Local restaurateurs are finding ways to cope with the dramatically rising food, energy and labor costs that accompany the lagging economy. But while the national restaurant scene is seen as hurting - particularly among casual-dining chains - the mood seems more hopeful in the Philadelphia region, home of more than 7,400 full-service restaurants.
"Philadelphia is resilient," said Sam D'Angelo of Samuels & Son Seafood Co., a supplier with 1,000 clients from Baltimore to North Jersey. The city's restaurant economy, he explained, stays constant because it does not rely on transient business, as do New York's and Washington's. For now, his Philadelphia business is steady, he said.
Traffic is still brisk and reservations are hard to come by at the city's hottest tables, such places as Amada, Osteria, Buddakan, Supper, Xochitl and Matyson - especially Friday and Saturday nights.
But most independent restaurateurs have had to find ways to fight the sagging bottom line:
Pulling expensive, out-of-season fruit garnishes off the plate, as did Berwyn's bistro M.
Driving traffic on slower nights by running more specials, handing out discount coupons, and joining "restaurant weeks" sponsored by local groups, including the South Jersey Independent Restaurant Association's semiannual $35 promotion ending today.
Bypassing wholesale suppliers and buying direct, as well as at bulk retailers such as Costco, Sam's Club and Produce Junction. Patrick Feury of Nectar in Berwyn, who said business was up, saved $1 to $1.25 a pound by buying lobsters directly from a supplier in Maine; he also switched from $11-a-pound Maryland crab to $9-a-pound peekytoe crab.
Venturing into off-premises catering, as Stephen Starr did in a bid to capture a new market; he said his restaurant sales were steady.
