/ck/ - Food & Cooking

What is the non profit for? Do you want to keep up the soup and sandwich base, or rework the menu from the ground up? I'm always partial to a beef & barley soup, btw, served with a hearty crusty slab of bread with butter.

I don't have anything to add but hope you keep us updated whatever you do

This sounds interesting

shepards pie (maybe with pulled beef instead of mince), bunny chow, sunday beef roast/lamb roast, irish stew, vegetable soup, fried chicken, baked beans, potato gratin (try hasselback potato gratin its good shit) schnitzel, steak and garlic with chive mash, grandma cooking sort of stuff, chicken tendies/nuggers/cheeseburger/chicken BLT sandwich for children.

fuck it, do a bacon explosion meatloaf.

see if you can get a bbq pit or smoker out the back

OP pic made me think of those foods

What region is the cabin in? Lots of white people? Learn how to BBQ. Lots of nigs? Learn how to BBQ and fry chicken and other such frivolities. Lots of Mexicans? Lol Mexicans don't go to cabins. But if they did you should learn some basic recipes like carne asada fries or shit.

Learn what's popular in the region, and determine your largest demographic. Then determine what theme your restaurant should have based on supply and demand. If your cabin's the only BBQ for 40 miles and you got a lot of good old boys coming in, you're probably going to get decent business.

Sounds good y'all, thanks for the advice!

>>8359

mostly old people and out of towners. I made bbq pork last saturday and someone said mine was better than the local bbq joint, which made my fucking day!

>>8352

I am thinking of doing a meatloaf sandwich sometime soon. I do know someone who has a smoker, if they'll let me borrow it for a day is to be determined.

>>8344

That soup sounds good. If I can get the business to invest in a tabletop steamwell then I can potentially serve up to 4 different kinds of soups. The nonprofit helps maintain the cabin and supports over 70 consignors selling handmade goods. Cookies and knitted items and shit like that. Neat little spot.

Also another thought: the cabin will be closed for 6 weeks. I'm gonna talk them into letting me have a key and fixing the place up a bit, and maybe quietly have a few private dinners there to test my new menu out. Thoughts?

Here's a rough overview of what will get edited into a clean, presentable menu. May have to break it into a few posts.

Drinks

- Sweet/Unsweet Tea

- Coffee

- Hot Tea

- Coke, Sprite, Diet Coke

- (Suggested) Peach, Grape Nehi

- (Suggested) Stewarts Soda (Cream Soda, Root Beer, etc.)

- (Suggested) Orange Juice, Pomegranate Juice

- (Suggested) Green Tea, Ginger Tea

Sides:

(this category includes sides specifically for specials, not regular menu sides)

Potato Chips, Oven Fries, Coleslaw, Marinated Black Eye Pea Salad, Mixed Fruit, Risotto, Baked Beans, Garlic Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes, Something Quinoa, Pasta Salad, Corn Muffins, Biscuits, Collard Greens

Soups

- Chili, French Onion, Broccoli Cheddar, Tortellini, Italian Wedding Soup, Clam Chowder, Corn Chowder, Black Bean, Clam Chowder, Lobster Bisque, Zuppa Toscana, Egg Drop, Beef and Barley (thanks >>8334)

Same thing here, specials and regular/rotating sandwiches:

Sandwiches

- Egg/Chicken/Tuna Salad Sandwiches

o Choice of bread, Served with LTO, choice of regular side, and pickle

- Smoked Salmon Salad Sandwich

o Toasted pumpernickel, salmon salad, LTO, choice of side and pickle

- Pesto Chicken Sandwich

o Panini Press, Oven baked chicken on sourdough, pesto mayo, with LTO, choice of regular side, and pickle

- BLT

o Texas Toast, Thick bacon with LTO, garlic mayo, choice of regular side and pickle

- Club Sandwich

o Toasted white bread 3 slices, roast beef, ham, turkey, bacon, LTO, choice of side and pickle

- Reuben

o Panini press rye bread, Russian dressing, in house corned beef, sauerkraut, choice of side and pickle

- BBQ Pork Sandwich

o Kaiser Roll, Carolina style BBQ pork, coleslaw, choice of side and pickle

- Vegetarian Sandwich

o Potato Roll, Beets, Spinach, and Goat Cheese

- French Ham and Cheese Sandwich

o Baguette, sliced ham, gruyere cheese, chopped cornichons, Dijon mustard, choice of side and pickle

- Chicken, Sprouts, and Provolone Sandwich

o Sesame Bagel, whole grain mustard, chicken, provolone, bean sprouts

- Egg, Frisee, and Caramelized Onion Sandwich

o Brioche bun, 1 poached egg, frisee leaves, fig jam, and caramelized onions

- Eggplant Sandwich

o Bread, roasted eggplant, tomato, spinach, avocado, balsamic vinaigrette

- London Broil Sandwich

o Split baguette, sliced London broil, garlic mayo, peppers and onions, provolone cheese, all toasted in oven

