This is an interesting article from that East Coast bastion of reporting, the New York Times, (and I know that the East Coast is taking a bashing right now in Minneapolis, but, hey, it's where we live!) about how the New York restaurant scene is coping with the economic downturn. It's a revealing picture of how we must change and adapt to the times in order to succeed, let alone survive. One of our customers, who lives in NYC, had already mentioned to me how the weak dollar was bringing in lots of foreign tourists to fill the seats - not something I think we will see here - but I was still pretty impressed that The Modern was including the euro in it's prices on the menu. Wow...although it does not seem to be on their web page menus...yet.
What, you may ask, are we doing to stimulate business and increase (or maintain, actually) revenue? Nothing new really... We've always been very careful about waste and portion control; we recycle/reuse/reduce as usual; we buy prudently and try to run out rather than throw away; we will happily "comp" something when we've screwed up, but not much is "on the house", even for our regulars; we keep employee hours under control, turn up/down the thermostat, and shut off the lights. In short, we just keep doing those things that any business owner who needs to watch the bottom line would do. Costs have gone up and we have raised a few prices to help balance that out, but not by much and not too many things. I would say 95% of our prices right now are the same as they were this time last year. I would also say that we will probably have to rethink that position if things go up much more than they already have, but hopefully not. We'll continue to offer our Wednesday Night prix-fixe to bump up week night trade and continue to purchase as much locally, pasture raised, farm fresh, buzz word characterized food as possible. (We're so trendy, eh?) Pay our staff, pay our rent, pay our purveyors - those are our main goals. Anything else is gravy, and you don't always have gravy.
What do we need from you? As I have spouted before, we need you to support your local restaurants. Going to Dover to shop? Stop in town for lunch before you go, or have dinner here afterwards - don't eat at one of those national chains all up and down Rt. 13. Headed to Easton for a Doctor Appointment? Pick up a sandwich from one of the many options here to take with you as a picnic meal down there. Coming back from a night on the town in Annapolis? Treat yourself to a late night dessert at Downey's before you go home. This is just another use for the term "Locavore", isn't it? We need you to support us so we can continue to thrive, and continue to supply a choice in dining right here at home.
Okay, enough of this already. Next post will be more food related, I promise. Meanwhile, we've got a business to run, so I better get off my duff and get running!
What, you may ask, are we doing to stimulate business and increase (or maintain, actually) revenue? Nothing new really... We've always been very careful about waste and portion control; we recycle/reuse/reduce as usual; we buy prudently and try to run out rather than throw away; we will happily "comp" something when we've screwed up, but not much is "on the house", even for our regulars; we keep employee hours under control, turn up/down the thermostat, and shut off the lights. In short, we just keep doing those things that any business owner who needs to watch the bottom line would do. Costs have gone up and we have raised a few prices to help balance that out, but not by much and not too many things. I would say 95% of our prices right now are the same as they were this time last year. I would also say that we will probably have to rethink that position if things go up much more than they already have, but hopefully not. We'll continue to offer our Wednesday Night prix-fixe to bump up week night trade and continue to purchase as much locally, pasture raised, farm fresh, buzz word characterized food as possible. (We're so trendy, eh?) Pay our staff, pay our rent, pay our purveyors - those are our main goals. Anything else is gravy, and you don't always have gravy.
What do we need from you? As I have spouted before, we need you to support your local restaurants. Going to Dover to shop? Stop in town for lunch before you go, or have dinner here afterwards - don't eat at one of those national chains all up and down Rt. 13. Headed to Easton for a Doctor Appointment? Pick up a sandwich from one of the many options here to take with you as a picnic meal down there. Coming back from a night on the town in Annapolis? Treat yourself to a late night dessert at Downey's before you go home. This is just another use for the term "Locavore", isn't it? We need you to support us so we can continue to thrive, and continue to supply a choice in dining right here at home.
Okay, enough of this already. Next post will be more food related, I promise. Meanwhile, we've got a business to run, so I better get off my duff and get running!
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