10 Things Restaurants Won't Tell You

As any restaurateur will tell you, going out to eat is never just about the food; it’s about the overall experience. At legendary Aureole Las Vegas, for example, spandex-clad “wine angels” climb up and retrieve bottles from a 42-foot-tall spirits tower. The thinking behind the spectacle: “Anything that gets patrons’ attention will get them to spend,” says restaurant designer Mark Stech-Novak.

Indeed, facing tough economic headwinds, restaurants are working every available angle to maximize profits. Even fast-food outlets get into the game, setting up a high-stimulation environment for customers—“it encourages faster turnover,” says Stephani Robson, senior lecturer at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration. “Specifically, the use of bright light, bright colors, upbeat music, and seating that does not encourage lolling.”

Although seemingly innocent, even menus are rigged. “We list the item that makes the most profit first so it catches your eye,” says restaurant consultant Linda Lipsky, “and bury the highest-cost item in the middle.”

The 2006 E. coli outbreak that started at a New Jersey Taco Bell and sickened more than 60 people was likely the fault of contaminated lettuce. But food-borne illness isn’t the only cause for concern: In a separate December incident, several hundred people in Indianapolis got sick after eating at an Olive Garden where three employees tested positive for the highly contagious norovirus. (Olive Garden says that the source of the outbreak has yet to be determined.)

“You don’t call out [sick] unless you’re on your deathbed,” says freelance chef Leah Grossman. Indeed, according to a recent study, 58 percent of salaried New York City restaurant workers reported going to work when sick; the number is even higher for those without benefits. “A lot of poor, transient people work in restaurants,” says Peter Francis, coauthor of industry exposé How to Burn Down the House. “They’re not giving up the $100 they’d make in a shift because they’re sick.”

How can you protect yourself? Check inspection results, which are often posted online by local departments of public health. Or just visit the restroom; it “tells you everything you need to know about a restaurant,” Francis says.

It’s no secret that restaurants enjoy huge markups on certain items: Coffee, tea, and sodas, for example, typically cost restaurants 15 to 20 cents per serving, and pasta, which costs pennies, can be dressed up with more expensive fare and sold for $25 a dish or more. At a fine-dining restaurant, the average cost of food is 38 to 42 percent of the menu price, says Kevin Moll, CEO and president of National Food Service Advisors. In other words, most restaurants are making roughly 60 percent on anything they serve.

It’s not all gravy, though. Restaurants keep only 4 cents of every dollar spent by a customer, says Hudson Riehle, vice president of research and information services at the National Restaurant Association. The remainder of the money, he says, is divided between food and beverage purchases, payroll, occupancy, and other overhead costs.

Given the slim profit margin, many restaurants rely on savvy pricing to create the illusion of value. Putting a chicken dish on the menu for $21 will make a $15 pasta dish, where the restaurant is making a big profit, seem like a bargain, says Gregg Rapp, owner of consulting firm MenuTechnologies.net. So how can customers get the best value? Often the real deals are some of the most expensive items on the menu. A dish like prime rib, for example, gives you the most bang for your buck, says Rapp, since it costs the restaurant over half the menu price to prepare it.