When I opened my restaurant at the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic, my main concerns were being able to get building materials in a timely manner, making the space COVID-proof, and of course staffing—because it’s always staffing. Fast forward a few years, and restaurateurs like me are still concerned with staffing and labor costs, but now we’re challenged with ever increasing supply chain issues as well. The inability to get ingredients to support our current menus is a real concern, caused in part by the tariff roller coaster we’re on and subsequently higher prices. We can no longer rely on our purveyors to have the items we usually order, and if they do have them, they may not provide them at an affordable price.
As a result, I have seen everything from Mom-and-Pop shops to small restaurant groups to franchise restaurants close due to their inability to satisfy guest expectations with the same level of service and the same menu offerings they have in the past. So, what’s to be done in this Brave New World of an uncertain food supply chain and an ever-increasing rise in the price of goods and services? It looks like the hospitality industry will again be doing the dreaded ‘pivot’, while hustling to keep the guests coming in, the staff inspired, and the bills paid.
What’s a Chef to do?
Changing our menu styles and how we source ingredients may be what saves us. Since it has become a huge challenge for a restaurant to serve multiple dishes that use different ingredients, every single day, the days of multi-page menus may be a thing of the past. So, what takes its place? Sourcing ingredients locally, creating recipes based on seasonal ingredients, and offering smaller versions of our original menus could work.
Let’s start with defining what local ingredients means. It generally refers to products grown or goods produced within a 100 to 150-mile radius or within the same state as the business using them. Granted, many of us won’t find specialty ingredients like coffee, chocolate, seafood or spirits nearby, and our recipes and menus would reflect that.
The upside, however, is that cooking a seasonal menu means using fresher and potentially more nutritious foods. It also has the benefit of supporting local farmers and producers. These menus are also a sustainable approach, in that we can not only use ingredients we have consistent access to, but we can also use them in multiple ways on the same menu.
I’ll be the first to admit that cooking seasonally may be daunting in areas where produce isn’t as abundant or during winter months when options are only turnips and squash. But it may present an exciting way to be more creative with old school techniques like canning, pickling, dehydrating, and freezing ingredients when they are available and in season, so they can be served year-round. Plus, the cross-utilization of the same items in multiple dishes is another cost-saving way to reduce food costs.
Let inventory control your menu
Whether or not you decide to base your menu on local and seasonal offerings, consider the opportunity to change your restaurant’s current menu style as a positive change. Focus on popular and profitable items to reduce the need for an inventory of items that are only used in one dish.
There are several menu styles that are based on inventory controlling the menu instead of the other way around. A ‘menu du jour’ changes daily, often featuring seasonal or special dishes that are based on ingredients that are available, regardless of how they are sourced. A ‘fixed-price menu’ traditionally includes multiple courses and benefits the kitchen two-fold: one, by allowing chefs to know exactly what ingredients will be used in each recipe, and two, by allowing chefs to know exactly what the food cost will be for each fixed-price menu sold.
The currently popular ‘tasting menu’ is a multicourse progression of small, curated dishes. They are designed and promoted to showcase a chef’s skills and provide a unique dining experience for the guest. Behind the scenes, they are also an opportunity to provide a menu that is strategically designed to use the ingredients the restaurant has continual access to with an eye on reducing food costs and protecting the bottom line.
Shopping seasonally and sourcing local ingredients gives restaurants the freedom to build menus that rely less on what’s being shipped in and more on what’s available closer to home. Designing smaller menus with fewer ingredients also allows for a more successful financial outcome. Each of these menu styles gives the kitchen flexibility and reduces food cost, while giving guests a reason to return again and again.
So as supply chain issues continue, give some real thought to changing your menu style. It may be the difference between keeping your doors open or shutting them for good.
Chef Jennifer Hill Booker is the Owner and Executive Chef of Bauhaus Biergarten located in Springdale, Ark. and the author of the award-winning cookbook, Field Peas to Foie Gras: Southern Recipes with a French Accent.
