Considering we only have two rooms this is a little more than we need to do to run our place right now. I know we'll figure out portion control more when we get to 5 rooms.
My husband managed restaurants for 20 years and can do a lot of this in his head.
We don't substitute quality because of costs. We are not running a 100 seat restaurant, just two rooms and cheese plates for wine tours.
Since we do purchase a good amount some of the vendors give us a discount.
We will be pursuing this direction with the cheese I think since it is costly. I'm going to contact one of the online vendors to see if I can prepay for bulk and have it shipped in increments. That's a tip I got from a Chef at the Virginia Conference at the Homestead.
Plus I found a locally made nationally known hard goat cheese that I can buy in bulk that keeps for two months
Riki.
The reason I ask about costs, is because I have friends and other inns I work with, that when we sit down and really analyze the cost analysis of what they are serving, when we run the numbers and we find out they have figured costs wrong or just wung it, it can be hundreds of dollars worth of loss per month vs what they thought they were doing ok with.
Most innkeepers I know don't have restaurant backgrounds so its not something most people think about. Because so many places do the choc dipped strawberries to use that as an example, they don't adjust the price when the market varies, The general thing I hear is "it will all even out"
For a smaller place with only a couple of rooms its definetely not as much off an issue, but a 6 roomer or more can loose some serious money on breakfast. With the economy still the way it is, (and even if it was much better) I would think every penny would count.
.
Forfeng said:
Most innkeepers I know don't have restaurant backgrounds so its not something most people think about. Because so many places do the choc dipped strawberries to use that as an example, they don't adjust the price when the market varies, The general thing I hear is "it will all even out"
I have chocolate dipped strawberries as an "add on" for $12.
You are saying that I should charge more or less when the prices of strawberries change???
That would mean I'd have to change the price on the website, in my management system, etc.
We figure a price taking into considerations high and low and come up with an average, and compare it against what the others are charging.
There's something to be said for the value of my time, as well.
RIki
.
I agree, I am not saying you should or should not change the price, it was more was a generalized questions out of curiosity. Your time is very valuable as I well know and there never seems to be enough of it.
To answer the question about lower or higher on the price, never lower though, the extra profit is always good. But say strawberries go up and stay up for a long period of time, then it might be something worth the time to change.
I know many innkeepers take the time to raise their valentine's day price for packages and or add on bouquets because roses invariably double/triple in price around that time. If its only one or two orders of choc strawberries a week at the higher price it wouldn't be a big deal but if you are going through 12 orders a day and the cost is 3 bucks higher...... Whats your time worth vs cost of goods sold, would be my takeaway.
Sorry to question or raise the questions, I am always curious about the differences between restaurants and innkeeping and as a former chef used to nitpick costs to death. Thats why I ask, just to be a pain in the tuckus
.