Bite the Bullet

Bad news comes in bunches. Everywhere we look, prices are going up. Our restaurant is no exception. We have monitored the escalation of our cost over the past few months and even though we know the increases are not finished, we are compelled to ratchet up our prices to keep from deteriorating our razor thin margin.

Technology enables us to keep our cost as low as possible, but it also gives us the signal when it is time to raise prices.

This month we brought out our new menus with some modifications other than price increases. We printed our Dessert menu, Appetizer menu and Cocktail menu on table tents so our customers can actually see all the stuff we have.

Our Breakfast Menu had the most changes because we introduced breakfast bowls and scrambles as menu items. We offered these products as specials in the past, but formalized the process by actually putting them on the menu for every day. We will be interested in how they do.

The Lunch and Dinner menus changed a little for just the opposite reason. Some of the items we really line were on our menu but disappeared into the forest of choices. We took them off the regular menu and now feature them less frequently, but more prominently on our daily special sheet.

This year, we are making a real effort to be more responsive to the market by developing daily breakfast, lunch and dinner specials. Just setting up the process where we develop the plan was complicated. Once it is in place, subsequent plans sort of fall into place. Our staff is involved in most levels of planning starting with the morning staff that does the breakfast through the day to the dinner folks who are doing a great job with our “dinner only” items.

In spite of the fact that we are increasing prices, we work hard to make sure our prices are as modest as they can be. We still think our food is a value in the market compared to many of our identified competitors.

We feel bad that we have to change prices, but we would rather feel bad for this than feel bad for going broke. We hope our patrons understand the dilemma we face.