lala

Actually 33%. The dish should sell for $16.50 at 30%. I caught it because I've made the same mistake more than once. Otherwise, well said. [/quote (something wierd happened to the quotes here) Fortunately, for all concerned, Lala has not actually been in charge of food costs for 7 years. But when she was, she was bitchin'! You're right, that is the industry standard. I got caught up in the moment, and trying to make it an easy explanation (I Did say 'average'!). But it does take 3x33 (fudged just a little!) to make 100%... and as we just demonstrated, every little percentage really does count. That difference between 30% and 33%, based on 10 chicken dinners per night is $5,475 per year. For just one menu item. Edited to say: Holly, I hope my self congratulations on my math skills was not perceived as hubris. I hate math, and I'm dyslexic. I'd rather eat a plate of stir-fried eyeballs than do COGS, but I managed to get 'em done, accurately. Thank goodness I don't have to do 'em anymore!

That was when I was young. I've since seen the error of my ways, and have eaten Euro style for decades. But I still don't understand why salads went on the left. Was it a leftist conspiracy?

With respect, you're not quite right, rickster. To quote you:"the only way a restaurant loses $300 in this case is if they could have sold the meal to a patron and instead gave it to a staff member, which would be an opportunity cost and not a real cost anyway." Food is a very real cost, which must be accounted for, whether it's being eaten by a customer, or staff. Logistically, while menu leftovers are indeed sometimes a part of staff meals, most restaurants feed their staff before the lunch/dinner service. Thus, they cannot just wait to see what doesn't sell. As well, a major part of maintaining good food Cog is to have an accurate prediction of what will sell, and purchase and prep to accomodate that number, so you don't waste the prime foodstuffs and labor (par list). This also ensures a fresh product for the customer. Monetarily, if you're giving food to staff from the menu, you lose that food profit and staff production costs, both in prep (many menu items take more time to prep than staff meals do) and a la minute cooking (your line cooks have to stay an extra half hour to cook everyone's meals to order, so you've got 6 cooks working for three hours instead of one guy working for one hour). Not to mention that your overall food Cogs would rise precipitiously if you fed your staff off the menu items and simply threw away the scraps, etc, that are universally used in staff meals. Even at Cost, it makes better sense to give your staff a $2 meal than a $5 meal, and use less labor to do it. Example: you buy whole chickens to fabricate (because it's cheaper than buying just the breasts, even with your labor cost. It takes about 40 seconds to break down a chicken), so that you can use the breasts in an entree. Bones go into the stock (for the sauce). Do you throw the legs away? No, you feed them to the staff. That way, the cost of the breasts and bones goes to cog, and the legs cost goes to 'overhead' in the form of staff meals. If you just threw those legs away, it would have to go to the cogs, and raise your cogs on the breasts to an unnacceptable level. As a basic rule, food cogs are an average of 30% ($5.00 in food cost means a $15 entree). If you had to add the cost of food wasted by not utilizing it (both in other menu items and staff meals), your cog could be up to double, if not more, and you would not be in business for very long. Again, I use this chicken as an example. Some restaurants can accomodate more waste and slightly higher cogs due to size. Please extrapolate as you will for the more expensive menu items. As ample evidence shows on this thread, if it were cheaper to feed staff off of the menu, and absorb the costs of those menu items and associated waste of scrap foods, this would be the norm, and it's not. I have done restaurant accounting, and have turned excellent profits for the kitchen departments and cafes that I managed. Not that I enjoyed being a numbers wonk, but that's a crucial part of the job

Actually I work downtown and do it all the time, in clear view of the police station, cop cars, bike cops, whatever, just to test that theory, because that's what the "wait for the light" followers always tell me. It's just not true, it's a myth to keep you guys under big brother control! I used to work downtown... maybe I just attract cops! It's my rosy cheeks and curly hair that makes them suspicious, I guess ... I have seen people get arrested for jaywalking. However, I also jaywalk, if the coast is clear. Yessss....I live life on the edge... from tana butler: "I will only be in charge in Seattle if the climate changes. Actually, the week I was there, the weather was 100% sunny the entire time. I have the best vacation weather karma in the world. Where will you put me up? Vintage Park? (I stayed at the Alexis and the Sorrento -- fabulous food at the Sorrento. My God.)" Don't tell anyone, but the weather is much nicer than we let on. And we'd put you up anywhere you wanted

