Hey all, wanted to spread the world about new podcast you might be interested in:

Fully Fermented is the podcast of Food and Beverage conversations. Hosted by Award Winning Distiller Matt Lange (King Coil Spirits) and James Beard nominated chef and Restaurateur Jon Nodler (Canter Inn), each episode of Fully Fermented will take a deep dive into a topic in the world of Food, Beverage and the Hospitality Industry. Whether you're a foodie, industry vet, eater or drinker, you will find engaging conversations with expert guests and stories of the struggles, successes, joys and frustrations of this crazy business.

Does anyone have experience buying things like silverware, metal ramekins, or custom to go containers through Alibaba? We have 5 restaurants and over a year could save a ton of money for lowering our costs on these items. Seems like importing straight from China would work but the shipping, customs, and quality control issues are concerns. Would love to know people’s firsthand experiences. Also alternative solutions to Alibaba.

Curious about everyone's experience sourcing Japanese and Asian specialty goods/equipment for your kitchens. It feels like getting consistent quality is getting a bit harder.

What actually keeps you sticking to a specialty vendor? Is it just whoever has the best prices, or is it more about reliability and having an easy ordering system (like an app vs traditional communications)? Trying to wrap my head around the biggest frustrations people are having with specialty sourcing right now.

Need to leave toast

(Posted in /restaurant as well)

Paying 275/mo plus payroll (8 employees) and cc fees.

We have 1 register, no online ordering.

We have tip pooling and i need to keep that without running a report and manually calculating it. Dont mind if i have to export a report and import to payroll.

Any other ice cream shops or similar happy with their setup? Preferable for POS to have time clock, tip tracking, have its own scheduling or integrate, its own payroll or integrate and calculate tip pooling.

Whatcha got?

I set up Muse (metas new agent) to trigger when a bank deposit hits the bank, compare it to what Toast says should be deposited, calculate any under/over, send an email to the team so they know it matches or doesn’t. I think I can do the same with instinct if I didn’t want to use Meta. No shorts since the emails started sending.

I will try to keep this as brief as I can. We own a fast casual restaurant in a tourist driven beach town. We serve BBQ and our annual revenues is 1.5 mil (We have flat lined and now dropping) . The original store was started in the mid 90s by my Dad. He passed away 18 years ago. When he died, the business started dying. We had multiple locations and made good money. The business was held in a family trust and run by existing staff. After 18 years I was finally able to replace the trustee as well as the person operating the business. Growing up my dad was very good about teaching me what he was doing, I learned about P&Ls, margins, restaurant theories etc. Unfortunately I was kept at arms distance from the business after he died. I am now fully in charge but can only work on or in the restaurant part time. I am learning as much as possible and want to recapture some of what we once had. Here are the things Im trying to change without changing the feel of the business. Last year we made about 4% after paying the person running the business. This year we are down a little in sales. We won't make it if I can't improve things. Our rent is currently 14k and our lease runs out in 3 years, Landlords will probably try to gouge us even more.

-Getting food pricing and costs straightened out. Is it worth keeping pricing on high items slightly lower and making up for it on higher margin? (Ribs and Tri Tip are expensive, I don't want to increase our price 40% overnight ) Pulled pork, Fries, drinks, are easy to do better than targeted costs) Also what is a reasonable food cost to aim for (raw food and or associated cogs) without turning off customers?

-Updating Accounting, Payroll, and POS. We use desktop quickbooks and a cash register system. I realize I need to know how well we're doing much sooner than we are able to currently. I am considering something like Toast for POS and payroll while we switch to online quickbooks. What are the best arguments for knowing all the numbers when it comes to POS? Some people think it's a waste to spend $6k a year for something that doesn't make us more sales. I see the value in it but can't argue exactly how we make more profits other than fine tuning numbers.

-Marketing and driving sales, I would really love to hit 1.7 million next year. Increasing prices will help but I want more people in store. Im getting help to restart social media and going to have some light consulting on SEO. Otherwise my plan is to work on store front signage and cleaning up the store a little bit. We rely on the tourists heavily so curb appeal is important but want to target locals for off season.

What should be my priorities or what are some key things that I may not be thinking about?

One thing we've noticed when comparing food distributors is that the lowest price doesn't necessarily equate to the best value. Delivery reliability, product freshness and minimum order quantities all have a massive bearing on the overall cost, particularly if you're a regular buyer.

How does restaurants and cafes work out which distributor they're going to use? Some will be better for fresh produce, others will be better for the dry stuff, the frozen stuff and the pantries. It can be a bit of a headache having to order from a number of different distributors as far as getting your deliveries and your invoices is concerned.

For the more experienced of the bulk food buyers out there, do you tend to work through one main distributor or do you split your orders between a number of specialist suppliers? And how do you go about price comparison in that scenario?

