SC - Period cookshop at Pennsic: Finances
david friedman
ddfr at best.com
Wed Aug 30 15:21:14 PDT 2000
It occurred to me that it might be worth taking advantage of the
expertise of this group to do a first pass on estimating the finances
of the project. I will therefore list the categories that occur to
me, and ask anyone who has information on the relevant costs to
provide it, and anyone who thinks of addition categories to add them:
Tent Rental: 1 large tent
Cooking Equipment rental: Stoves, refrigerators, probably ovens,
possibly a big (commercial) mixer, possibly microwaves. Are any of
these things that people are in a position to borrow? Are there any
that it would be worth buying?
Bowls, knives, pots etc. I am assuming that the participants can
provide most of this, although it might be worth buying a few very
large bowls, skillets, etc.
Table and chair rental? Again, participants might be able to provide
some of this.
Raw Material purchases: My guess is that we can get an adequate
estimate by looking at local grocery store prices. One of our friends
is a wholesale butcher (but not in the Pennsic area); I don't know if
he has contacts that would help.
Bread: We could try baking our own, which would be classy, but it
would be a lot less trouble if we made arrangements with a local
bakery.
Consumables: Paper towels, napkins, paper cups, bowls, etc. if we use them.
Bottled gas for the stoves.
Any fees that must be paid to the Coopers and/or the state of Pennsylvania.
Wages. I am assuming that the 2-6 people chiefly running it will work
for fun and a share in the profits (if any), but that we may also
have to pay some people. Could you do it with five people on site
from (say) 10 A.M. to 10 P.M.? I'm imagining two cooks, one cook's
helper, two people dishing stuff out, running the cash register, etc.
Open for lunch at noon, close at 9:00 P.M., two hours before and one
after for cleanup, advance preparation, etc. Would that be
sufficient? Of course, we could be period and offer yesterday's
leftovers for breakfast ... .
If that does do it, assume six cooks working for a cut of the profit,
each taking a four hour shift each day. Hire the other three
people--which means you are paying for thirty hours a day of labor.
What sort of wages are people usually paid to work at Pennsic?
Looking at the other end of it, assume you are getting $7 from each
dinner customer, $5 from each lunch customer. I think that is a
little less expensive than the current average. Judging from feast
experience, the actual materials cost (i.e. the food) should be about
$3 for dinner, $2 for lunch--less if you make a point of using dishes
whose ingredients are inexpensive, or have better than normal soruces
of supply. So you are making about $4/dinner, $3/lunch, from which
you have to pay all the rest of the costs.
How many dinners and lunches per day could an establishment of that
size produce? How many could it sell, judging by the experience of
the other cookshops? Do we have anyone on the list who has worked for
any of them, and has a reasonable estimate of how much business they
do?
Speaking as a customer, my rough guess for the Mediterranean place
when I have been there is two customers a minute. If we assume three
hours of serving lunch and four of serving dinner, with that rate
maintained throughout (I suspect that is too optimistic), that would
be 360 lunches and 480 dinners per day, for a revenue net of food
costs of 1080+1920=$3000/day. From that you have to pay wages,
rental, etc.
Looking at the other side ... . A 10 gallon pot of something gloppy
should feed about 150 people at 1 cup per. So if half the people are
eating gloppy things, and each burner produces two potfulls during
the day (including the time it is keeping the stuff hot), you need
two big burners. Add burners for frying etc., and I am guessing that
about 6-8 burners would do it.
I've done feasts but never run a restaurant, so obviously this is
very much a first pass--probably omitting some important costs and
misestimating others. Comments?
- --
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/
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