[zeroecco]

I cooked for a little over a decade all said and told. Eight of those ten years I made less then $10 bucks/hour. Food is a difficult thing to make money on in the USA. Without margin, wages cannot increase. Last time I checked margin in the food business was less then 3% of total revenue. let me say that again, 3%. It MAY be worse now. Mass production is the ONLY way to stay afloat for a food business. Thus employees that are not a part of the service portion of the business, feel the squeeze.

To fix the problem, look no further then COGS.

1. Smaller menus (less margin in the trash)

2. Aggressively seasonal selections (cheaper then any other food)

3. Be a part of the community you are serving (intangible but sticky customer base)

4. Pair down customer capacity (smaller team = more hours per employee)

5. Salaries instead of hourly (cheaper, longer term employees)

6. Add the frickin 5% to that $30 plate of food

7. Consider limited hours (staying open 16 hours is stupid and wasteful)

[titanomachy]

I think that to open a restaurant you either have to be naive or incredibly passionate. Most restaurants fail, and many of those that "succeed" are just getting by. That seems a pretty clear signal that the market does not want me to open a restaurant, and I'm happy to oblige.

To think that I could succeed without doing something fundamentally different than those who have failed before me would certainly be naive, unless I am truly a culinary prodigy.

[zeroecco]

That is simply not true. People eat out more today then ever before in the past 100 years in the USA based on income.

http://www.forbes.com/2006/07/19/spending-income-level_cx_lh...

Food carts are a perfect example of COGS in action. Coffee places are also an example (SBUX, stumptown, etc). Highly specialized businesses selling items at the best balance of COGS and quality.

Food carts and small specialized brick and mortar businnesses are succeeding because their COGS are far lower then your average place.

Most resturants fail because of their initial COGS at startup and because their food/service/merketing research generally sucks for where they are. Remove the service aspect, specialize, reduce cogs, make a living wage.

[meesterdude]

This is great advice!

I assume you mean this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_goods_sold

[zeroecco]

Yep!