Sneak Peak

So this may be old news for some of you, but at Saus we will have a fairly simple menu. The menu will consist of frites, Belgian liege waffles, and deep-fried eggs. No joke, deep-fried eggs. As in, crack-open-a-raw-egg-into-a-deep-fryer type of egg.

Here is the kicker! To make things interesting- we will have over ten staple, made-from-scratch, savory dipping sauces customers will be able to choose from. And that's not even including our house-made mayonnaise or house-made ketchup or chili-infused malt vinegar. For all the cheese fans out there (I'm sure there are a few), we have a tasty Cheddar and Duvel Beer sauce in the works. For BBQ fans we have a Red-Eye BBQ sauce (made with a little touch of coffee). And the list goes on...

To wrap this post up I leave you with a picture of our waffles. I know a lot of you wonder how our waffles will be different from the Belgian waffles you are used to. Lets just say you need to try them. Especially slathered with our home-made Nutella sauce.

Secret's Out

So our "mystery restaurant" isn't really a mystery anymore. Not since Where to Eat in Boston or Grub Street.

However, we never really did our "big reveal" on the blog. So here is what we are, in our own words.

Saus is a Belgian street food joint, meaning our main menu items are pommes frites (Belgian French fries) and Liege waffles (totally different from what American's think of as "Belgian waffles"). These two foods are very common on Belgian street corners- usually served from carts in metro shopping/tourists areas. Think of them as New York's hot dogs and pretzels.

As our name suggests (Saus is Dutch for "sauce"), sauces are our specialty. The pommes frites are served with a variety of dipping sauces. Traditionally, in Belgium, their frites are served with Fritessaus (which is kind of like mayo). So as a nod to Belgian tradition- a lot of our sauces are mayo-based. Except we play with different spices and herbs, creating sensational (and thanks to Chef Corey) flavor creations. We also make non-mayo based sauces such as cheese-based sauces (Cheddar Beer) or a BBQ sauce. And to keep with the American tradition, we also have ketchup based sauces.

And here is the best part of Saus (I think, anyway): all of our sauces are home-made, from scratch, from fresh ingredients, everyday. Even our mayo and ketchup. However, I'm not discussing any more specifics about the sauces as our menu isn't completely finalized (we will tweak probably until the day before we open) and we need to keep some mystery alive...

Our Liege waffles, in keeping with the Sausy-style, are also served with a selection of sweet sauces. Again, won't say much more... yet.

Our approach to Saus is very eclectic. It is Belgian meets classic Americana with hints of the exotic. We don't want any sauce to be boring, but we want some to be comforting, familiar flavors. Basically, we are pretty sure we have something for everyone.

Feedback

We at Saus love to hear what you are all thinking. Here is what one loyal reader wrote in:

Dear Saus Blog: Since health resolutions tend to be popular in the beginning of the year, are there are healthy Saus options that will allow a customer to enjoy your delicious food selections without breaking the calories bank?

Dear Valued Reader: Our food is made all in-house, from scratch, all trans fat free and with no-high fructose corn syrup. Nothing is processed or has additives. We believe food should be all natural. While our food may not be "low fat or low cal," we are certainly a healthier option than other quick-serve options. We will also take your valued feedback into account and create some sauces from yogurt rather than mayo for "figure-friendly" options! Happy New Year!

...approximately 3 minutes later...

Dear Reader and Friend: I did some immediate follow up research to your question and found an answer from our menu developer. His highly professional response: "yeah I got a pimento yogurt sauce in the works"

2010

New year, new goals, new resolutions.

Saus's new year's resolutions:

1. Open!!!
2. Make friends with our neighbors (you know, so we can borrow some sugar)
3. Make Boston fall in love with us (this one is 2-fold: 1- because we have a complex and want to be liked, 2- because we want to be profitable; even though we love what we do, we have to own up to the fact that we are a business)
4. Lose weight (aka, trim corners where we can, not be spending where we don't need to be spending so that we don't sink)
5. Get creative (from finishing up our space to designing our website- who's tired of looking at this boring blog template? We want to be unique and innovative)
6. Stay true (to ourselves as partners/business owners, to our clientele- which has yet to be established- and to everything Saus has come to mean in the past year, not to mention staying true to our mission and branding values)

(7. Come up with a better slogan than "Sausy!")
* it's not reaaaally our slogan- we just say it a lot

The Working Capital Debate

Working capital is the money you keep in reserve in case you can't pay your bills with profit. The debate around working capital is whether to keep it around or not. When we set out to raise funds, we included in the amount the dollars we wanted to keep around just in case (we calculated the amount as three months of rent + extra for other expenses such as inventory and other fixed costs).

What we discovered was that most restaurants don't keep reserves. They respond to a lack of cash by paying vendors aggressively when times are good, and then delaying payments when times are rough. They borrow money when they have to, they send staff home for the day, etc. None of this is fun to do, but it's a measure that has to be taken sometimes.

But why set yourself up for taking such desperate measures when you could simply put a little bit aside for such times? Well think of it this way: you are a restaurant owner and after a couple months you finally make a nice profit - you're going to pay your bills, and then give the rest to your investors. At that moment, the logic is that the investors are more important. But what have we learned from the master (the master being Danny Meyer for those of you who don't know our team)? Investors should come last when making decisions, after employees, customers, community, and vendors. The idea being when you concern yourself primarily with employees, then customers, etc. etc. there is a positive ripple effect that will benefit investors.

Our concluding opinion: desperate times call for desperate measures, but cutting your employees or not paying vendors as a response to lagging funds should be avoided.