The Cost of Eggs

In November, Easy will print a new version of it's menu, mostly with price changes and a couple of modfifications. The reason we do this is simple, the cost of business is going up. I know when we raised prices last year, we had some negative feedback from a few customers. On the surface, its seems like a cash grab anytime a restaurant raises its prices. I mean, I'm the type of guy who never really notices things like that, unless I eat at that place everyday, and even then, because I run my own business, understand that the owner's can only take a hit for so long before it starts to affect their income.

Unlike retail, restaurants and other food service operations have slim margins and the smallest of things can upset that apple cart. Once when one of my staff thought the water in the kitchen could be hotter, turned up the hot water heater 20 degrees. This ended up costing me $2000 on my next gas bill. There goes some profit right down the drain! Now you know why your dad was always monitoring the heat in the house! There have to be controls in place to maintain that margin and the prices have to change if the cost of food goes up (sorry folks, it never goes down).

Now some of you might say, hey, Stavros up the road and other greasy spoons only charge $4.99 for a breakfast, how come the Easy Rider costs $8.95? Well, not only does Stavros have cheap ingredients (wonder bread, fatty bacon, normal eggs and folger's coffee), they have low overhead (staff, rent, facility costs, office costs). Easy is busy and requires a much bigger staff to make it happen 7 days a week. The other difference is in the quality of ingredients. Its easy to downgrade to cheap bread, but I insist on artisan breads and they cost a pretty penny and boy do they taste good! Seems like a bunch of jargon, but in the early days I worked in the kitchen and waited on tables until it all caught up with me and I got behind on my taxes, GST and debt payments. Since then, I've reworked the formulas, and staffing schedule so I could get the bills paid, keep up with the demand (we get busier every year) and have time for my family. Oh and by the way, have you seen my rusty old Dodge Caravan? That'll tell you how much money we're making. The price of a Huevos barely runs that van and isn't saving much for new one anytime soon.

So when you see the lineups, think of all the steps it takes to cook your breakfast and serve it hot and tasty to your table: Ordering; Receiving; Costing; Preparation; Food Handling and Storing; Cooking; Plating; Serving; Billing; Clearing; Washing; and getting ready to do again and again and again...oh, then paying bills;taxes;payroll;more taxes; filing; fixing; hiring; firing; scheduling; re-ordering; counting; phoning...

Thanks, and please come again!