This just kind of fell into my lap

wyld thang · #21 12/13/09, 11:03 AM

wow, I would LOVE a job where I get to make pie and cinnimon rolls etc and watch people eat it up

I wish you all the best!

It seems the kind of joints that make it around here are either foofy cafes for the wine crowd, or heavy duty smoked BBQ(if it's good, there's always room for one more it seems!)

gosh, being a baker/bread maker is a dream job of mine! that would be heaven to makemakemake pie!!!

ps, I can make lefse too :0)

cathleenc · #22 12/13/09, 11:24 AM

as a parent, I want to see restaurants offer a reasonably priced childrens menu that has a couple of non-deep fried sides and at least one non-deep fried main. Easy sides include apple sauce, carrot/celery sticks, an apple, cottage cheese, or a basic salad. We have one son who is borderline obese, just because of his own metabolism, and we won't return to any restaurant that only offers deep fried crap for kids.

Make sure to change the deep fry oil frequently! stale oil tastes so foul. Use butter on the grill and not that fakey margarine/hydrogenated nonsense! gosh, I had one breakfast absolutely turned inedible by rancid fake oil on the grill.

To me, the little things count. Real half and half and not non-dairy creamer. Real butter and not margarine. No clear plastic sheets over the table cloth. No paper plates or plastic ware.

We have one little restaurant in town - kept going out of business, owner after owner. Finally a new family bought it and they just keep expanding hours and the wait line gets deeper and deeper. Why? They put their heart into it. They owners/family come to each table and talk to you - make you feel welcome. Take super super super duper good care of the kids with hugs and little treat brought to the table. They've taken a basic bare-bones box room and added couches along the sidewalls and art and green growing things and filled the room with life and love. The whole thing ends up feeling very personal, very warm, and the food is good - not amazing, not super cheap - but good. You get what you pay for but mostly, you feel great about being part of the experience.

gl!

tinknal · #23 12/13/09, 11:41 AM

Thanks for all the replies. I'll hit some of the main points you brought up. It is a VFW that serves liquor. Age and genderwise it is a diverse crowd. I plan on serving as much locally produced meat and produce as possible. I am seeing a local beef and pork producer tomorrow. Obviously, there is no local fresh produce available this time of year. The place has something going on every day. Monday is Texas holdum, Tuesday cribbage, Wednesday bingo, Thursday Karoke, Friday DJ, Saturday Holdum and DJ, Sunday football. Cabin Fever, I will be in Princeton. It will be a Mom and Pop deal, usually just my wife and I. The kitchen has a walk up window but is located in a remote part of the bar. I'm thinking of installing an intercom system with the front of the bar. There is also a banquet facility there and they rent it out for weddings and partys. I should be able to pick up some in house catering. The premises is inspected by the state every year and is up to code. I am actually thinking that if there is enough slow time in the afternoon I'll bake some bread. Also going to try baking a pie or two every day. There is no fryer, but I should be able to deep fry in a stock pot. I'm looking for ideas for daily specials. So far I've come up with Hot beef/turkey, Speghetti (I make a killer meat sauce), Baked chicken, home made mac and cheese, and so on. I don't want to serve soup or gravy from a bag. I plan on a home made soup every day.

Maura · #24 12/13/09, 12:05 PM

Decide what hours you want to work. Serving breakfast lunch and dinner can destroy your family. If you are catering to older people, they will want breakfast and lunch. They like to eat half of their lunch at the restaurant and take the other half home for dinner. With that in mind, serve smaller meals or have a choice of whole meal or half. If you can buy pastured beef, buy by the whole cow and have it all double ground into burger. You will have the BEST hamburgers and meat loaf in the region, and some people will drive the extra mile for that burger. Ditto for fresh laid eggs.

To cut down on landfill waste, I would use real silverware and dishes if the hall has it. Real is nicer to eat off of. Using throw away brings the class of the place down. Charge enough to hire one of your customers to wash dishes. Hiring a regular also puts a familiar face on your place.

As for food, do not serve anything deep fried. It is easier and faster to cook, but makes your kitchen dirtier and your fire insurance way higher. Replace fries with cole slaw. Make your own soup, it's easy and will be better than anything Gordon's sells. Lot's of people love soup, especially chicken noodle. Personally, I wouldn't cook hamburgers, but if you don't mind, do it (loose hamburger in a hotdog bun, coney island style is easier to chew for denture wearers). What can you make in large quantity? Stew, soup, salad (Make one big bowl and scoop it out into smaller bowls), meatloaf, mashed potatoes, rice pudding, bread pudding. And spaghetti sauce, use one recipe for several dishes- spaghetti, linguine, egg noodles, etc. Sandwiches are easy, just make sure they are cut evenly in half. You can add a lot of life to a sandwich by offering wheat, rye, and white bread, but also kaiser roll.

I agree whole heartedly with the pie concept. This is something you can often buy locally. If making it yourself, make in quantity and freeze. Running out of pie is okay, people will just come early for it. But, have another dessert on hand, like premium ice cream and cones (no dishes), biscotti. Something like biscotti, if it's made right and you have two or three varieties, will make you stand out, and it keeps well.

