one of my friends has had a french provencal restaurant, actually two.....at one time he shared that his food costs were 13%. He makes the bread, desserts, soups from scratch....breaksdown lambs, chickens, beef clods, pigs...makes charcuterie, dressings.....
One of his favorite soups is a fish soup made with bones the fish monger gives him, fennel tops, onions, tomato paste, spices and I don't remember if he's got cream in it....used to sell it for $7+ a bowl. Gotta love it.
We once priced out breaking down 2 pigs and the return on the products he made from said pigs.....pigs and 12 hours labor was somewhere in the $800 range, return from pates, chops, hams, sausages, etc $4500. Pretty dang good reason to break down your own animals. He cryovacs, so doesn't have to worry about waste.
He now owns an Irish pub, an English pub and one French bistro.
It's fun seeing how he goes about designing a menu.
French place always has escargot, usually smelts, mussels, some charcuterie platter, at least 2-3 salads, a couple soups, typically 1/2 roasted chicken...etc.... |