Omnivore - Knife’s Edge: Ponzu scheme
Value versus profit is the bane of a chef’s existence.
Its the last day of our financial period. Our walk-in shelves are considerably barren, especially for a Saturday with 350 on the books. My sous chef will be working another double and working a station tonight to salvage labor cost a bit. Weve scrambled around all afternoon, picking up enough provisions to get us through this one night. We are hoping, praying, gambling, that the 34 portions of scallops and halibut will sustain a busy night. But we need to run out, because they wont be fresh enough to sell Monday after being closed Sunday. And weve already calculated that we need to do twelve thousand dollars in food sales to make our numbers.
Although the entire month yields the final result, as in any race, we kick extra hard as we near the finish line. Heres my Tony Bourdain moment: Want a good time to not go to a restaurant? Try the very last day of their financial month. At around 9pm.
This isnt what I fell in love with, for sure. I detest it. Its the only part about what I do that I consider work. And the three days that we wait for the email from the accountant revealing our managerial efforts are sheer agony.