Knife’s Edge: Ponzu scheme
March 31st, 2009 by Richard Blais in Knife's Edge
It’s the last day of our financial period. Our walk-in shelves are considerably barren, especially for a Saturday with 350 on the books. My sous chef will be working another double and working a station tonight to salvage labor cost a bit. We’ve scrambled around all afternoon, picking up enough provisions to get us through this one night. We are hoping, praying, gambling, that the 34 portions of scallops and halibut will sustain a busy night. But we need to run out, because they won’t be fresh enough to sell Monday after being closed Sunday. And we’ve already calculated that we need to do twelve thousand dollars in food sales to make our numbers.
Although the entire month yields the final result, as in any race, we kick extra hard as we near the finish line. Here’s my Tony Bourdain moment: Want a good time to not go to a restaurant? Try the very last day of their financial month. At around 9pm.
This isn’t what I fell in love with, for sure. I detest it. It’s the only part about what I do that I consider work. And the three days that we wait for the email from the accountant revealing our managerial efforts are sheer agony.
One or two percent in food cost can lose you a job as fast as a bad review. In this town, actually, faster. For a decently busy restaurant, two percent can mean 6-10 thousand dollars a month. That sounds different than two percent, doesn’t it?
A busy restaurant in Atlanta will purchase over ten thousand dollars in food a week. We sell a very fragile perishable thing, with a small window of peak quality. It’s not retail. We don’t have weeks to see if something sells. We can’t cut its price or move it to the clearance rack. Although, some would say brunch fills that role. Some are smart enough to use preventative maintenance. Pickles and charcuterie.
In all honesty, I’ve only just gotten good at this stuff, at responsibly managing a restaurant’s finances. It took a while to understand the balance. As chefs, we want to buy the best ingredients. And we also want to give value. That’s a food cost nightmare. Charge people what the ingredient’s worth? Easier said than done.
It’s hard to get the average diner to appreciate the difference between line-caught Pacific salmon and farm raised Chilean they can get for 2.99 at the grocery store.
It’s an ever so gentle balancing act.
So what does the restaurateur do? That owner who’s whipping around in his limited edition Jag? He rewards the chef for lower food cost. And what does that do for the quality of the product or the value?
Well, most people when approached with this simple reward system would, and do, buy the least expensive product. This is usually a lesser quality product. And the result…
Happy owners with nicer rides. Chefs with “big” bonuses. Shitty food at restaurants. And guests who feel as if they are (and are, in some cases) getting ripped off.
Not all restaurants reward chefs for food cost goals in this manner, but most do.
And if you don’t make that twelve thousand in food sales? Then the game begins. The counting and re-counting of everything. Realizing there’s salt in shakers, and citrus fruit at the bar. Oil in fryers, and even nitrogen on the back dock perhaps.
When we should be thinking about what’s available from the farm, or how to execute beautiful food better, the only thing being discussed is fudge.
Fudging the numbers, or inflating inventory is a notorious, ill-advised ploy to attempt to salvage bonuses, or even jobs. But that’s a dangerous game, and we’re not Bernie Madoff.
March 31st, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Another great article Blais. Just saw you on Food TV with Ted. So I got a question for you: How can I get a hold of some liquid nitrogen? Can one just buy this stuff at a restaurant supply store? Do I need a special license? Do i need special gloves or can I just use my Isotoners? I really want to freeze some tequila.
March 31st, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Love the name, love the article.
March 31st, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Thanks for the insight. You write nearly as well as you cook. It’s not fair, really.
March 31st, 2009 at 5:11 pm
i hate when a restaurant tries to pass off one item as another ~ usu protein, usu fish ~ and then charge the higher, trend-item amount. this seems to happen a lot in atlanta and it shouldn’t be tolerated… i have caught 2 different restaurants at that game now, but i’d bet that for every one time i caught someone, i’ve been scammed 3x.
but you’re right, blais ~ that’s what happens when too much of a chef’s salary is based on quarterly or year-end bonuses.
March 31st, 2009 at 6:21 pm
I love the insight you give to those of us not in the restaurant business. I find your articles extremely interesting and I look forward to the next one!
March 31st, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Fantastic Richard, you did the whole business a service with that article. Please keep telling it like it is, a business, and then filling our bellies with good food when the numbers allow. You have come through the portal my friend.
..
March 31st, 2009 at 11:42 pm
“Pickles and Charcuterie”… weren’t they a pop vocal duo in the 70’s?
The first time I broke down a veal round and told the manager what his *real* cost per pound was… I thought the guy was gonna have a heart attack. It’s a tricky emulsion: Art and Money. (Art and Money. Weren’t they a folk rock duo in the 60’s?)… t
April 1st, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Richard,
What a crock. “Insight”? Owners are concerned with making money? That’s insightful? As soon as Obama “nationalizes” all the restaurants, you’ll be able to forget about the profit portion of the business. Once you put up your hard earned (?) capital, I am sure you’ll understand the importance of balancing quality with profits. Certainly something the likes of Guenter Seeger never understood. At least after 5 or 6 restaurant closings/firings you are beginning to catch on…
April 1st, 2009 at 5:07 pm
That is some snappy writing with a great insight into a some of the behind the scenes stuff to running a restaurant.
The majority of people have no clue what it takes to run a kitchen. You pulled the curtain back and made it rather interesting!
April 1st, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Love your honesty and helping me appreciate those of you that balance these factors appropriately. I had no idea. Keep up the great work. See you at Flip again soon. -kristin
April 1st, 2009 at 9:35 pm
“It’s hard to get the average diner to appreciate the difference between line-caught Pacific salmon and farm raised Chilean they can get for 2.99 at the grocery store.” Right on! Rock it, Chef Blais! This issue of raising the bar towards true, farm raised or unprocessed food is crucial and it is one we also deal with daily in the specialty food industry. I truly appreciate Chef Blais’ blog post because in addition to addressing how “the business” works behind the scenes, it illuminates an issue we are all facing concerning “real food”. The journey we food professionals and food lovers have ahead of us in making true food that is fresh, real, and unprocessed part of our daily lives is HUGE. We all play a part. Thanks, Chef Blais.
-Janea Boyles
The Mercantile
http://www.themercantileatl.com
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:16 am
So Richard, you’re a wonderful writer! Who knew? I really enjoy your column and congrats on all of your recent successes!
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Until the consumer is willing to pay for your “real food, true food, local, sustainable, organic, unprocessed crap”, quit shoving it down our throats. If your local farmer wasn’t so caught up in the dreaded “profits”, maybe the average consumer could afford to eat his “real food”. Give me something I can afford. Until I can get a nitrogen infused foie gras milk shake for less than $8, let me have the chocolate one. Hopefully you aren’t fudging the books with CO2…