As in Chapter 27, "Sushi Restaurant A" in this chapter is a fictional restaurant used only for explanation. It has 10 counter seats. Its monthly sales are 3,750,000 yen, its food cost is 1,500,000 yen, and its food cost percentage is 40%. All the numbers are examples.

28.1　Where to buy from

A sushi restaurant does not buy from just one supplier. Raw fish, frozen fish, dry goods such as rice and nori, sake, and supplies each have suppliers suited to them. Let us sort out the main suppliers.

Put simply, the basic split is this. Buy raw fish from intermediate wholesalers at the market or direct from the source. Buy things that keep from delivery suppliers.

An intermediate wholesaler (nakaoroshi) is a business that buys fish at the market and sells it to shops and restaurants. They are also called nakagai. In Japan, the basic flow is that fish goes from markets at the fishing ports to markets in the cities where it is eaten, and then through intermediate wholesalers to restaurants (Chapter 11).

Trust with intermediate wholesalers

Purchasing is a relationship between people. At first, go to one intermediate wholesaler regularly. Tell them specifically what kinds of fish your restaurant uses, the sizes, what you use them for, and your budget. Customers who look only at price and move from shop to shop do not get the best fish. This is because good fish is scarce and is sold first to customers the wholesaler can trust. A good intermediate wholesaler will honestly say "It's not good today" on days when the fish is not good, and will suggest another fish instead (Chapter 11).

Trust also matters when it comes to money. Payment terms are set by each supplier. For example, you may pay in cash on the spot, or the bill may be closed at the end of the month and paid the next month. Paying properly on the agreed date is the foundation for getting good fish. Also, if you rely on only one supplier, you will be in trouble when that shop is closed. Decide on your main supplier, and also keep one more you can turn to. That gives you peace of mind.

Purchasing outside Japan

Outside Japan, fish is not always kept cold all the way from landing to the restaurant. Also, the label "sushi grade" has no legal definition. It is only the seller's own claim. When you buy, do not rely on the label. Check the records of when the fish was frozen, at what temperature, and for how many hours. You will learn more about this in Chapters 11 and 12.

28.2　Reading the market and the seasons

The price of fish changes every day. This is because it is decided by how much was caught that day and how many people want to buy. This movement of prices is called the market price (going rate). The movement of the market price follows certain patterns.

Peak season and price

Many fish are caught in large numbers in their peak season (shun), so a lot of them reach the market. When a lot is available, prices tend to fall. On top of that, fish in peak season often have more fat and taste better (Chapter 11). If you build your menu around toppings in peak season, you gain on both flavor and food cost. However, the very first fish of the season, called hatsumono, can fetch a high price because it is rare.

When prices rise

Prices tend to rise after rough seas (shike), when boats cannot go out to fish. They also tend to rise around market holidays, at year-end, and before long holiday periods (Chapter 11). All of these are times when the amount caught or sent to market falls, or when more people want to buy. At year-end in particular, many restaurants all seek expensive fish at once, so the market price rises sharply.

Not forcing yourself to buy when the market price rises is also part of your skill. On days when your usual topping is too expensive, prepare a different topping that plays the same role. For example, when white-fleshed fish is expensive, switch to another white fish, or add one more hikarimono (silver-skinned fish). A restaurant with chefs who can choose substitute toppings is not thrown around by the market. When you put a topping whose price moves a lot on the menu, list it at market price and tell guests the price before they order (Chapter 27).

28.3　What to buy, and how much

Do not decide how much to buy by instinct alone. Work it out backward from numbers. The clues are the number of reservations, the usual number of walk-in guests you expect, and the yield (Chapter 27). Let us calculate with the example of Sushi Restaurant A buying red sea bream (madai) for one evening's omakase (chef's choice).