You don't have to have waitresses, at least to start out. People line up at the counter, one person takes the orders and money and serves things like soup, stew, and chili, the other person makes sandwiches. When you're certain you can cover the costs of wait staff, you can add them and add to your menu.

I'm so excited for you!

Big Dave · #25 12/13/09, 12:25 PM

PM Sent

Ken Scharabok · #26 12/13/09, 12:28 PM

Well, OK, but I suspect you are going to be in for a rude awakening on the time it takes to cook everything from scratch for a crowd. Last Thanksgiving friends took me out to a 'ten-meat buffet' (OK some presented a couple of ways). Had a discussion with one about whether the mashed potatoes were done in house or powdered. I said a powdered. Asked waitress. She didn't know. Asked hostess. She didn't know either. Asked her to ask the kitchen staff and they wouldn't provide an answer (the guy who made them up was gone for the day). That answer rather told me it was a powdered potatoes. Good enough though for my friend who makes her own.

Most people can only do one thing well at one time. Some can multi-task, but it is a skill.

Don't be afraid to fire poor performing employees. Start them out on a probation period. Some simply get in over their skill level. And likely it is little things. A line cook forgets to add an ingredient. A wait person overlook a table as theirs and they sit there forever even waiting for a menu or they didn't record one order in a form to be understood by the kitchen staff.

And I don't recall ever being in a restaurant where there was a wait person in training with a mentor. I suspect from day one they are just thrown out the the lions.

I'll say in the kitchen staff attitude doesn't matter much if they just do what they are told to do in an efficient manner. However, on wait staff it does as they are 'your window to the world' as far as patron contact.

As somewhat noted above, train your kitchen staff to where they can largely operate on their own from table orders with you as the 'executive chef' of the operation. Don't let anything go out withour your approval. If something simply fails your approval go out to the table and tell them you made your staff remade their order since it wasn't up to your approval.

And, apparently, many restaurants today work on a computerized basis. Wait person puts order into the system where it is displayed for the kitchen.

chickenista · #27 12/13/09, 12:31 PM

Congrats!
You now have a legal kitchen!
You can bake bread and rolls etc..and sell at the Farmer's Market on the weekends.
You may also be able to do canned foods like salsa and jams.
Ask the guy that runs it if he minds you using the kitchen for other things.
You can really supplement your income that way.!!!

geo in mi · #28 12/13/09, 12:38 PM

Good luck. Many years ago the easiest way to go broke was to lease a full service gas station. (That was really many years ago....) Remember that you get one 'mercy' visit. After that it depends on your quality, service, price, presentation, weather, location, sanitation, rest rooms, ambience, competition, deer season, tourism, board of health, advertising, popularity, and whatever else the fickleness of your custiomers presents you with.

tinknal · #29 12/13/09, 01:08 PM

Ken, thanks. I plan to really push the special. It will be prepared in advance before I open. It will not be open in the morning, and I plan on very few employees. I don't think firing my wife would be advisable..............

As for the comment "ask the guy who runs the kitchen....." That would be me.

firegirl969 · #30 12/13/09, 01:47 PM

The local bakery here has a lunch menu with soup and salads and sandwiches. She is known for her broccoli cheese soup and her chicken salad sandwiches. She does a booming lunch business very simply. I can also recommend that you find a local cake maker that makes good layer cakes. A slice of that 10-12 layer chocolate cake here goes for $2 and they always sale out. Better yet, learn to make them yourself and make a couple a week during the slow times of the afternoon.

Ken Scharabok · #31 12/13/09, 02:37 PM

Just a comment on breakfast. Some years ago I attended a conference in which Joel Salatin spoke. He noted when his range chickens were producing he would go around and sell their eggs for $1.50 dozen to restaurants. One breakfast cook said his manager, getting the invoice, said, in effect, "What! We have been paying $.50 a dozen". What wasn't taken into consideration was Joel also provided those slightly pyramid table display cards saying for $.25 an egg extra you could order farm fresh eggs. That's a retail of $3.00 dozen. And, yes, probably less per egg profit than wholesaler supplied, what what did it do to repeat business?

He would also challenge chefs/cooks to make the same dish using his eggs and wholesaler ones. He noted most came around to buying from him.

As noted in other posts. Find menu items to specialize in and then provide excellent customer service and value.

tinknal · #32 12/13/09, 02:54 PM

Ken, believe me, I'm looking for a good approved egg supplier. I HATE those insipid, watery, tasteless commercial eggs.

hillbillygal · #33 12/13/09, 03:26 PM

My grandfather is legally blind so he can't drive himself around any more. One of his favorite past times is going out to eat lunch. He calls us at least 2 times a week to go out for lunch. He buys so we gladly go. He picks the place by the lunch special. His favorite is an open face pork sandwich that one little country store does with leftovers from their pork roast dinner special on Sundays. Another large part is how friendly the staff is. If he like the waiters or waitresses he'll want to go back again and again.

