Everybody with a grocery list and a shopping cart knows how food costs have skyrocketed. The price of a loaf of bread (okay, a loaf of locally-baked, organic, whole grain bread) makes me actually gasp. Coffee? Unbelievable. Chicken that has been raised humanely costs an arm and a leg (apologies to the poultry). So of course the costs of running a restaurant have gone through the roof.
I sympathize.
But I am not going along with the program of lowering standards.
If you have a house specialty, e.g. the jalapeño cornbread at Zachary’s, that has become a beloved signature of your dining establishment, don’t mess with it! Cut corners somewhere else. Or cut down the portion size. Just don’t change the recipe and offer some lesser dish in its place.
I’m one of those consumers with such a strong loyalty to my favorite places, that I wouldn’t mind seeing prices raised a bit to cover costs — rather than substitute ingredients, or lower the quality of the overall product. Many restaurateurs have told me that patrons will not tolerate prices going up — but my experience tells me that patrons will be even angrier if the product quality goes down.
Times are going to be tough for a while longer. But life is short. Make the decisions you, and your conscience, (and your clientele) can live with.
Well said, Christina. The first decision to cut quality is the first step to failure. Each subsequent decision about ingredients and techniques will be easier until price rules and the reason people eat your food is gone.
Clark Guittard told me once how his company looked at this. His emphasis was on NEVER making the first decision. The reason is that after the seventh decision or so, there is no memory of the original recipe and the taste it provided. So you are constantly judging against a standard that was set by the last decision, not the first one.
Our mantra has always been that each decision to change an ingredient or a process must result in a better experience IN THE MOUTH or the change can’t be made.
Thanks for supporting that standard.
Larry.
Christina, I’m with you! There is no substitute for quality. dl
Glad you agree. We need to put our money where our mouths (and standards) are.
And rally others to accept no compromises!
Christina
If a restaurant isn’t bringing in enough business to meet their basic expenses, there are no decisions they can make that are right. Cutting staff, cutting portions, cutting hours, cutting quality can all support a death spiral. So can taking on more debt so you can maintain all your standards in hopes things turn around.
Restauranteurs want to know you to want to support their institution over the long haul, not that if they make one wrong decision among the hundreds they make daily you will in that case withdraw your support.
So by all means bitch if you don’t like what they are doing, but don’t stop going unless you are uninterested in giving them a chance to improve in the future. I know I speak for all my colleagues when I say we are interested in, appreciative of (and even rewarding of) feedback, even if we see no feasible way at the present time to implement what may seem to you either a vital change (back?)and/or a simple one.
I agree. Don’t change the quality, raise the price to a reasonable level. However, don’t cut the portion size and raise the price because then I’ll feel cheated.
Many restaurant owners don’t like to hear any criticism, or some may say bitching, from the customers but the customers are doing the paying. Without their feet in the doors with their tushies in the seats, then the restaurant can’t exist.
All well said, but I will say this about those who profess to care about quality and will pay for it: Santa Cruz is the land of the bottom feeders. I rarely see patrons willing to pay for quality here. QUANITY rules in this town, not qualify and that matra is set by the customers not the restauranteurs.
I’m kinda with ya Bob Marsh. The majority of folks here in SC go for quantity over quality. I sell fresh (not frozen) from sustainable fisheries fish tacos for $3 with handmade seasonal organic salsas, and local organic veg and they are big. I was just out at a wharf eatery where it was $16.00 for two fish tacos with frozen fish, non-organic produce and cheap beans and rice on the side, yet I get a hard time for my prices. There are certainly folks willing to pay for quality, but it is hard to sell enough volume if one only caters to the minority. People need to realize that the reason some food is SO good is because it is made with quality FRESH ingredients, but that those ingredients do cost more… At the same time, I don’t think that restaurants should (and many do) charge an added premium for using quality ingredients. Just because you throw some farm names out there doesn’t mean you should charge even more. keep the quality up, charge a fair price, REDUCE WASTE, keep it fresh. We all shop for food and see the prices rising. People can’t logically expect for restaurant prices to stay the same
Franny – it is tragic that folks gripe about the high cost of high quality. But many consumers “think” with their carbo-obsessions alone. If they get full, they feel good (nevermind the fact that they might be fueling their own diabetes or heart condition in the future). It’s always been tough to convince people that fresh food is better for them than processed. If it tastes reasonably fat and salty, they’re happy.
As for the restaurant prices – you’re right again. No one expects their prices to stay the same (unless portions shrink). The problem for restaurants is that people will simply stop going out to eat. They’ll stay home and save a few bucks by making their own meals.
The economy needs to show signs of life before there is a decent solution.
– Christina
Amen, Xtina. Don’t cheat on what makes it taste good. MY rec is always to reduce portion size, or better still, offer portions at different prices, e.g., small portion at $ xx and large portion at $ xxx. How difficult would that be? and then the customer can chose to be fat or thin. cheers, vj