1. Estimate the evening's guests　There are 10 reservations, and about 2 people usually come without one. The estimate is 12 people.
2. Number of pieces needed　The omakase includes 2 pieces of red sea bream per person. For 12 people, that is 24 pieces. Add 4 pieces in case of cutting mistakes or extra orders, for 28 pieces.
3. Weight of flesh needed　If the topping for one piece weighs 14 grams, 28 pieces need 392 grams.
4. Weight of whole fish needed　Assume a yield of 35%. 392 grams of usable flesh divided by 0.35 is 1,120 grams. If you buy a whole red sea bream, you need one fish of 1.1 kilograms or more.

Now suppose the market only has a fine 2-kilogram red sea bream. As calculated in Chapter 27, a 2-kilogram fish gives 50 pieces. Tonight you will use 28 pieces, so 22 pieces' worth will be left over. Whether to buy it depends on whether you already have a plan for the leftovers. Red sea bream is a white fish suited to aging (jukusei), and if managed correctly, it can be used over several days (Chapter 10). If you can plan to use it in the next day's and the following day's omakase, it is fine to buy the 2-kilogram fish.

Know your best sellers by the numbers

If your restaurant takes okonomi (ordering piece by piece) orders, record which toppings sell well. It is enough to count how many pieces of each topping sold each day, from order slips or checkout records. Keep it up for a month, and you will also see how sales change with the day of the week and the weather. The habit of buying extra by instinct can be corrected, little by little, with records.

Running out or having leftovers: which to avoid?

If you buy a lot, you have leftovers that become loss. If you buy too little, you run out. You want to avoid both, but you cannot fully prevent both at once. A useful guide for thinking about it is how long the topping keeps.

• Things that do not keep　For shellfish, squid, ama-ebi (sweet shrimp), raw blue-backed fish, and the like, lean toward avoiding leftovers. If you run out, an apology to the guest is enough. But you cannot serve a spoiled topping.
• The restaurant's signature and standard items　For toppings that many guests look forward to, such as tuna and tamagoyaki (Japanese omelet), lean toward avoiding running out. Fish that can be made to keep longer by aging or curing also belong in this group.

If you decide in advance where leftovers will go, you will not cut your purchasing too far out of fear of loss (28.6).

28.4　Inventory and stocktaking

Inventory means ingredients you have bought but not yet used. Fish in the refrigerator, shrimp in the freezer, rice and nori on the shelf, sake, and prepared tsume (sweet reduced sauce) and gari (pickled ginger) are all inventory. Inventory is money that has changed form and is sleeping. Too much inventory reduces your cash and raises the risk of spoilage and waste.

First in, first out protects both hygiene and food cost

The basic rule for the refrigerator is first in, first out (FIFO). In other words, use first what went in first. Put older items in front and newer items at the back, and write the item name and date on every container (Chapter 5). This is a rule to prevent food poisoning, but it is also a rule that protects your money. Fish thrown away at the back after its date has passed is the same as throwing away the money you paid for it.

Stocktaking at the end of the month

Counting all the inventory in the restaurant at the end of the month and turning it into a money amount is called stocktaking (physical inventory count). Write down the item name, the amount, and the price you paid, and add them up. Count the fish in the refrigerator, the freezer, the dry goods shelf, and the sake too.

Why count? To find the true food cost for that month. The amount of ingredients used in a month is different from the amount purchased. This is because you used what was left at the start of the month, and what is left at the end of the month has not been used yet. In words, the food cost for the month is the inventory at the start of the month, plus that month's purchases, minus the inventory at the end of the month.

Let us follow the example of Sushi Restaurant A in words. The inventory at the start of the month was 200,000 yen, purchases for the month were 1,550,000 yen, and the inventory at the end of the month was 250,000 yen. 200,000 yen plus 1,550,000 yen is 1,750,000 yen. Subtract 250,000 yen, and you get 1,500,000 yen. This is the true cost of the ingredients used this month. Divided by sales of 3,750,000 yen, the food cost percentage is 40%.