ETA: and gravy. He loves gravy. Breakfast gravy, chicken gravy, pork gravy, beef gravy he loves it all!

wyld thang · #34 12/13/09, 03:34 PM

what about Norwegian/Swedish meatballs for a special? you can make the meatballs up anytime and freeze them

chicken cordon bleu? roast pork loin? (with a nice zippy fruity sauce?)

a wild mushroom stroganoff with great local beef is hot stuff(and easy), just offer it when you can find a source for local morels etc

tinknal · #35 12/13/09, 04:24 PM

I like the stroganoff idea. Doesn't have to be wild mushrooms. I would do the meat in advance and make the sauce on a per order basis.

poppy · #36 12/13/09, 04:31 PM

Fish is big around here. We have about 4 places within 20 miles that have thrived for years on selling catfish dinners and for 2 of them, that is all they sell. Another small restaurant that seats maybe 40 people specializes in Walleye. They have waiting lines on Friday and Saturday night and won't even do carry-out orders on those nights because they are so busy.

tinknal · #37 12/13/09, 04:43 PM

Yeah, I'm thinking about friday night fish frys during lent. Walleye would be the popular choice here, but it is fraught with political peril due to Native Americans who are allowed to gill net on some lakes.

mnn2501 · #38 12/13/09, 05:09 PM

Keep it clean, buy local and fresh as much as possible, if its worth doing it's worth doing right, please don't cook up big batches and then hold them -- that kills more restaurants than bad health inspections do.

Keep it simple - keep it fresh, keep it clean.

texican · #39 12/13/09, 05:49 PM

At least you'll eat good! I always wondered what happened to all the extra food at the end of the day... If I 'owned' the place, I know I'd be eating what was leftover...

Good luck, and happy cooking!

aftermidnite · #40 12/13/09, 05:58 PM

Up until May I was the cook at the American Legion here in my town (Post 230)
I had a stinker for a boss but I loved cooking (and still do )
One of the specialities was BIG breaded tenderloins
Pork loins cut into chops and then we beat them out and hand breaded them per order ..Those things were huge..
One pound burgers (he only bought black Angus beef 50 lbs at a time usually once a week ..I "balled" them up and froze them on the day he delivered them..and kept a rotated stock pile of defrosted burger"balls"
I made all salads from scratch ..pea salad (had to make this twice a week good seller ) ..Cole slaw(also made twice a week as I always sold out ) ..mac salad ..potato salad ..marinated tomatoes and pickled beets and eggs and "hot " eggs.cucumbers with onions and sour cream ...Harvard beets for the salad bar ..
I made all soups from scratch ..Stuffed Pepper Soup ..Potato Soup ..Chili..both hot(overlords recipe ) and my special "sweet"(mine was the biggest seller 2 to 1)..Hot Stew(too hot for most folks..his recipe again )
Chicken Noodle (stewed chicken parts left form the trimmings of the ginormous breast he bought by the case )..cheated with bought frozen noodles as I just cant master a good noodle.. Steak and Potato Soup made form the left over Friday Night Prime Rib...Broccoli Cheese Soup ...Veggie Soup ..Tomato Soup from tomatoes gettin close to time ...Sausage and Cabbage Soup ..Split pea Soup ...
Daily Lunch Specials were ..Chicken Strips (house breading made daily )...Grilled or Breaded Chicken Breast ..
Meatloaf ...Pork Loin with green beans and potatoes..BBQ Short Ribs
AYCE Fish ...Taco Salads...Spaghetti and Meat Sauce ..Baked Spaghetti the next day ...Rubens ...Tuna ..Chicken or Ham Salad....Chicken or Beef Fajitas...
Chicken Alfredo...Beef or Chicken and Noodles ...Ham and Beans ...Giant B L T's with Fries ...Club Sandwiches with Chips (Ham Bacon Turkey )Hot Wings ..Friday lunches were always fish ..walleye or pollack
All of our fries were cut daily and all of our mashed potatoes were from real boiled potatoes...all gravies were made form scratch from stocks I would save and freeze or buy off cuts to make it with ...

Friday Nights was always your choice of steaks ..and another dinner special ..
Prime Rib was every other week ...Catfish on Friday nights was either whole or fillets...Baked Potatoes were always on Friday Nights ...and fresh Parker house rolls (these were from frozen dough as the overlord thought it was more cost effective )

While I was there I kept costs down and NEVER threw away anything ..I always used up leftovers with great results ..
My weekly costs were for meat ..produce and other things around $600.some weeks less some weeks more depending on what sales I could find .....and always showed a profit at weeks end ...I made use of my food saver brought from home and the freezer ...My 3 pressure cookers came in handy too
I was told by a board member that weekly cost now are $900 or more ..and profit is only shown about once a month ...

We served from 11am until 2pm ..and Friday Nights we served Dinner from 5pm until 9pm ...
Once a month we had a breakfast buffett for AYCE $5..

I had ...me ..a cooks helper..and a dishwasher in the kitchen ..and one waitress in the dining room and 2 waitresses on Friday nights and one to work the bar ..

We used real plates bowls and silverware glasses and cups ...

It can be done ..just dont get too big too fast ...

PM me if you have any questions ...