Today I worked with our beverage manager, Scott, for the majority of the day. I learned how important inventory is to a restaurant and just so we know what is in stock, but so that we know how much money we're making off of all of our products and who is sellin what. First, we had to manually count all of the liquor in our restaurant. Then we totalled it all up and entered it into a spreadsheet that calculates the total value of the liquor we have based on how much we buy it for. Next we entered it into another spreadsheet that calculates the COGS and the percent of sales. Scott did an excellent job of explaining all implications of this percentage and how he works to keep it as low as possible so as to maximize our funds. Then Gracie took me to El Gaucho, another steakhouse in the neighborhood, so that I could compare the different steakhouse and private dining options in Bellevue. It was interesting to see how different two steakhouses could actually be and to see what each company emphasizes in their sales and marketing of private dining.

-Lisa