Dave Bugg wrote:
> Spud wrote:
>
>
>>Hey Dave,
>
>
>>Hope it's doing well.
>
>
> Thanks, Spud. Up until the end of May, things were pushing past what we had
> set as our financial goals. Since then, we've been battling a huge increase
> to our cost of goods over the last three months, especially with the cost of
> gasoline and diesel. It has been pushing the cost of everything through the
> roof. And the bad news is, many of our customers eat here less frequently
> due to the way the cost-of-living is affecting them. And we haven't even
> seen the impact of Katrina yet.
>
> We are going to be forced to do a dramatic rise to our menu prices within
> the next week. We just can't afford not to any longer. I am hoping we won't
> see any more of a decrease to our customer flow, but I think it is going to
> hurt us a lot. Things aren't looking good.

I'm sorry to hear that. It's always a tough choice for the restaurant
owner when prices have to be raised. The alternatives are smaller
portions (which doesn't really help the bottom line very much) and/or a
reduction in quality.

You know your market far better than I ever could, but my opinion is:

When given the choice between a higher price and lower quality, I'd
rather keep the quality and pay the price. I've always thought your
prices were very low. I hope you can train your customers to accept
paying a bit more for great quality.

Personally, I stop going to places that sacrifice quality for price. but
that's just me. You should do what you think your market can accept.

Good luck,

--
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You can't win
You can't break even
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