Steve Hanson Gets His Tomatoes For Less
Dining mogul Steve Hanson has long had a rep as a obsessive micro-manager and tough boss. The man responsible for Ruby Foo's, Blue Water Grill, Atlantic Grill, and a dozen other venues (and who sold half of his company to Barry Sternlicht for $78 million last year) didn't dispel the myth when he sat down with Forbes recently. First, he barks at Wildwood employees that a single chipped dinner plate will make his barbecue restaurant "look like crap." (And you thought most restaurant owners were concerned about bad reviews.) Hanson then rattles off a list of impressive numbers: His famously huge database now contains 3 million phone numbers, he purchased 1.5 million tomatoes last year, and, in case you're wondering, he bought 'em for 20 percent less than the competition. Oh, and how does he decide whether to turn on those outdoor heat lamps? "Hanson sticks his hand out the window of his chauffeured Escalade and tests the air: Yes, it's cool enough that the heat lamps for the sidewalk tables at his uptown Atlantic Grill ought to be turned on. But have they been? He tells his driver to cruise by, so they can check."
The very best bit? How he regulates pricey ingredients at his 18 venues. Apparently, the chef at every Hanson outpost receives something called "The Theoretical" every morning, a five-page spreadsheet that "shows the theoretical cost of each menu item versus its actual cost."
At Dos Caminos, chef Ivy Stark's goal is to keep ingredient costs at or below 26% of the menu price. (Comparable ratio at a fast-food franchise: 30%.) That means that on a $4 order of guacamole, Stark can't use more than $1 worth of avocados. Says Stark, "We could sell the chicken taco for a lower price, but if we did, our customers might perceive us as a cheap rice-and-beans joint."
A $4 order of guacamole? Did Steve open a branch in Mexico?