- Meatloaf Sandwich

o Meatloaf slice on white bread

Salads

- Dressings: Ranch, Caesar, Balsamic Vinaigrette, Russian, Italian, Greek, Red Wine Vinaigrette

- Chef Salad

o Chopped romaine, ham, turkey, cherry tomatoes, onions, Swiss cheese, cheddar cheese, 2 hardboiled eggs, bacon bits, croutons, choice of dressing

- Greek Salad

o Chopped Romaine, onion, cherry tomatoes, olives, Feta cheese, pepperoncini, tossed in Greek dressing

- Kale and Blueberry Salad

o Chopped Kale, quinoa, blueberries, toasted pecans, feta cheese, sugar snap peas, tossed in Red Wine Vinaigrette

- Caesar Salad

o Chopped Romaine, Caesar dressing, parmesan cheese, sourdough croutons, tossed in Caesar

- Spinach Salad

o Spinach, Red Wine Vinaigrette, olives, cherry tomatoes, avocado

Entrées/Specials

- Meatloaf Plate

o Two slices meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans and a biscuit

- Chicken Fried Steak

o Two pieces CFS, pepper gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans and a biscuit

- Italian Pasta Bake

o Corkscrew Pasta, ground sausage, zuchinni, yellow squash, onions, stewed tomatoes, Italian cheese blend, breadcrumbs, baked till golden brown

- Sausage and Grits Quiche

o Sausage, grits, spinach, eggs, baked

- Chicken and Dumplings

o Chicken and dumplings y’all

- Baked Mac n Cheese

o Pretty self-explanatory

- Baked Fish

o Tilapia baked with lemon herb butter

Equipment Wish List

- Food Processor (Waring .75 Qt. Food Processor)

- Meat Slicer (Avantco 9" Meat Slicer

- Steam table (Nemco Countertop Warmer)

- Scale (Compact Digital Scale)

- Hotel Pans (1/3 Hotel Pan)

- Better utensils/tools

- Matching plate ware

- Cold Table (True Refrigerator 4 Drawer Cold Prep Table)

- Salad Spinner (Choice 2.5 Salad Spinner)

- Sheet Pans/Rack (Baker's Mark 1/2 Size Sheet Pans),

- Small Broiler (Avantco Countertop Convection Oven)

- Countertop griddle (Avantco 24" Electric Griddle)

- Tomato Slicer (Nemco 3/16" Tomato Slicer)

- Pressure Cooker (8 Qt. Pressure Cooker)

- Veggie Dicer (Nemco Easy Chopper)

Something else I need to consider is managing food cost. Could use any advice from legit chefs and others culinary folks here.

If I can convince the board to authorize purchases for some of the items on the wishlist, then I can really do some fucking alchemy in there, maybe even hire someone to help me on busy days if we bring in enough sales.

>>8375

Realize that you wont get any new patrons any time soon. Word of mouth goes terribly slow (think 4-5 years), yet is cheap and has high effect, while other means of ads are costly, fast, and have little effect.

Analyse the public you have right now. Who are they? What's in their purse: if the food's too expensive they'll drink less, and that's where your profit margin is biggest? What do they eat at home? Do they like to eat a lot, cheap? Are they in a hurry and just want a sandwich? Do they often eat in posh restaurants (maybe they don't want posh when they visit you, though)? Is it a family place with lots of kids or a late night bar with 3-5 nagging alcoholics?

What's the other staff like? It makes no sense to serve foie gras if it's served by a lumberjack type of chick. You can't serve crème brûlée if the waiter needs to finish smoking his joint first. Is the person in charge open to innovation, or do you notice he/she welcomes your ideas with open arms, only to not implement them at all?

What's the location and weather like? When you say "log cabin" I'm thinking lots of woods, hiking, horseback riding, (motor)cycling, swimming in the river in summer…?

>>8379

Word of mouth isn't an issue here. It's a small town and a big golf resort area. There's always tourists in the area and whatnot. The place got featured in the news a couple weeks ago and that alone tripled the business.

The demo of the place is usually old people and their families, and people in town playing golf. It's located right by the country club, which is pretty sweet. It's only open for lunch, no alcohol served.

The staff is a bunch of old ladies. Its like the Golden Girls in there, mostly volunteers, theyre all really nice, just dont move very fast. It'd be nice to get some younger people in there. The place is run by a sitting board, so I have to propose my changes to them. I'm pretty confident they'll approve once I have solid numbers and a proper proposal together.

