Fine dining refers to the cuisine and service provided in restaurants where food, drink, and service are expensive and generally enjoyable. The billing per table may be less than one per night. Many of the clients are there for a special occasion, such as a wedding or birthday. Many customers bring business guests and write off the cost of the meal as a business expense. Guests are often invited because they can influence business and other decisions favorable to the host. Fine dining is generally found in enclaves of wealth and where business is conducted: cities like New York, San Francisco, and Palm Beach.
Las Vegas has several fine dining restaurants catering to tourists and high-risk gamblers. The restaurants are small, with fewer than 100 seats, and owned by the owner or partner. The economics of fine dining differ from that of an average restaurant. The prices of meals, especially wine, are high. The average check is $ 60 or more. Rents can be quite high. Big budgets for public relations are common. Due to the experience and time required for many dishes and because highly trained chefs are well paid, labor costs can be high. Much of the profit comes from the sale of wine. Style and flair in service are part of the dining experience.
Tables, china, glassware, silverware, and linens are often expensive, and appointments can be costly, often including interesting architectural items and paintings. Menus often include expensive and imported items, such as foie gras, caviar, and truffles. Only the most tender vegetables are served. The colorful ornament is part of the presentation. Delicious and interesting flavors are incorporated into the food, and the entire gastronomic event is calculated to stimulate the visual, auditory and psychological experience of the guests. There are always expensive wines on hand, offered in an extensive wine list. Dining fashions change and high-end restaurant operators need to keep up with the changes.
Heavy sauces have given way to light ones, large portions to small ones. The restaurant should be kept in public view without appearing to be. If given a choice, the restaurant operator selects only those guests who are likely to be greeted by the other guests. Doing this helps create an air of exclusivity; One way to do this is to park the most expensive cars near the driveway for all to see (Rolls-Royces do just fine). It also helps to have celebrities in prominent places on the table. Very expensive restaurants put off many well-to-do guests and make others uncomfortable when they feel they don’t fit in or don’t like the implicit snobbery of guests or staff.
You can count on upscale hotels, such as the Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton chains, which have restaurants with a highly paid chef who understands French, Asian, and American food, who likely attended an American culinary school or trained in a restaurant. Prestige. and who dominates French cuisine. Prospective restaurant operators should dine at some of these restaurants, although they are expensive, to learn the current meaning of elegance in decor, table, service and food.
(To avoid paying the higher prices, go for lunch and don’t order wine.) Better yet, anyone planning a restaurant career should look for a job in a fancy restaurant, at least for a while, to get a taste of the upscale category.
food service, even if you don’t want to emulate what you see.