Cynthia G, if Tana and Mags want to be in charge in Seattle, I say go for it! Like I tried to say (if I wasn't clear), for Anyone to be in charge here would make a nice change(as opposed to our usual lethargy by committee, and Ignoring the voter's wishes) ...oh, I'm getting political now... must go stand in sunshine...

sorta off topic, but I was reading my shampoo bottle today (Aveda), and it contains annato, I guess for color...interesting...

Have we all noticed a stunning similarity here? It's the CRISPY BITS that we all love...how about a new restaurant called 'Crispy Bits'... bacon ends, pope's noses, those smaller french frys, roasting pans before they're cleaned, crunchy pasta bits (ooooh the crispy cheesy bits!)... Of course the bakery would sell crispy, cinnamon sprinkled puff pastry bits, muffin tops only, and all the sandwich bread would be super crusty!

HA HA, yes that's the extreme of politeness, to the point of absurdity. This has bugged me ever since coming to live in Seattle. I blatantly cross the street and look at the standing people/sheep in the eye to look at their reaction to me "breaking the law" hee. That was me It's not necessarily a sheep mentality...the Jaywalking/crossing against the light fine in Seattle is about $80.00, and the police are very gungho about enforcing this (must be easier to catch a jaywalker than a drug dealer, right?) If you're in a neighborhood, you can usually get away with it, but downtown, you can get nabbed by a cop hiding around the corner. And we all say "please" and "thank you", and carry our furled brolleys everywhere, because it ALWAYS rains here. (She said, schmering on more sunscreen before she goes for her walk in the blissful 65* sunshine.) Cynthia G: "Shoot. Now I don't know whether I want Tana or Mags to be In Charge!" And nobody is in charge here in Seattle. But that's another thread...

Guess I'm not polite, then...I'm a clean plate girl Well, in places that offer reasonable sized portions, anywy. You know what I've never understood? Now, this may not hold true any more, but when I was growing up, salads/side dishes were placed to the left of the plate (Midwest, put all your food out at once). I'm right handed, and I always had to reach over myself to eat my salad... never made sense to me.

Ah, but that's not how it's calculated. Restaurant accounting rule #1: If you lose a meal in a restaurant (plated meal hits the floor, or staff eats it), you don't lose it at the cost (say $5.00), you lose it at retail - the price the customer would have paid ($15.00), since you're not making that profit on that item. It's all about Cost of Goods...so if those 20 staff members ate meals that came off the menu (specific meals prepped for retail sale), the restaurant really lost $300 ($$ not earned by that food), not $100 (actual COG). And that that $300 is all lost profit, either...you've got the $100 food cost, then facilities costs, staffing, promotional costs, etc... While restaurant prices may seem outlandish compared to what you pay for the items in a grocery store, running a restaurant is hellishly expensive, and that $200/night variance we're talking about here could make the difference. You do know that restaurants have a 90% failure rate, right? It's a hard, hard business. Which is why staff meals are designed to use leftovers, scraps, extraneous cuts of meat (all those chicken legs). Most staff meals cost the restaurant $1 -2 per head. Trust me, you're never as creative as when the Chef looks you in the eye and says "You're in charge of Staff meal tonight". Edited for clarity, I hope

There's an article in today's New York Times which discusses how a chef cooks a particular Asian dish. In it - you will see why your kitchen - no matter how high-end - is no match for wok cooking in an Asian restaurant (although I have read of home kitchens - particularly in high end housing developments with lots of Asian buyers - which almost duplicate restaurant conditions). In addition - you probably don't use enough salt (have you ever noticed that you gain 2 pounds in water weight after eating most Asian food?). By the way - I love a rice cooker (or the microwave) for rice. And a digital thermometer takes the fear out of roasting large hunks of meat. Robyn Excellent points, thank you. I do blame a lot of my current cooking problems on my shitty stove in my rental apartment. Both burners and oven are wonky, so I think my landlord needs to get me a new stove! I'll tell him eGullet says so

