In Part 1 we discussed the customer’s tendencies and habits in a difficult economy. Now we need to examine how restaurant owners and managers need to change their thinking to match the consumer’s outlook.

Almost from the day an entrepreneur gets into the restaurant business, the term “margin” is tossed around freely. In the hotel, institutional and chains, the margin between food cost and selling price becomes fixed as the way to price the menu item. Everything is based on an acceptable percentage to maintain profitability. Independent restaurant owners need to re-think this process. Independents don’t have the luxury of a captive market like hotels, hospitals, schools and other foodservice operations that have fewer competitive forces and customers who can opt for convenience as opposed to price or value.

When tweaking your menu for consumer trends, balance is still a concern. You need to have items that will allow the diner to choose lower priced entrees  if that is their mood, while not deviating from your theme or concept. However, pricing becomes an opportunity to look at total plate profits as opposed to just a particular margin goal. For instance, if you are a steak house and price a New York strip dinner at $23.95, you may have costs for the total plate in the range of $11 to $12. You plate profit will be $11 to $13.

When looking at a lower price point for a new menu item or two, consider plate cost and profit rather than just margins. An example could be a Blackened Chicken Breast Fettuccine that has a cost somewhere around $2.50 to $3.50. Priced at $15, you will have about the same plate profit as the New York strip and be offering the diner a choice that is almost $8 less than the extravagant steak. It’s perception that counts. Do you care which dish your customer orders? Probably not.

A customer who orders a generous portion of a Pot Roast Feature with potatoes, onions and carrots can bring the same dollar amount to your bottom line as a lobster dinner. Bacon wrapped pork tenderloin medallions with a red cabbage and apple chutney can be as profitable as that fisherman’s platter at a much lower price. That grouper sandwich at $11 is no more profitable than a grouper cheek Po Boy. Same fish, different cuts and sizes. Turn your nose up at chicken livers if you must, but one of our units recently sold twenty pounds of chicken livers on a featured special in one night. The cost - $.80 a pound! The price $14. Comfort food right out of the baby-boomer’s childhood, but I doubt we could sustain those sales for a long period.

The keys to implementing this strategy are;

• Meet with your suppliers. They can offer insight into product alternatives and hints at what others are doing.
• Look at the lower cost items in your pantry rather than the normal routine of controlling the top 20% of your purchased supplies.
• Use the Internet to search for ideas using keywords like rice, pasta, beans, chicken and pork as ingredients.
• Time is not on your side. Do it now, while the consumer’s plight at the grocery store is fresh in their mind. Don’t lose guests because you failed to respond.

Creativity and spending time focusing on lower cost protein items will give both you and the consumer reasons to stay comfortable in a difficult economic climate.

Larry Edger, Author

The Restaurant Ebook 

Are you ready for a volatile 2008? Dairy products are up 15 to 30 percent depending on your location. Eggs have almost doubled in price from last year. Almost all canned and frozen foods have gone up at least 8 to 10 percent. Meats and poultry are following suit, particularly if the feed is a corn product.

The causes can be reasoned, argued and debated. The real issue for restaurant owners is finding ways to keep up with the price changes as they occur. If you haven’t scrutinized your invoices since the first of the year, you better start today.

Here are some of the ways restaurants can cope with price increases;

• Compare pricing at least monthly on every item in your inventory.
• Have a spreadsheet that calculates your plate costs on every menu item.
• Change your menu style to allow for weekly and monthly price changes without a huge cost to reprint.
• Force suppliers to keep you abreast of price changes and trends BEFORE they occur.
• Menu more stable items that aren’t increasing at an escalated rate.
• Build anticipated cost increases into menu prices.
• Run more daily specials that can be priced according to the market.

2008 will be a battle to keep your margins from ending the year in the red. Plan now, put the procedures in place and hold on for the ride!