Nonprofit Eatery Doesn't Bring Home Bacon

11/09/08 - Salt Lake Tribune by Kathy Stephenson   --> Source
Via ChicagoBoyz

An altruistic restaurant has spent more than $100,000 on an experiment in human behavior, although that was not the goal. It was a heartfelt attempt to operate a business in a new way, discarding old notions of price, finance, and experience.

Our society has been doing this experiment on a much larger scale with the same results, but you are losing the money. Have heart, we will try again and again until the altruistic model works. Build it and they will come. Serve it and they will pay (smile). Unworkable plans can go on for a while, if you ignore losses along the way.

I suggest that this is a matter of self-respect. If you can not or will not place a value on your services, then why would you expect others to do it? Ignore history and experience at your peril.

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[edited] Denise Cerreta founded One World Cafe a year ago in Salt Lake City with the altruistic goal of letting customers set their own meal price, with no menus or set prices. She and her chefs made meals from organic meats and locally grown produce. Diners filled their plates with only the food they wanted and paid what they thought the meal was worth or what they could afford.

This unique idea gained national attention. Cerreta turned the business into the nonprofit One World Everybody Eats Foundation with a board of directors. She traveled the country speaking about the concept and helped people start similar community kitchens in other cities.

While Cerreta was away this summer, meal donations fell from $10 to $7. Employee paychecks bounced

Inexperience seems to be the problem. Cerreta said “As the restaurant grew, I didn't have the expertise at running a structured and professional kitchen.” The restaurant was overstaffed and time management was poor. There was no employee time clock, or concise records of food costs and fixed costs. Mismanagement cost the restaurant $8,000 to $10,000 a month.