Page 22 - MENU Magazine - Sept/Oct 2017

TOP
WAYS
TO MAKE
MONEY
NOW
THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING TO LEARN BY LISTENING TO ADVICE FROM THE INSIDERS. BY BETH POLLOCK
Whether it comes to reining in expenses or bumping up revenues, there’s always something to learn by listening to advice from the insiders. I spoke to three restaurateurs who shine at running their businesses:
DOUG TOWNSEND runs successful
Dartmouth restaurant The Canteen with his wife, Chef Renée Lavallée. Townsend and Lavallée recently reinvented their popular lunch spot
as a full-service 60-seat dinner restaurant.
CHRISTIE PETERS is chef and co-owner of Saskatoon’s The Hollows, a restaurant that Vogue magazine recommended as a must-visit in its November 2016 issue. She’s also co-owner of Primal Pasta.
MICHAEL VALIANT, CEO Boon Burger, is presiding over the Winnipeg restaurant’s expansion into Ontario.
22 MENU SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2017
1
FOOD COSTS 2 IDENTIFY YOUR SOURCES
Tackling your food costs should
be your rst step. Valiant says he focuses on the cost of his most expensive ingredients—not necessarily those with the highest price tag, but the ones he spends the most on every month, through a c o m b i n a t i o n o f v o l u m e a n d c o s t . “ I f
you sort your ingredient list based on
this criteria,” says Valiant, “start with your most expensive items on top, and work your way down the list trying to
nd better rates for each item. Your rst successes will have a huge impact on your bottom line.”
He also looks for synergies on the menu. “Instead of using 75 ingredients, see if you
Townsend says The Canteen focuses
on local food, so they don’t buy everything from one source (which would normally be a way to save money). To make up for it, they buy direct where they can—for example, they purchase lobster m e a t a 3n d s n o w c r a b d i r e c t l y f r o m a s h i n g cooperative. Although this means more work, as he has to meet them halfway rather than having the product delivered, the cost savings more than make up for it.
can trim1
One decision that was de nitely worthwhile was hiring a horticulurist to grow all of our own vegetables...it may sound expensive, but it keeps us protected from mar- ket uctuations and shortages.
3 GROW/MAKE
YOUR OWN PRODUCTS
“One decision that was de nitely worthwhile was hiring a horticulturist to grow all of our own vegetables,” says Peters. “It may sound expensive, but it keeps us protected from market uctuations and shortages.” She says it also reinforces how important it is to use the whole vegetable, including composting whatever is inedible, so it goes back to the soil for nutrients for the following year’s crop. The restaurant even saves excess animal fat and uses it to make their own hand soap.
it down to 25 or 30 by building recipes that piggyback o the same base ingredient list. Not only will this simplify your storage system, it will drive up your per-ingredient volume, which gives you more bargaining power.”
Instead of using 75 ingredients, see if you can trim it down to 25
or 30 by building recipes that piggyback o the same base ingredient list.