Sneak Peek

Renee posted the pictures of Chin taking down our ceiling- the "befores."

Here are pictures of the possible "afters."

We are so excited by the initial concepts of what Saus might look like that we wanted to share them with everyone.

Why Working in a Restaurant Generally Sucks and What We're Going to do About it....

I think we can safely say that most people see restaurant positions as dead-end jobs. Parents point to cooks in grease laden aprons dutifully hovering over their grill or fryolator, and say to their children, threateningly: "See what will happen if you continue to bring home C's, you'll end up flipping burgers". Even the employees themselves are aware of the limits of their job. They'll quit without a blink of the eye in the case of something better coming along - whether it's "a real job", an acting gig, or even a job at a nicer restaurant that pays better. That's just the way it is. There is a mutual understanding between restaurant employers and restaurant employees, where the employer does not expect the employee to stick around for a measely rate (or measely tips depending on the kind of restaurant) and the employee does not expect much from the employer either. In other words, there's generally an expiration date that's not far off. Oh and not to mention that it's hard work (yeah really...you try standing on your feet, running around, dealing with rude customers, and getting burned by frying oil daily) for not a lot of pay.

Now, let's talk about the importance of the word "generally". Restaurant jobs generally suck. Do they have to? Not at all. Danny Meyer, who is arguably the most successful restaurateur of our time (some background info: he owns many popular dining establishments in NYC including Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Shake Shack, etc.) attributes his success to his philosophy of employees first and profits last. And of course it's easy to adopt this philosophy and even preach it, but the trick is in practice. To practice it takes patience, it will cost you, and will require you to abandon greed. In the end, it yields positive results (and monetary results too!). In-N-Out Burger is another great example - they pay thier employees a minumum of $10/hour, in addition employees get free meals, benefits, etc. If you have ever been to an In-N-Out you know that the service is unusually good. Does it pay off? Absolutely. Employee turnover at In-N-Out is well below the industry standard. But paying employees slightly above average is not the only answer to the turnover problem. Chin works at Flour Bakery and is perfectly happy. Why? Because good effort is recognized and acknowledged. It's that simple. Whether it be an incremental raise after three months, free pastries at the end of the night, or a holiday party - these are all things that say: "I know you work hard, and I appreciate it." Here's the funny part, though - employers don't have to go to great lengths to make their employees work hard. As wise Greg said the other day: "people will work hard because it is in their nature to do so." But it's up to the employers not to take that for granted.

To conclude, Saus hopes to practice what we preach. Our mission with Saus is to create an experience so positive that even the most discerning customer will return with friends in tow. We should strive for the same positive experience with our employees. We should constantly be asking: "would you ever subject your best friend to the work you do at Saus?" The answer should be an affirmative yes.

Saus is growing up

Seeing the business come together is teaching us all surprising lessons. I don't think any of us realized how linked every part of the business is. To add just one menu item we have to think not only about additional ingredients we need to buy, but also how it's going to fit in in our production process. Does an additional employee need to come in in the morning to prep for this item? Do we need additional equipment to make it? How will this all affect out budget? Does the taste fit in with our market? How do we price it to cover costs but to fit the wallets of our market?

When we originally started talking about our concept, we could think in the abstract. We could come up with brilliant, unique ideas that would drive our market crazy. Now we need to think practically. We still need our brilliant ideas (our money makers if you will), however, we need to think in business terms as well. We need to think of costs; we need to think of our production process; we need to think of execution and our market. There are so many moving parts to the business and they all need to sync up perfectly. In short, we are growing up as business people.

I am reading a book about small businesses. One of the ideas presented is that there are different "personalities" in every person. There is a creative side, an organized practical side, and a do-er side. (I am really simplifying the concept here because I don't want to drone on and on about it.) Right now, I think the team is honing our personalities. We have moved from the creative to the practical, which I think was a natural step for us. I think I can speak for us all when I say we are enjoying this learning process that we are going through. We are still striving to execute all our ideas and make our dream restaurant, but we realize that we need to address every adjustment that would be needed to make to the business to accommodate everything. No decision is a small decision, as they are all connected. Phew, no pressure...

Taking Down the Ceiling

Today Chin and Greg took down the ceiling tiles of our soon-to-be-space. I have included some before pictures. Can't wait for the afters!

A year in review/a day in the life

Yesterday the Saus team had a busy day. The day's back to back meetings compelled me to think to a little over a year ago when we were all working together at our fabulous software marketing job and compare to what we are doing these days.

A year ago:
http://sausinc.blogspot.com/2008/11/brief-note-about-our-day-jobserformer.html
...waltz into the office late, gchat, facebook, a little work, office workouts, gossip, coffee run...

Yesterday:
Spend the morning with my email. Email from wholesaler, email from web designer, emails from teammates.
11:3o- The Saus team splits up into 2 groups. Chin and I had a meeting with a produce wholesaler at our space. Renee and Greg had a meeting with the sign guy.
After our meetings, we all meet up to discuss the decisions we now have to make and share what happened in our respective meetings.
1:30- Meeting with the kitchen equipment guy. We go through the list of equipment we need, look over our kitchen floor plan and get an itemized list of equipment and the estimates.
After that meeting, we all head back to headquarters (Greg's apartment) to discuss our plan for equipment (since the estimate was a TAD over what we had budgeted..)
4:00- Meeting with insurance guy.
From 4-7:30- discuss insurance options and interior design.
8pm- Meeting with possible investors.
10pm- We visit the space to see how much lighting we need for our sign.

Get home at 11pm.

I think the comparison is comical.