TOUGH TIMES
By Brandon Farrell | Stones Pizza

Financial crisis… economic slowdown… these are the catchphrases of the hour. Just as fuel prices drop and we think we might get some reprieve, we get more increases that are blamed on the poor dollar. Today, as I write this they have just announced that we have avoided a true recession by .01%. Whew! That was close! But what does it all mean to the average pizzeria?

Well, you can split us into two separate groups and it means two different things. For those in the takeaway business this can be a time to thrive, even if thriving means just maintaining your sales figures. For those with a full seated restaurant, however, it is time to batten down the hatches and try to survive. Okay, it’s no picnic for the takeaway operator. We have still had to deal with some ridiculous cost increases in the past year. As many were attributed to the high cost of fuel, how many prices have actually come down with the petrol price? Suppliers don’t pass on those savings to make up for lower sales to restaurants. Besides, everyone is used to paying the current prices. So what do we do?

Too many times I have seen places shoot themselves in the foot when times get a bit tough. First you start using a cheaper cheese because that is your biggest single expense…so what if the new cheese is a little greasier, no-one will really notice, right? Then you can get that cheaper pepperoni and even start slicing it a little thinner, and you could always add some water to your sauce. Another great one is to make your base a bit thicker and cut back on all the toppings, as long as people feel full when they’re done. You can always replace the…well I don’t know what you could replace with that crap called “pizza topping”, What the hell IS that stuff?! Oh, and you could make all your sizes an inch smaller. All of a sudden you’re making the same pizza as that major chain store but without the advertising budget to convince people to eat your new sub-standard product.

This seems a little far-fetched and you would never do that you say…well I have seen that very same scenario played out again and again, and it has spelled the end for almost every restaurant.

Sometimes it happens so gradually that you don’t really see it from the inside…you start by changing one thing and after awhile when you are used to it you find another way to shave a few points off your food cost The next thing you know you are far removed from your original product and wondering where all your customers went.

In most cases this happens when the owner of the business is not that in touch with the actual food and pressures the chef or manager to get the percentages in line. I have been on the wrong side of this myself once, when despite all my protests, I was not just instructed by the owner to use cheaper ingredients, but he sourced some himself based purely on price and demanded I use them …even replacing Taleggio cheese with plain label Brie because “they are pretty much the same thing” (…and yes, that was just a touch of sarcasm). Of course the menu continued to say Taleggio. He then went on to say that he could not understand why we were paying the prices we were for product, as he was able to save so much on the food cost in just a few hours. With my sudden incredible power to see into the future I handed him my apron and left him to it.

One of the other mistakes this restaurant made was to severely cut the number of staff, so when it did occasionally get busy it was a shitfight. The service suffered, the staff were extra stressed and was soon disgruntled.

That restaurant used to have a very good name, but times got lean, every place in town was quiet. There was less competition out there when this place shut down a couple of months later. This was probably the biggest example of complete idiocy I have encountered in my entire career, but I believe it makes my point here very well. It is okay to cut costs, but not at the cost of the quality of your product or of your service. There is no greater kiss of death than your customers walking away saying “Well, it’s not as good as it used to be”. If anything, this is a time to be improving the quality of your product and be better than your competition to get people coming back and telling their friends. Word of mouth is always your best advertisement, but people pay attention even more in times when they are being more careful with their money. There are many good ways to bring down your food cost and even improve your product at the same time. The best way is to use new and original flavour combinations from unusual ingredients. If you are using beef mince, try braising a flank roast or some other cheaper cut of beef. The cheaper cuts are always much tougher, but often stronger in flavour, so if you braise it slowly until it is melt in your mouth tender you have a product that is much better than plain old mince for about the same or possibly even less cost.

So many pizzerias have very little to offer in the way of vegetarian selections. Are you guys mad??? Put together some great vegetarian combinations and not only will you expand your customer base, but vegetables are cheaper than meat. If the recent increases are more than you can absorb and your food cost is too high to survive, put your prices up and don’t look to make a cheaper product. It is daunting to put out a price increase when people are tightening their wallets, gut you actually have an obligation to your customers to raise your pricing to maintain the quality standard that they have come to expect.

If you find you are not getting the sales then you have to spend some money on advertising. It’s always tough to spend the money when there is less coming in but YOU HAVE TO! Sometimes you have to remind people that you are there. Remember, if you have a quality product at a reasonable price you will be successful. If you are struggling in these times, set your profit margin to “Survival” instead of “New Car” and you might find the added value to the customer brings in more people and you might get the new car anyway. To all you guys out there that are running a 20% food cost…good luck to you.