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gfron1

eGullet Society staff emeritus
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Posts posted by gfron1

    Himalania Pink Salt

    in Cooking

    Posted

    This is not a response to Dick's comment - I'll be eager to see their response. However, here is the label info:

    <SNIP the blah, blah, blah>

    "Himalania Pink salt gets its pink speckled color from the natural richness derived from iron and other minerals.

    Himalania pink salt has maintained its natural purity because it is unrefined and uses no additives and no pollutants."

    <More SNIP>

    El Ray chocolates

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Hey Gfron1,

    I was just checking out your stores website...looks very nice. I love stores like that.  How many different types of chocolate do you carry?

    Robert

    Chocolate Forum

    Depends on the time of year. During the holidays we'll carry up to 100 different chocolates (everything from Ritter bars to Cluizel, Domori, etc.). Post holidays - I shoot for around 40. And I carry primarily Sharffen Berger and El Rey for my bulk. The latter being my preference, the former what the crowd demands.

    The Sweet Life Bakery

    in New Jersey: Dining

    Posted

    I agree with RayNickBen, but I'll also share that a local couple recenlty opened a "martini bar" only to find that people want their food more than their drinks. Now they're complaining about having to focus so much on food. They also have the dilemma of sticking with their original plan which is getting modest but positive receival from the community versus scrapping it and going for the food crowd. Tough decision. PS I also watch for your updates so thanks for keeping us posted.

    Carbonating water at home

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    Just to give you a sense. I just bought an ISI soda siphon for $57.95 and the chargers for about .75cents per cannister which makes 3-5 drinks. We do fizzy water with Armenian fruit syrups almost nightly. Much better than canned soda, but the 75 cents are going to add up I fear. However, we love our siphon. And the ISI version is very sylish so we like it on our counter.

    Wholesale baked goods pricing

    in Restaurant Life

    Posted

    Keystoning (2x) is the standard and in fact most people say if you can't exceed keystone, you won't make it. The only other thing I'll add is that in the beginning you should bite the bullet and do an actual price analysis. Since you did this in the pastry thread, I'm assuming you're asking about pastries. So take your recipe and look at the actual material cost to make that muffin. Then calculate your monthly operating expenses. Finally, what percent of your sales are the muffin expecting to be? Then you can do the math to see how much that muffin really cost - .10 cents or $2.00. That should steer you in the right direction for pricing, which as zoe b suggested, then gets guided by the market.

    Since my intern starts today, let me offer option #2...have your intern do these calculations as a project.

    Owners says :biggrin:

    Intern says :hmmm:

    Foodstuffs banned in the US

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    In reply to some comments made earlier, I think that the buyers for stores that claim to be upscale and concerned should look at what's in the products they choose.

    I mean, I go to the Fancy Foods Show every year, just like they presumably do.  As people greet me from behind their tables and offer me tastes of exciting new items, I ask to read the ingredients first.  If it's not for me, I don't want to taste it.  But if the buyer for a store is merely choosing items from a list in the catalog, and isn't looking at the ingredients, and/or doesn't know what's banned in this country, well I don't think they should have that person in that job is all.

    But again, I am suggesting that this places an undue responsibility on a purchaser. You're suggesting that I compare every ingredient of the thousands of items that cross my shelves every year...not just at time of purchase, but also for any changes to their legality throughout the year. That is an impossible task for any size store.

    I think you are doing the correct thing by being a responsible consumer and educating yourself to what you purchase. You then have the choice as to what enters your body or not.

    And as for your comment about attending the FFS, I do, and I do read the labels of what I pursue, but I buy far more things that what I taste at the show. If that's all I purchased, my shelves would be very scant. That, in my opinion, does not suggest that I shouldn't be purchasing for my store. Purchasing is a much larger job than that - it is about relationships with manufacturers, distributors and customers. All of whom have important knowledge and needs to share with me. And again I would suggest that self-responsibility is the best and most logical response to this entire issue.

    Foodstuffs banned in the US

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    But again, I ordered the exact same juice in question (along with about 75 other products) in the same week when I ordered from 4 other companies (representing 350 products)...I'm not going to research each and every item, and then continue to monitor their legality going forward. Realize that I have to work really hard to get my banned Kinder Eggs (banned because of small toy parts being a choking hazard), because the FDA shuts them down before the enter the country. If the BBB juice made it in the country, then the FDA missed it. I can't imagine even considering monitoring the 10,000 SKUs the a big store would need to.

    Again, I choose to believe that they do care enough about other human beings that once informed, and once confirmed, they would remove the product if they needed to. And again, the letter is some lawyer dictating babble...not a personal message to you as a person, so no need to take it for anything more than it is.

    BTW, I don't think you've finished the story - did they remove it from the shelf or is it still being sold?

    Where do you go for breakfast in SF?

    in California: Dining

    Posted

    Being an infrequent SF visitor, I'll need some help from locals with the name, but there was a French woman who opened a crepe shop downtown...I was staying near Moscone, and walked kinda of toward China Town just a few blocks. It was very small, but her personality and good food made it a great breakfast. I opted for the nutella crepe instead of anything fancy.

    Foodstuffs banned in the US

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    At great risk I'll put myself out there as a specialty food store owner. We're small with over 1,200 items and we do try to catch any banned or questionable foods. We used to carry the juice you mentioned, and caught it when our distributor sent out a notice. There are so many notices that go out and I'm sure we miss some/many (I could have easily missed the Vegemite ban if wasn't for EGullet). We really do need customers to point things out to us that passes our radar. If I were a big corporation, I'd send out some lawyer created (CYA) letter like they did to you - I just apologize and pull it if I find it to be true. I wouldn't assume that your store was out to pull a fast one. More than likely its just trying to keep up on things, and that one was missed...or another way to pose it, how many items have they caught that you don't know about?

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