>>8375

Ya keep your menu small it's way to big right now if you ask me I know you said it's changing everyday how many items per day ?start with a small menu expand slowly you want your wast under 10% preferably that can kill your profit if you have to much waist

>>8387

I definitely plan on trimming down the menu, most of those sandwiches listed are specials I can run. Pretty much the only things that will be available everyday will be the tuna/egg/chicken salads, the reuben, and the club.

>>8375

By using the same ingredients in different ways, you have a basis for many different dishes

>>8386

Tourists want what they (!) think is your regional cuisine or what they're used to eat at home. They usually want it cheap, and lots of it. I work in Bruges, Belgium and Venice, Italy - 2 major tourist destinations in Europe. In Belgium they want beer, waffles and chocolate, and in Italy they want overcooked pasta and pizza, or just MacDonald's because it's cheap - Belgians/Italians rarely eat at tourist-oriented restaurants because we eat different stuff than that.

Old people are traditional and optimistic. They tend to like joyful classical music like Vivaldi, for instance. Maybe you could do something food related like that. I'm guessing you're from the south of the US, so maybe have a look at Alice Waters, Julia Child or Thomas Keller for inspiration?

Try to avoid risotto and the like, it's not efficient. Risotto requires perfect timing and lots of handling to get it right and takes 15-25 minutes to prepare, depending on which rice you use. You'll get orders like "1 salad this, 1 burger that, 1 burger another kind with fries, and a risotto with a well done steak", and you'll get yourself in trouble, because you need to present everything at the pass at the same time. Even if you get it done you'll have 3 customers wondering "omg how long does it take them to make a salad/burger/whatever?!" and one lousy bum "who's had better risotto's" (because while you're doing the risotto, you also have to do the fries, the burgers, begin the next order, and the steak, and, and, and). You'll get this scenario several times a day, avoid at all costs: you'll be you dead tired and demoralized every night. Don't forget all the washing off you have to do. Unless you want to serve *only* risotto today, or only this or that - then it's doable for longer periods of time.

Ask yourself why the golfers come there. They have money, they can go to the best restaurants in the world and eat anything they fucking want. Why do they prefer the old hags who don't work too hard and a shoddy cabin over a 3 star restaurant? What sort of food do those hags make at home? There's your answer. It's got to do with (what they think is!) cozy, authentic, real. Capture that and you're set.

Things you can do:

-1 pan dishes: soups, stews etc etc.

-dishes which you can keep warm "au bain marie" (dunno what it's called in English)

-stuff that you can reheat easily, e.g. bake boiled potatoes with rosemary and sage

-bbq: tons of marinades out on the web, you can even inject the marinade in the meat using a syringe. Lots of different types of wood to bbq on (vines for instance)

-smoothies, cocktails without alcohol

-pancakes, crêpes

-if you have elderberry in the region, make elderberry flower syrup (put flowers, water, sugar in a sunny spot but sheltered from sunlight for 2 weeks, sieve), serve with carbonated water.

-you can make vinegar this way too, with any edible flower or herb (rosemary, tarragon, apple blossom, roses, fresh pine shoots - you really need fresh ones, else you get too much rosin & allergies -…), and best to use a cheap, neutral "white" vinegar, even.

-oils are easier still: just very (!) gently heat a simple, neutral oil (like grape seed) with whatever other flavouring agent (caraway seed, vanilla pods…), let it infuse to taste, sieve, done.

-smoked salt: put the peel of smoked garlic in a blender, mix with salt, done.

>>8373

>>8374

unless you're not going to be making anything from scratch, that's a pretty big menu in terms of prep. not very much cohesion at all; why do you have risotto, the zuppa, and egg drop soup when you also serve chicken fried steak and meatloaf?

keep it simple and have a clear direction. i'd take out all but maybe 3 of your best soups, maybe even just have chili and one other soup on the menu and rotate out a SDJ. since your sandwiches are all over the place, expect a lot of food waste; i mean seriously you're planning on stocking 10 different kinds of fucking bread, and that's not to even mention all of the greens you'll be throwing out between the romaine, frisee, spinach, kale, and sprouts. get your menu to have more synergy, you shouldn't be buying minor ingredients just for one sandwich unless they're integral to the recipe. you should be trying to use most ingredients you stock in more than one dish.

you also don't need half of that wish list, namely the salad spinner, tomato slicer, veggie dicer, and pressure cooker (i don't see anything on your menu that necessitates a pressure cooker) i don't know if you've ever done prep for an actual kitchen before but i can tell you right now a <1Qt food processor is just going to waste time and make prep a nightmare. try to get a reasonably sized robot-coupe with a processor bowl and a few slicer attachments.

tl;dr quit doing so much, take out anything on the menu that doesn't fit a theme, and try to figure out better synergy between different parts of the menu.

>>8367

>The nonprofit helps maintain the cabin and supports over 70 consignors selling handmade goods. Cookies and knitted items and shit like that. Neat little spot.

Sounds baller as fuck, how many patrons do you get per month/season?