What factors are most important when selecting a distributor and which have had the biggest impact on your day to day running?

I was looking at the Arcobaleno products, but open to advice and want to learn what has worked best for you.

Our restaurant is located in a tourism heavy community in the US and have been open since early 2025. We did just under $1.1 million in net sales during our first 12 months of operation and have grown sales about 15% since that first year. But there is a lot of variability in that, some months we have been down 6 or 7% from the first year and up during other months as much as 30%. We have done as little as $50k in slow months and more than $200k in busy ones. And the day to day can be up or down from same day last year within a huge range.  

One of our biggest challenges is setting the schedule for staffing. How many people total to bring in. 

With such little history to use as guidance, what else can we do to set the schedule? We can to some degree bring people in and then cut them, but with hiring and retention being very difficult in this area, doing it too much risks losing people. And if we run too lean, we definitely affect the customer experience, which is part of our brand. We are not just a replacement for at home meals place. 

Ownership does not have a lot of extra capacity to fill in as more flexible line workers, which could have been a partial solution. But that just isn’t reality for us. 

Am I missing any other guide posts about how to forecast besides last year’s data and maybe the weather or local events? 

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I run a small independent restaurant in London, UK, and we're approaching our third year.

We've worked incredibly hard to build something people genuinely enjoy. We're currently sitting at 4.9 stars on Google with over 700 reviews, a loyal customer base, and turnover that's grown since we opened.

But despite all that, the financial pressure has been relentless.

Between wages, suppliers, rent, utilities and quieter trading periods, sometimes it feels like you're constantly playing catch-up.

What I've found particularly difficult is that having a restaurant people love doesn't necessarily mean you're running a financially healthy business.

Some days you feel like you're finally making progress. Other days it feels like you're back at square one.

I love hospitality and I'm incredibly proud of what we've built, but I never imagined the financial side would be this challenging.

For those of you who've been running restaurants for five, ten or twenty years, what actually changed things for you?

Was it increasing revenue, reducing operating costs, changing your business model, or simply getting through those difficult early years?

I'd genuinely appreciate hearing what worked for other owners.

Is this everyone's experience? It was literally always off. Every single day. Sometimes by $2, sometimes by $100.

Anytime it was off by more than $50 I'd be up at 6am going through the security footage. I’d catch people stealing and fire them on the spot. I fired at least a dozen people over it in 2 years.

Employee theft has always been a huge problem in restaurants. Up to 7% of total revenue is lost to it. And given the margins that was almost all my profits in some months.

I firmly believe this is a big reason so many restaurants went cashless. And big reason I'll never buy one again.

first site ran fine for three years because i knew everyone and the rota took an hour on a sunday. opened the second in may and now im building two that share about six staff between them. last week i had the same person down in both at seven on a friday and only found out when she rang me. im not sure what owners move to at this point. everything i have seen is either too basic or priced for a chain. what did you land on?

(I say "competitor" with quotations because there are enough folks out here eating that we don't need to try and boot one another outta the game. If they weren't already eating at your place, they're not gonna start because you helped shutter me.)

Anyway, I've got a drunken BBQ-joint dickhead sending people in and fucking with my food before snapping pics and tagging me with shit like, "Wow. I thought this place would be nicer." ... or "2/10, will not return."

They're pressing down on our burgers to make them look like BOH walks on them or something. They're upsetting my careful layouts on salads and pasta dishes to make it look like we slopped shit on without concern for presentation.

He seems to think that because I'm a college graduate (he stalked my LinkedIn), I'm hifalutin and think I'm God's gift. Dude ... I'm too busy shittin' my pants to think I'm better than the homeless lady I give mess-ups and a canned Coke to every now and again.

But yeah ... a full-blown alky DMing me wackadoo insults from 1am-4am ... followed by mid-afternoon apologies ... followed by "What?? You're too GOOD to accept my apologies??? You won't last another year!"

Jeez.

I just don't respond, but it's gonna get pretty dire if I keep getting tagged.

How about you?

Owned for 20 years now and I can easily say this is the worst time I’ve seen. Just absolutely brutal out there right now. Feels like the perfect storm to take out locally owned places right now.

Have a fever this morning and don't want to get anyone else sick. Sent a text to the new-ish guy.

I co-own Tasty Thai in Tempe, Arizona. I built this calculator to explore how sales, operating costs and delivery platform deductions affect what remains for the owner. Our chef is one of the best you will find yet the mistakes I chose in the beginning caused losses. Ramped up 3rd party and pushed the building to capacity only to realize that there is hidden math in your effective retained earnings from 3rd parties.

You can move the sliders for sales, third-party sales share and effective platform deductions, then adjust costs and compare scenarios.

The important distinction: a platform deduction applies to the sales going through that platform. Its effect on your remaining profit depends on your costs and how much profit existed before that deduction.

