A Question of Math & Restaurants

[ROFL BOX 6,649]

Riddle me this:

Out here in Dripping Springs, we have this small buffet pizza place that does a decent job for the price charged.  Salad bar, pizza, soda & soft serve all for $ 7.00 lunch.  Quite a deal & the couple that own the place appear to be very hard working & industrious folks.

 

Their salad bar had me wondering, however.  They put rather large leaf lettuce out, fairly large chunks of cucumber & carrot slices & their tomato is probably 1/6 of a large tomato vs. grape tomatoes or cutting the tomato into closer to a diced size.

For those with management or ownership experience in restaurants, what is the tradeoff on possibly all or some of these: 

 - Chopped lettuce that's maybe 1/2 the size of the current (or even shredded)

 - Similar thickness cucumber & carrots, but quartered.

 - Grape or chopped tomato.

Would the average customer be prone to adding more, the same or less to the salad if the portions were smaller?  I imagine a place like Mr. Gatti's has done some kind of analysis to see what they should be placing on the salad bar & that's both for product as well as portion sizing.

I also recognize that there's a potential for added labor to offset any financial gains because there's more time required to prep in smaller sizes.  I haven't ever looked into the kitchen to see what their methods are; use a banjo slicer, a food processor, all by hand with a knife, etc.

It's not as though I'm going to approach them with some kind of a CBA & show how they would save $$ __________ if they were to change their methods, but every time I go in there I wonder if they are spending more on product than they realize.

Anyhowz, what's the Shag 2.0 consensus?

[ROFL BOX 6,649]

& Before anyone gets to it:

 

[mulletpelini 5,216]

[MirrOlure 14,870]

http://

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,529]

Wouldn’t a pizza buffet place buy their salad prep in a giant bag?  And on that note, stay away from pizza buffets after you’re 25. 

[zork 629]

they might source their veggies locally or grow their own.  low overhead in general helps a ton as well.  do they own the building?  they both work there so that helps on labor costs.

restaurant biz is a high fail business.  how long have they been in business?

buffet could be a way to get you to try their pizza.  hoping you will order out or bring the family in on weekends and for dinners when the buffet might not be in place?

Edited April 11, 2019 by zork

[ROFL BOX 6,649]

@zork , I have zero idea where they live but will assume it is somewhere within the Dripping Springs community or maybe Oak Hill or possibly Wimberley / Blanco @ the furthest out.  Spitballing there.

Don't think they grow their own, but it's possible.

Rental in a strip shopping center & have been there for quite some time... prob. 20 years is my guess (& by the looks of the faded cheap crap hanging on the walls, that's not too terribly far off).  It's possible they sell whole pies, but I think their business model is based on the buffet.

& @Nice Guy Eddie, I have 2 kids under 15.  It's an occasional thing that you can't avoid.

Anyhow, the basis for my question is on the economy of small vs. medium vs. large in their salad bar components.

[zork 629]

if they have made it 20 years they are doing something right.  

[ImissWallyPryor 9,046]

36 minutes ago, ROFL BOX said:

@zork , I have zero idea where they live but will assume it is somewhere within the Dripping Springs community or maybe Oak Hill or possibly Wimberley / Blanco @ the furthest out.  Spitballing there.

Don't think they grow their own, but it's possible.

Rental in a strip shopping center & have been there for quite some time... prob. 20 years is my guess (& by the looks of the faded cheap crap hanging on the walls, that's not too terribly far off).  It's possible they sell whole pies, but I think their business model is based on the buffet.

& @Nice Guy Eddie, I have 2 kids under 15.  It's an occasional thing that you can't avoid.

Anyhow, the basis for my question is on the economy of small vs. medium vs. large in their salad bar components.

It’s pretty easy to distinguish home-grown tomatoes from food service tomatoes. 

[Nolacycling 893]

Are you from Iowa? That's the kinda daily discussion I get up there.  How about the parking lot, could they have squeezed in another space or two w/more efficient striping? 

[Pato del Muerto 52,638]

4 minutes ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

It’s pretty easy to distinguish home-grown tomatoes from food service tomatoes. 

 

[Rougarou 594]

Good try OP. Watching old family guy re-runs and trying to pass it off as your own observation:

 

[DonnyKerabatsos 86]

Mr. and Mrs. Li have been there quite a long time. 30 yrs or so. 

 

obviously they have very low overhead, as they seem to have one part time employee. I believe they get there salad bar items from the H-E-B across the street, and the dressing comes from the vendor. There whole model seems to be very minimal... 1 small oven, never more than 3 pies on the buffet.