“Running a $10 million a year restaurant sounds like a logistical nightmare. Quality of life is much more important than profit.” — Dame chef/owner Ed Szymanski
Every day, the kitchen receives whole hake , breaks it down, then cures the filets in a mix of salt, sugar and lemon zest. This draws out moisture and seasons the fish. It’s then portioned into pieces between six and seven ounces. Fish can be cheap, if you’re a pub, ordering frozen, pre-portioned filets. However, when a restaurant prioritizes sustainability and freshness, fish is expensive. So it’s no surprise that a six-and-a-half ounce piece of Cape Cod hake see-saws between $7 and $9.
While no chef would be alarmed by the price of good fish, it is certainly surprising that oil for the deep fryer comprises almost 13% of the dish’s cost. That’s because cooking oil has seen some of the sharpest price increases this last year., between December 2020 and December 2021, the cost of cooking oil rose 34 percent. Currently, it takes $150 of canola oil to fill the deep fryer at Dame. Oil darkens as it’s used, which affects the color and taste of anything cooked in it.
“Our cooks have never made so much money in their lives,” says Howard. “And most of them are only working three to four days a week.” The arrangement counters the standard economic divide between front and back of house and the culture that chasm creates. “We don’t have the front-of-house disparity that we’ve both experienced at other restaurants,” says Howard. “This is where having a small restaurant helps. There’s nowhere for more people to go.
Considering the well-paid employees, high standards of cooking, and the use of pricey seafood that pushes the dish well above the restaurant’s food cost target of 26-30 percent, it’s amazing that the fish and chips yields a 17 percent profit . Part of the credit goes to simply charging what is necessary for a healthy business. But Szymanski and Howard also have very low fixed costs and manageable labor costs that, unfortunately, are not scalable beyond the small footprint of Dame.
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