Try your own numbers: https://tastythaiaz.com/restaurant-profit-platform-risk-calculator/

Disclosure: this is on our restaurant’s website, and I built it. It’s an illustrative operating model, not a prediction of your income. Results are before taxes, debt service and capital spending.

If you find an assumption that doesn’t fit how your restaurant operates, tell me what it misses.

I have a bunch of research breaking down cost-flow-profit as well. It basically helps find where your targets should be.

legit question

if you close at 11:00 does that mean you're open at 10:59 but not 11:00? or you're open at 10:59 and 11:00 but not 11:01

????

Update: also need ice delivery while we figure it out if anybody knows a good company that will deliver to Bushwick with no minimum (and preferably no delivery fee either lol).

Ours just broke down and was quoted $2k to replace the compressor. Seems bonkers considering we (small coffee shop) never needed a 600lb machine in the first place lol.

Wondering if there's an affordable ($150/month?) leasing option for something smaller, preferably with maintenance included.

Thanks.

Restaurant owners and managers, do you let homeless people (non-paying) use your washroom?

We’ve always had homeless people use our washrooms (pre-covid). Some we even gave free food too.

After COVID the spike of homeless people went up. Would use our rest room. Stay in there for an hour or more. “Shower” in there. Get ready. We had one passed out in there. We’ve seen pads every where (bloody), our toilets constantly clogged, needles every where.

We recently stopped letting homeless people use it. Back then we had multiple staff working but due to low sales we only have one employee + me. So if we get busy, we do not have time to clean up the washroom and see what’s happening. We’ve let them use it when it’s dead, but when we could back they leave the toilet all clogged.

So do you guys let homeless people, non paying, use your restroom?

I’m leaning towards Google but I’m also thinking IG, TikTok, Yelp and others. My restaurant in a suburb of a major city on the east coast if location matters.

I know ya cant please everyone but I don't wanna alienate anyone, either.

So, I dont post much especially about this. But, I have a potential opportunity to expand my business.

Little bit of background. Been in the pizza industry 20 years. Owner for almost 11. I've operated multiple units, up to 3, at once. Sold those off and focused on my flagship that has been doing really well since. I am also a graduate of The CIA, for whatever that is worth. I am obviously more versed in casual service, but have some background in fine dining as well.

So, the opportunity. There is a 5000sq ft space available in a town about 10 minutes from me. The town has been growing a lot lately and some cool spots have popped up. This specific location is on the main road through town. Its huge, but the lease is good. Nice bar area, stage built out, big dining room, even a separate area for an arcade if I wanted to go that route. My current location is known here. We've had regulars that drive to us just for the product and tell us we should open a spot there. Asking price for this location is 120k, no money down and current lease holder will carry the note.

My biggest concern. Its big. Its a lot of seats to fill for a casual pizza spot.second biggest concer is there is some competition near by. One of the spots is also huge and a chain in the area. They have a location near my flagship, but doesn't effect us.

Now, I have ideas to make it more of an event space than just a pizza joint due to the size. Live music, comedy shows, trivia, etc. I know some people involved in these things locally and think itd be fairly easy to get talent booked.

After typing all this I am not sure what my question is anymore. Seems like a good opportunity to me. Anyone have experience with being a venue AND and casual restaurant? This is in central coast california for whatever it is worth. Let me know your thoughts.

Hello everyone, thanks for having me. I’m new here, but I have a question.
Yesterday, a delivery was made, or at least what the purveyor is considering a delivery. Multiple cases of prime rib 189A, beautiful black Angus steer. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $3000 worth of product that the delivery driver, Failed to announce its arrival. This morning, I walked into our commissary kitchen on the lower level to avoid too many distractions before I could start my day. Sneaky, sneaky. What I found were those cases left yesterday afternoon (pictured) apparently, right at the bottom of a dark stairwell that we use only for emergency exit and when I’m avoiding everyone.
I took a picture and sent it to the purveyor, our salesman. His response was, “Did you sign the invoice?” When I expressed to him that I had not signed for it and neither had any member of my management team, he said that he would speak to his owner. There is a screenshot of his next response.

What do you think? How do you feel about it? Please keep in mind that every driver so far, as well as a written document, has been sent to their company that we will only accept deliveries verified with a signature of a management member. A few more facts. There is no record of anybody from my staff signing for it. There was only 12 people in the building, five of them were in our offices, four of them were servers, and the other two were myself and my sous chef. No one acknowledges signing for anything. And while he did send me a copy of the invoice, that did have a signature on it, we all know how easy that is to fabricate nowadays. We are also a newer customer, we’ve only been working together for a few months. They are taking zero responsibility for it, and pointing the finger back at me. What would you do? All I ask is an honest answer. Thanks for listening.

I don't intend on losing any more food to this shit.

Anyone have suggestions on a brand?