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TIL I was losing money on every plate of short ribs until my food cost hit 34%
I ran a special on braised short ribs for 5 weekends straight at my spot in Portland and thought it was killing it because we sold out every time. Then my chef buddy sat me down and we actually did the math on the plate cost, and it came out to $11.80 per portion against a $24 menu price. That is a 49% food cost, which is brutal once you add labor and rent. I had been pricing off vibes and what felt right instead of weighing the raw product. Switched to a pork shoulder version at $7.20 a plate and the margin finally made sense. Anyone else guilty of pricing a special by feel instead of actually breaking down the cost?
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the_brian21d ago
The "priced off vibes" thing got me because I do that constantly, like my gut has a little calculator in it and that calculator is usually drunk. Sold out every weekend just means people liked it, not that you made a dime, which is a hard lesson. Pork shoulder is the move honestly, that braise eats up flavor the same way for half the cost.
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