Kitchens cooling down

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This article was published 19/01/2010 (5721 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s restaurant industry is finally running headlong into the recession, and that has operators scrambling to cut costs and draw more customers to their door.

Industry players say the global downturn didn’t hit Manitoba’s restaurant sector until the final few months of last year, when many consumers started dining out less often and spending less when they did venture out.

And many of their corporate customers also spent less on their Christmas parties, they said, which translated into a weaker-than-expected pre-Christmas season for many eateries.

That, coupled with last year’s cool, wet summer, has many operators tightening their belts, sharpening up their menus and re-evaluating their offerings in a bid to bolster their sales volumes.

Two high-profile eateries — Mirlycourtois at 188 Princess St. and Fazzo Bistro at 905 Corydon — recently closed.

Fazzo’s owner Rhea Collison said she plans to reopen in March, with a new concept — café-style — a new lower-priced menu, and a new lounge area.

Mirlycourtois owner Bernard Mirlycourtois could not be reached for comment. But the leasing agent for the Princess Street building — Joe Diner of DTZ Barnicke Winnipeg — said there don’t appear to be any plans to reopen the restaurant at that location, and he’ll be looking for a new tenant.

The executive director of the Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservices Association said the closings are part of a longer-term trend that has seen a slow but steady decline this decade in the number of restaurants in Manitoba.

"There are fewer restaurants in the province now than at any time in the past 10 years," Scott Jocelyn said, noting there were about 2,200 at the start of this year compared with 2,610 in 2000.

"Some companies have really raised the bar and made it more competitive," Jocelyn said. "It’s tough to be an independent operator and make a go of it."

He and a number of local operators said Manitoba’s restaurant industry seemed to weather the recession better than most through late 2008 and early 2009. But unusually cold, wet weather put a damper on the summer patio business. And individual and corporate clients spent less before Christmas, presumably because of concerns about the economy.

"The busy season started almost a full month later this year — Dec. 1 instead of Nov. 1," said Terry Gereta, co-owner of Mise Bistro & Specialty Foods on Corydon Avenue. "and they (corporate customers) were sort of putting everything under the microscope and there was a lot more bartering going back and forth."

Since then, the traditional post-Christmas doldrums have set in, Jocelyn said, and that has many operators scrambling to find ways to cut costs and bring more diners to their doors.

"It’s not that it’s totally dismal," Gereta said. "But business is definitely down, so we’re looking at everything to see what we can do."

In his case, that means revamping the menu and replacing some of the higher-priced meals with more affordable offerings that will appeal to a broader range of customers.

It’s a similar story over at WOW! Hospitality Concepts, a Winnipeg-based firm that owns and operates more than a half a dozen restaurants in Winnipeg, including Oui Bistro, Muddy Waters, Finn’s Pub, 529 Wellington, and Terrace 55. Wherever possible, they’re also replacing expensive ingredients with ones that are almost as good, but not as pricey. "We’re looking forward to spring and the whole patio season," WOW marketing director Jackie Stephens said. "And hopefully we’ll have better weather than we had last summer."

An official with one of the province’s largest food distributors — Sysco Winnipeg — said Sysco works closely with its restaurant customers, many of whom are small, independent operators, to find ways to boost their sales and profits.

That includes offering tips on how to reduce their operating costs, diversify their operations, and make their offerings more attract to consumers, said Greg Prokopowich, the firm’s customer business resource manager.

"It’s quite rewarding to be able to share some of these ideas and see the lights go on," he said. "You see them getting engergized again."

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

Tips for higher

sales, profits

Here are some things Sysco Winnipeg, which supplies food products to the local restaurant industry, says some restaurants are already doing, or may soon be doing, to boost their sales and profits:

 

"ö Paring back their inventory (and their operating costs) by shortening their menu and focusing on the items that are most popular and most profitable. They use daily "specials" to inject some variety into their offerings.

"ö Revamping their menu and either replacing some costlier items with more affordable ones, or reducing the size of the offerings to make them more affordable. For example, instead of offering a full rack of ribs, offer half a rack at half the price.

"ö Replacing some of their high-end ingredients with ones that are almost as good, but don’t cost as much.

"ö Closely monitoring their business volumes and keeping staffing to a minimum on the slow days — traditionally Monday through Wednesday.

"ö "Bundling" — offering discounts on appetizers and desserts if the customer orders a regular-priced meal.

"ö"Cloning" — taking a popular dish and adding some new wrinkles — maybe some different spices or rubs — to create a different-tasting, more ethnically flavoured dish.

"ö Branching out — offering catering services and more grab-and-go meals customers can eat at home.

"ö Eliminating dollar signs from their menu. No need to remind customers they’re about to spend money.

"ö Some fine-dining establishments are also rounding off their prices — $20 instead of $19.99, for example — because they want their prices to suggest quality, not just value. Burt some casual-dining establishments still prefer the more traditional approach because they think their customers are often more focused on value, and $9.99 sounds like a better deal that $10.

"ö Some restaurants feature their most popular or most profitable items on the top right-hand corner of the menu, which is the first place where most people look.

"ö When it comes to price increases, Sysco also advises its clients to raise their prices a little at a time — say a nickel, a dime or a quarter — but more often — say three or four times a year. That’s better than doing it once every two or three years and imposing a hefty increase that could alienate your customers.