If you skip stocktaking and treat the 1,550,000 yen of purchases as the food cost, the food cost percentage comes out at about 41%. A difference of this size looks small. But what about a month when you bought 300,000 yen of sake for year-end all at once at the end of the month? If you calculate from purchases alone, the food cost percentage suddenly jumps. You would wrongly think "food cost was bad this month," because of sake you have not sold a single bottle of. On the other hand, in a month when inventory dropped sharply by the end of the month, you would underestimate the food cost. Only by taking stock can you correctly read the ups and downs of the food cost percentage.

28.5　Reducing loss

Loss means ingredients that you paid for, but that disappeared without becoming sales. There are several types of loss.

There are five main types of loss. They are discarding, such as expired items; yield loss from the way fish is filleted; cutting mistakes that cannot be used for nigiri; loss from not weighing; and staff meals (makanai).

Loss from not weighing

Loss from not weighing is easy to overlook. For example, suppose a restaurant has decided that the shari for one piece is 15 grams. But when it gets busy, the chef's hands shape 17 grams without noticing. That is only 2 grams more per piece. But if Sushi Restaurant A makes 6,000 pieces a month, 2 grams times 6,000 means 12 kilograms of extra shari going out. A habit of cutting toppings 1 gram thicker works the same way. The amount of shari is set by its balance with the topping (Chapter 24), so when the amount is off, the balance of flavor also breaks down. From time to time, weigh the shari you have shaped on a scale and recalibrate the feel in your hands.

Count staff meals separately

Staff meals are important meals that support the bodies and spirits of the people who work there. But if you use ingredients without recording them, you can no longer tell real loss apart from staff meals. Record what you use for staff meals separately from loss. Then you can see where ingredients are disappearing.

Recording loss

The first step to reducing loss is keeping records. Each time you throw something away, write the date, item name, amount, rough cost, and reason in a notebook. Reasons such as "expired," "spoiled," "cutting mistake," or "bought too much" are enough.

Suppose Sushi Restaurant A starts keeping records and finds that it threw away an average of 3,000 yen of ingredients a day. Over 25 days a month, that is 75,000 yen, or 2% of sales of 3,750,000 yen. If it can cut this in half, it saves 37,500 yen a month, or 450,000 yen a year. What you save by reducing loss becomes profit as it is, even if you change nothing else. To make the same 37,500 yen of profit by increasing sales, a restaurant with a food cost percentage of 40% would have to create more than 60,000 yen in new sales. One yen of loss is one yen of profit.

28.6　Making use of leftovers

No matter how careful you are, ingredients will be left over. Making good use of leftovers is a long-standing piece of chefs' wisdom. However, safety comes before everything else.

Ways to use leftovers

• Cure them　Blue-backed fish do not keep. If it looks like some will be left over, cure it with salt and vinegar before it spoils. Drawing out water and adding acid holds back the activity of bacteria and enzymes (Chapters 10 and 13).
• Marinate them　Lean tuna and similar fish can be served as zuke (marinated in soy sauce). However, the guideline for zuke is same-day use only (Chapter 5). Use it within the same day, for example by turning lunch leftovers into zuke for dinner.
• Age them　White fish such as red sea bream gain umami over several days if you keep them cold and follow hygiene rules (Chapter 10). However, aging means a controlled period of time. It does not mean simply leaving fish sitting.
• Make side dishes　Trimmings and the collar (kama) can be made into side dishes, such as grilled dishes, simmered dishes, and dressed dishes.
• Use them for staff meals　Ara (heads and bones) left after making stock, and badly shaped flesh, can be used for staff meals.

How long you can wait differs by fish

It is not true that "anything tastes better if you let it rest." White fish are suited to aging for several days. But blue-backed fish must be used or cured by the same day or the next day. Squid and shrimp keep until the next day. Shellfish, once opened, must be used up the same day (Chapter 10). Decide how to use leftovers only after respecting these differences between fish.