Achieving Profitability In One of the Most Costly and Labor Challenged Areas in the U.S.

For Geoffroy Raby, the challenge in running his popular French restaurant hasn't been enticing patrons, but controlling costs and recruiting staff.

Cuisinett was conceived in 2008, when Raby "had a vision to bring a new style of French Restaurant," as the tale is told. "Forget about your typical stereotype about French Restaurant, Geoffroy wanted to bring back the neighborhood cafe that he grew up with. A place where you can enjoy great food (and wine) at reasonable prices and in a casual atmosphere. Fast forward to 2011 and Cuisinett was born. Our team's goal is to make you discover France through its Regional Cuisine and bring you on a delicious journey of French Comfort Food."

It became clear with time that confronting costs was essential as excessive costs and expenses in key areas was hampering growth, Raby explains. "I did not open a second location. Rents are too high and there is a huge shortage of labor in the San Francisco Bay Area. Also, I focused on increasing my sales without incurring additional labor and find ways to lower my food cost by being more efficient."

Fortunately, Raby found help. "RestaurantOwner.com is always a great source to obtain information about the industry (and) its standards," he says, "and I think the forum is great. It is nice to be able to share with other restaurant owners." Being a member, he adds, "helped me to think of new ways to improve the sales."

With labor cost already high, "we had to find new ways to improve sales without increasing that cost," says Raby. To accomplish it, he and his staff improved the restaurant's sales of family meals to go, expanded its wine and beer sales, and started to sell a variety of high-end French products. "Also, we increased the marketing to improve sales from Monday to Thursday."

Raby was hardly alone in facing these challenges. The restaurant industry, he explains, is "about to change in the next few years as minimum wage will increase so drastically in such a short period of time. Our politicians are pushing for new rules that will negatively affect our industry more than it will help it. Also, the high cost of living in California makes it even harder to find labor."

Raby continued to improve sales in 2016, he relates, "but with the rise of labor cost I kept the same profit. Also, 2016 was the hardest year to find employees."

Thus far, Raby says, 2017 is looking to be another strong year in terms of sales. "But I'm not sure yet how the profit will be. We will start making our line of product under our brand to improve sales and sell it through the restaurant first. We hope that our line of products -- sauces, dressings and more -- will work well, so we might be able to sell it to local high end grocery stores."

Raby calls RestaurantOwner.com "a great resource for the restaurateur who wants to access the next level. Opening a restaurant is not the hardest part; maintaining a profitable business over the years is. RestaurantOwner.com is a great tool to help achieve this goal."