It is cost prohibitive to allow the staff to eat off the regular menu, as some people have suggested should happen. Say you have 20 staff...that's 20 free meals! No restaurant can afford to do that. I've been subjected to a variety of staff meals. In places where I worked early in my career, where there was no formal staff meal, you could get menu items for half price (this was casual dining). The place I worked on externship from the CIA was the worst... High end hotel in England. We got the end bits, scrapings, and anything that was about to, or had gone off. There were times when the entire meal was made from food that was past it's prime. I've never made myself scrambled eggs for dinner so many times in my life! Sadly, when that happens, you do become a scavenger, being sure to prep/cook the diner's food in such a way that there is something for you, just to survive. Please note: this was a remote location, staff lived on site, and we were dependent on this place for all of our meals. However, in US restaurants, I seem to have been luckier than most. Staff meals have been a mix of menu items and staff food - usually something decent like a pasta, or homemade pizza. Can't say I was treated badly! And they always had staff taste menu items - I have held hundreds of staff tastings, and it's amazing how it increases sales!

Thanks! Unfortunately, I just wilt in the heat, so taking advantage of summer bargains is out. As well, I simply cannot eat when it's too hot, so it would just be silly to go then, right? I'm used to the rain (lived in England, currently live in Seattle), so that's not a problem at all! Actually, when I went to grade school in England, they'd throw us into the outdoor, unheated pool in December, so Maybe the pool is a good idea at any time of year...

When you take that first sip of wine, and realize just how beautifully it goes with the food. For actual food... grazing on the crispy bits of any roast, or the crispy bits of roasted veggies...

Oh, the waffle layer cookies are the best! What's that brand that does the bite sized ones...Quadratini? Their lemon ones are great. I like to eat them sideways, so I get one layer at a time...cookie...creme...cookie...creme... I brought these to a card game once, and everyone had their own eating style with these things. I always like the Peak Freen cookies that are a vanilla sandwich with a hole in one side, filled with a gummy jammy fruit topping. MMM.....

My "mmmm..." (can I leave now?) moment was at the hands of my roommate. Lovely Glaswegian girl, studying in San Francisco, decided to make dinner for me and her Sailor boyfriend (it's already good, right?!). Dinner was a salad of iceburg lettuce with gloppy orange dressing. Ok, bad, but not horrifying. The entree was overcooked noodles in a delightful sauce of tomato soup and raw mushrooms. Now that was horrifying!

I have to side with the owner on this one. That's just wrong. I was having lunch at an Indian restaurant buffet once (you know, you've been there...) and this one kid ate several full plates of food, then refilled his plate as high and wide as he could at the end. He then had the balls to ask the owner for a doggy bag. Needless to say, the owner let him know that this was not cool. I'm not a big buffet person (other than the occasional Indian lunches), but there aren't very many buffets in Seattle, and I don't see this behavior here. Perhaps we're all so PC, we don't want to waste a scrap of food...

That's what else bothered me... calling the woman cheap. as cakewalk said: "Cheap? Or perhaps on a budget? Okay, I'll say it -- poor? I don't know her (or you) from Adam, but I do know there are reasons other than "cheap" that people don't spend money on certain things. Often it's because they can't." Exactly. And do you want to be seen as discriminating against the poor? She 'only' bought some day old muffins...well, you were trying to wring the most profit you could out of Stale Food, and she helped, right? Not too bad for you. You should be careful about who you call cheap. As cakewalk said, she may be poor at the moment. Who knows how her finances will be next year? In this economy, those who don't have now, may have later. And those who are buying the fresh stuff now, may only be able to afford the day olds next year. Can you really afford to cop an attitude about anyone's financial status, when your own depends on them? And aside from finances, shouldn't there be a basic respect for everyone? Sorry, I just really believe that to build a great business, you have to give excellent customer service to EVERYONE. You never know what the next day will bring, what rewards you will reap from your kindness, and what will come back to bite you in the ass. That 'cheap' woman, if you had been kind, may have mentioned your good product and kind manner to her social worker, or kid's school, and you may have scored a contract for a big catered fund raiser (it happened to me. $3K on what would have been a dead weekend, because I made it fun for some money strapped disabled kids to buy from me). Or not...it all depends on how you treat people, doesn't it? Hopping down off my soapbox now...

