When coming up with financial projections for an organic restaurant, assume your costs will be between 10 and 20 percent higher than a comparable restaurant, according to Sarma Melngailis, proprietor and co-founder of Pure Food & Wine, a renowned gourmet raw foods restaurant in New York City. And if you go whole hog and buy a high-quality water filtration system or compostable takeout packaging, your overhead can run even higher.
Managing an organic establishment requires a high level of ingenuity. "For example, lemons are always expensive because we don't grow them in the city," says Amanda Cohen, owner and head chef of Dirt Candy, a New York City vegetarian restaurant. "Sometimes we'll order a case of lemons that aren't organic and they're 30 dollars and when we order organic its 60 dollars. Those are real costs we have to factor."
Organic restaurants must go to great lengths to maintain a consistent menu. Keep it the same as long as possible says Jana Keith-Jennings, Pure Food & Wine executive pastry chef, but do not be afraid to make hard choices. "You have to remain confident that you can still make good food even if you don't have your usual ingredients," says Keith-Jennings.
"If you want to be successful you have to step out of making typical vegetarian foods," says Cohen of Dirt Candy. "Only half of our customers are vegetarian. I think that vegetarian restaurants that just cater to vegetarians is not a recipe for success. We appeal to carnivores and omnivores, because more so than any other kind of consumers, vegetarians don't always stay vegetarian. You'll want to make sure that even if they change their diets they still want to come back."
Comedian Bill Maher often refers to the natural food retail giant Whole Foods as "whole paycheck" — a reference that reflects a general perception that organic means expensive. Research your competitors and make sure your prices are provide you enough margin to cover costs, but don't place you out of step with the rest of the local restaurant market. There are several variables to consider but on average customers can expect a price premium of somewhere between 10 and 30 percent.
Melngailis knows how to shake up the monotony sometimes prevalent in the organic restaurant world by mixing staff personalities. "A lot of the staff members here are not vegetarian and I did that on purpose," she says. "It's better for the restaurant to have different mentalities present. It creates a more open vibe, which helps business because we want to reach a more open audience."
When it comes to working with organic farms, playing hardball may not be the wisest option. Due to the finite nature inherent in organic farming giving ultimatums and deadlines may not bring your business any closer to acquiring the products you need. Both the restaurant owner and the farmer have expectations they are working to fulfill and it is patience that is key here.
Under her umbrella organization One Lucky Duck, Melngailis manages an online organic lifestyle boutique where she sells many of the items on her Pure Food & Wine menu. "When people go back to wherever they're from they can find our stuff online and that's how we tie the businesses together and continue to grow," she says.
