Restaurants get creative to pad the bottom line

Mikuni Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar felt the recession in April 2008 when catering sales began to slide. When the financial pinch hit the chain’s eight restaurants in the second and third quarters of 2009, its management team refocused marketing efforts.

Mikuni, which has six locations in the Sacramento region, one in Truckee and one in Denver, set its focus on the 30,000 members of its Mikuni Koki Club by expanding the program to benefit its most devoted 5 percent of customers — about 500 families — who are regular, longtime patrons and “contribute to our bottom line,” says Jeanne Mabry, vice president of marketing.

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Chef Ryan Rose from Zocalo Restaurant in Midtown Sacramento has made it to the top 15 (out of a field of 240) finalists in the Next Food Network Star YouTube Challenge. The winner is given an audition with Foodnetwork executives in New York. To vote, go to www.youtube.com/foodnetwork click vote and find Ryan's Paella video. Click the green "thumbs up button". The voting starts August 2 and ends Aug16 at 2 pm. Viewers are able to vote once a day per computer. It is a great opportunity for Chef Ryan but also a great way to give Sacramento the credit it deserves to be known for its culinary community.

Independent Operators Find Relief in Local Buying Group

Sacramento, California - As the economy continues to deteriorate and costs remain sky high, operators looking to cut costs and avoid menu price hikes are seeking strength in numbers as it applies to purchasing.

Across the country, purchasing groups that harness the buying clout of smaller and midsize companies, as well as independents, are gaining favor as they help take some of the sting out of purchasing through buying efficiencies.

In Sacramento, Mark Scribner and Dave Virga owner operators of Paesanos, Pronto and Uncle Vito’s, along with Ernesto Jimenez and Jimmy Johnson, owner operators of Zocalo and Ernesto’s, have joined forces to form an independent purchasing group called Leverage Buying Group, LLC. It’s a new direction for independent restaurants. “We look at it as a way to combat inflation and move the model from competition to cooperation,” Jimenez said.

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There’s strength in numbers, and buying power, too, as local restaurateurs have found by forming a buying group. Leverage Buying Group LLC was started by the owners of some of Sacramento’s best-known restaurants so they could negotiate better deals from their suppliers. So far it’s working. The group has negotiated delivery at 7.25 percent over cost, compared with the 20 percent over cost of traditional supply and food deliver.

Buying power is extremely important to restaurants these days as they try to minimize expenses during the recession, but it’s very rare that independent restaurants or small, competing chains enter into such agreements. The group’s initial members include owners of Ernesto’s Mexican Food, Bistro 33, Pronto, Zocalo, Paesano’s and other restaurants.

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