I was inspired by the Met Grill thread: Friend wanted steak, so we went to Jak's for the first time tonight. It's in the 4500 block of California, same block as Lee's Chinese place, with the fabulous 7 spice beef dish. Having been to Daniels and other high end steak houses, I was nervous (pretentious, overpriced, don't need a stage show with raw meat), but I'd heard that Jak's is a more diner-friendly, casual place, and it is. Very cozy booths, interesting space with upper floor seating in front and back. Your entree comes with a salad and sides, so the prices are actually quite good (from $15 for fish to $16 for pork and $18 to $36 for beef). They had about 5 cuts of beef, lamb, chicken, salmon and a couple of pork chop preparations. I went for the NY strip, ordered Black and Blue, salad with bleu cheese dressing and baked potato with the works. Friend had same, with viniagrette on the salad. We each had a glass of wine. Basic wine list, but good wines to match the menu. I had a glass of Echelon Cabernet, friend had Ravenswood Zin. The salads were quite large, all romaine, all inner leaves, which I appreciated. Very fresh and crisp. My bleu cheese dressing was lovely, very light, with a buttermilk base. A few sprinkles of a mild bleu cheese finished it off. The bread was sourdough (a minus, in my book), and served with whipped margerine (a definate minus!). My steak was mostly done to specification- not black (seared to a lovely crispiness), but quite blue (rare). Friend's "just short of medium, still very pink in the middle" was perfectly done. I'm going to think that they just don't have a hot enough spot on the grill to do the "black" part of my order. The baked potatoes were properly baked, not microwaved, and huge. Too big, in fact, I could only eat about a third of it. Toppings were real bacon, cheddar, sour cream and green onion. A very good potato. Green beans were properly al dente, sauteed and very nicely seasoned (just salt and pepper, but you know when it's done right). Service was friendly and professional, and they seemed genuinely pleased by our happiness with the meal. We skipped dessert - even though we got the smaller options of meat (you can get 10 oz or 16 oz on the NY strip), we were totally stuffed. Their dessert options were a couple of chocolatey cakes and cheesecake. Total cost per person was $36.00, with wine and tip, and I think it was well worth it. While I certainly enjoy more complex food in my dining mix, this is a great place to go if you're just hankering for that piece of meat. Very fresh, well prepared food (so difficult to get your steak done the way you like it in most places!), good service, comfortable atmosphere. And of course, a walk on Alki beach afterwards is the pefect end to the evening!

You're absolutely right, Jenson, I misread it. That's what happens when I'm seeing red. But she said that "Ever since we opened, we get one or two requests per week to cut items into smaller pieces. " Is that enough to make it a posted rule? Really? And of course there must have been stuff going on in that woman's life to make her burst into tears. Like having to take baked goods to a pile of children, and the service person at the bakery not helping out. We all have stress in our lives, and it just makes it worse to be treated badly. And the wording of that sign is very snippy. How about: "If you want your treats cut up, knives are available at the service station". ? Still, I think that Flourpower should take a deep breath. He/she may think they're running a bakery, but they're really in the customer service business - you are, any time you have customers. And making customers burst into tears is bad business.

Whew! Ok, now that I've calmed down... I think mini food is a) cute b) a good way to engage in portion control c) a good way to get around the usual problem of muffins the size of my head d) a fun way to try different things. Think if it like appetizer baked goods...you'd have a selection of passed hors d'ouevres, right? Well, why not a few different desserts, if they're available? Better than having to cut the 'damn' things up, right?

