Knife's Edge - Restaurant Rants & Raves

Face Time

For some reason I checked my page stats today, something I rarely, if ever do, because these days, I rarely, if ever write anything. When I do check stats I see about 70 page views a day, mostly referrals from Micheal Ruhlman's blog- (thanks!). Today though I'm getting a whopping amount from Facebook. Looks like someone posted a link to the last post.

Over the time I've had the blog, my interest has waned for two reasons. One is The Sardine. I am having a ball being a dad and while I could write about our cute family adventures, for the most part I won't. I love him, but don't expect that rest of the world does, or will. The second is since The Sardine's birth I have been out of the kitchen a lot. The GM is with The Sardine much of the work-week and despite what chefs and foodies think, restaurants survive on service, not on food. So, it's been more important to be on the floor, than at the stove. And there's only so many times I can write about the insane requests that people make, or what weird things they leave for tips, or other service related issues.

This situation has changed a little bit. The cooks are now (with the exception of one), totally solid, and we have a new guy who is working out well, and bringing some new ideas to the kitchen. The waiters are also a cohesive crew, and because of scheduling I've been spending more time in the kitchen. And we've been playing a lot. So, expect to hear more from me. But don't be surprised if you don't. The Sardine is napping now. It's only a matter of time before that behavior stops and my time becomes more limited.

If you've found yourself here via Facebook, welcome. I hope to keep a little momentum going for a while. Read the archives, ask questions, leave comments.

Pinching Pennies

People are economizing. Anyone in the restaurant business can tell you that. The ways they are economizing are getting stranger however. During December we run a promotion "Christmas in January." Dine with us in December, you get a sealed envelope to be opened on a January visit. Each envelope has a certificate for something free in it; free appetizer, dinner for the table, glass of wine, etc. The envelope must be sealed, or the offer is void.

Last night a couple presents their envelope and the server notices it looks like it's been opened, the corners are torn. The guest says, "Oh, I started to open it, but realized I wasn't supposed to." So the server takes the envelope, opens it and there's a certificate for free entrees for the table, plus their receipt for dinner from 2008 (we've done this promotion for a few year, the restaurant across the street copied us this year so we won't be doing it again). Clearly the envelope had been opened. Our server, who is a stickler for the rules, asked me what to do, even though she knew the answer. I told her that once someone has lied to you, confronting them and pointing out the obvious will only lead to an argument, and loss of a customer. So, she took the entrees off the bill.

Her grousing didn't last long. In another server's section a couple said they get emails from us, with an offer of a free birthday dinner that they've been unable to use because they can never make it to our place during the time the offer is valid. We do send a birthday offer to people on our mailing list; bring in at least three other people, during the birthday week, and the birthday guest's dinner is free. Essentially it's a 25% discount and people try to push the edges of this offer all the time. If they don't have a total of four people, we'll buy dessert, rather than dinner. If they come in after the birthday week we will honor it. We're flexible. Anyway, these people said because they haven't been able to use the offer, they were wondering if we could honor a seven dollar gift certificate from another restaurant.

Now there is a certain Nordstrom-style school of thought that tells me to honor a competitor's gift certificate. And I almost did. If it had been a promotional offer, I would have. But, in this instance the competitor had gotten the money, and we would have been giving away the food. So we told them that we couldn't honor the certificate, but we would buy them dessert. The man said, "I don't want dessert. My wife already baked me a cake." Good grief. The other servers were joking, "What's next, people bringing in their Long's Extra Bucks? Someone trying to return a set of tires?"

As a parent I am trying to instill manners, courtesy, and respect for other people in The Sardine. When this is what I'm up against what chance do I have?

All is Quiet

I've never understood why businesses close on New Year's Day. Our nation was founded by religious maniacs who were pretty dedicated to the concept that hard work is godly and by the second, third, et al, sons of well-to-do families who were looking for financial opportunity. A nation of workers and entrepreneurs if you will.

So why, on the first day of a new year, when many of us are busy making resolutions and vowing to live a better, more productive life in the coming 365 days, do so many places start by keeping the doors shut? Are we now a nation of hungover drunks? It's actually fine, stay closed. That means I'll have more customers. Also those customers will come back, because we were open when others weren't.

2009 was a rewarding year personally and a challenging one for business. We had one of our best summers and worst falls ever. I'm not in the prediction business so I won't forecast the coming year. I do know I will work differently. I've got new tools, new people and new horizons. Oh, and new goals too.

Come in tonight, we're open.