.jpg




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sandsquid


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Aug 18, 2014


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## raibeaux (Dec 21, 2012)

Might start with:

3X +10

Limited Menu. Try something like seven items, four or five sides.

The old-fashioned "meat & threes" or meat & twos" still can work. Lots of successful places only have a choice of two meats and three sides to choose from. They change daily and advertise a week in advance. Most I've seen use a big blackboard on the wall as their menu.

*Random Thoughts From A Random Person*

Market research.

Sampling.

"On Sale" ketchup (.89 to .99 for 24 oz bottles) #10 ketchups=waste and spoilage for you. Careful with the phantom savings on stuff.

What do you serve?

Back door closed and locked.

Smoke breaks are a good time to get rid of stolen stuff (to their buddies that drive up..."hey, great! ribeyes tonight! see if you can get a bottle of A-1, too!)

Watch out for the to-go orders.

1) Employees overfilling for friends. They'll also do it for dining room to a lesser extent.

2) Employees meeting friends out back with food containers or packages.

3) 10 packages of ketchup not necessary for a FF order. Or handfuls of salt and pepper packets.

4) Cooking excess product. "Oops, sorry" I either take it to a customer in the dining room or throw it away in front of them. Gotta stop this stuff from happening. Let'em eat it and you're dead.

Cameras.

Outside coolers entered only with you present.

Examine trash before it's taken out. At least act like you're doing it.

Only you have keys. If you lose them replace complete locks. Use the $90 each locks...keys can't be duplicated.

Employees can watch you all the time. The reverse is never true.

P.S.

If your customers truly want cheap prices, you'll have to give'em cheap food. Have you thought about how much money you'd make if you had NO (0) food cost?? Plug your numbers in, it still might not be too great.

Hamburger patties and pork chops *WILL* fit in bras, hats and crotches just fine. So will lots of other stuff. Including money.

Baggy pants can hide slabs of ribs, steaks, chickens, etc.

Don't pay any attention to me, I'm just rambling. Something's weird, that's for sure.


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## meezenplaz (Jan 31, 2012)

Haha, very creative, I doubt many rest owners ever think of most of that stuff.

I loved the smuggling food out in the trash--never thought of that one--if you wrapped

it up all snug in stretch wrap, it could stay serviceable in even the trashiest trash cans.

"Hey, I'm emptying my prep-trash, boss, be right back!!"

And out the door goes 4 steaks or a pound of shrimp./img/vbsmilies/smilies/rolleyes.gif


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