"Ever since we opened, we get one or two requests per week to cut items into smaller pieces. " My gosh, if I only had to deal with one or two odd customers a week, I'd be in heaven! One or two requests a week out of, what, hopefully hundreds of customers? How Awful for You! "#5 on the list reads: "We do not cut items into smaller pieces. If you're old enough to read this you're old enough to cut your own food." You actually POST this for customers to see? wow. "First, we don't have time to cut people's food. Second, it's insulting." You're too special to engage in customer service? You're insulted by it? I think walking into a business that whaps me in the face with 24 rules is insulting. "That's when I remembered her: she'd asked for some scones to be cut into quarters. She was feeding a bunch of kids and was being cheap. She wound up buying a dozen day old muffins instead. " "She was feeding a bunch of kids" If those kids were with her, her attention may have been elsewhere ("Johnny, don't run into the street!"), and you could have made her life just that little bit easier. If they were waiting for her, she was most likely very stressed ("I wonder if Johnny is shaving the dog"), and the ease of having you do it may have gained you a customer for life. She likely entertains adults too, and you just missed out on that repeat cake/bread/scone business. "She left in tears." I hadn't even thought of this as a rule for customer service, as it had never even been in the realm of possibility for me, but it's now at the top of my list. #1: Don't make the customer cry. Not only did you make a customer CRY, you also upset any other customers who were in the shop, who will then spread very negative word of mouth about your business. "Am I out of line here? If I took the time to indulge every person who bought one item (and 90% of the time the person's buying ONE thing, not a sheet of brownies) we wouldn't get anything done." Ok, you said it was just one or two people a week who asked for this. What you term 'indulgance' is what others call 'good customer service' and 'building a repeat business'. I don't usually react like this to a post, but I had to answer yours line by line. You may want to seriously rethink your line of work if you feel it's right to post a list of 24 rules for the customer, and make your customers cry if they don't obey.

Rice: Forget measuring to get the right proportions in the cooking pot. Just measure the rice (so you have enough for everyone), then toss it into a pot with lots of boiling, salted water, and stir. Turn it down to simmer, put the lid on, tilted, so steam can escape. Set the timer at 10 minutes, then check it every few minutes after the timer goes off. Sort of like pasta: the rice will absorb the liquid that it needs, and when it's done, drain the pot, stir in a pat of butter, and you're ready. Meringue: While it's true that a humid atmosphere will ruin a meringue, making it weep, so will incorrect whipping. Basically, don't overbeat the whites. If you're making an Italian meringue (pouring in melted sugar), it's more forgiving. But if you're whipping the whites and granular sugar, do not overwhip - beat only to the soft peak stage. At that point, you've captured lots of air bubbles, to make if fluffy, and allow for expansion. Any more whipping, and the egg/air cells start to break down, hastening the weepy effect on the baked product. A too hot oven can also do this, as it expands the air cells too fast, before the egg is cooked, thus exploding them, so it's just a blob of goopy egg. Technical term. Pie crust: Freeze everything before you start (except the water, of course!). I'm serious. Mix your Flour and salt and freeze it. Cut up your butter, and freeze it. A good half hour, at least. Your water should be ice cold, by putting plenty of ice cubes into the water. Cut the butter (or other fat) into the flour JUST until you get the butter to the size of peas. Stop. Then carefully, gently, barely mix in the ice cold water. Your dough should still have some loose bits of flour in the bowl. Turn it out onto a clean board, and with cold hands (run cold water over your hands, and dry), gently pat the dough into a nice, friendly lump, patting those loose bits in. Wrap and chill for at least half an hour. The most important thing is to capture the fat in large enough pieces as a suspension in the flour/water dough, so that the dough is liberally dotted with the fat. It's the water in the fat that will turn into steam in the oven and force the enclosing layers of flour apart, creating the flaky dough. Keep it cold, and don't overmix. Salad dressing: Yep, the mustard is the great emulsifier. If you start with the mustard in your bowl, then slowly whisk in your acid, so that it stays smooth, you'll have a good dressing. Now, who can tell me why my Asian dishes are awful? I have a good palate, I know what I enjoy in restaurants, but I can't make a damn thing at home! I know why my caramel doesn't behave, but knowledge doesn't help. And Roasting large hunks of meat gives me nightmares. Hate it.

It's called 'Irony'.

Too bad I just spent a week in a beach cabin, or I'd just hop on a plane and come right down! But thanks for confirming my thoughts on when to visit. I shall continue to monitor this board for suggestions, then come down next April and eat my way from one end of town to the other (and Lafayette).