GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — At Barringer’s in Fish Creek, high end steak and seafood are number one on the menu.
“Our portions are really big," said Nick Dawson, Chef de Cuisine. "They come hungry.”
The fan favorites are becoming quite the splurge, said Dawson. The prices for steak and seafood have increased by about 25 to 30 percent in the past two years and continually go up in five percent increments monthly. A couple years ago, he bought steaks for around $29 to $35 per pound; now, he’s spending $48 to $54 dollars per pound. To make a profit, he would have to charge almost $70 for a steak. But he doesn’t do that; instead, he suffers the loss.
“We've never had a complaint on any of our prices that we've set, mainly because I always have a standard, which is we sell the best steak," said Dawson. "The best burgers. Always. And the quality always shines through.”
Over in Greenleaf, Flipper’s Cove has been struggling to keep beef on the menu.
“I serve prime rib here on Saturday nights," said Gregg “Flipper” Phillips, owner. "And I was almost ready to stop serving because they got so expensive on me.”
Flipper's Cove has been in Phillps' family for 42 years, and he's been the owner for the last 20. The last two have been the hardest of all, he said.
“The big companies raise their prices on me, but I just, I just can't seem to raise them up that high, because I'm in a farm area," said Phillips. "It’s a small town here, and you go too high, they go someplace else.”
Although perch has gone from $12 to $15, “Flipper” will never make customers splurge on their favorite beer or old fashioned.
"I'm pretty cheap on my stuff," he said laughing.
Along with seemingly every business in the country, both Dawson and Phillips are struggling the most with staffing.
“A lot of the inflation has increased labor costs," said Dawson. "So we have to be really flexible, you know, a lot of times a lot of chefs, a lot of managers used to manage and really be chefs. They used to be out of the kitchen, more along lines of costing and kind of a leadership role, ownership role. They don't own the business, but to be a good leader you have to have that ownership mentality. But the pandemic has brought us back into the kitchen. We are doing a lot of the work ourselves.”
Jerry Lintz, a Restaurant Management instructor at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, teaches students that there are ways to cut costs aside from raising prices.
“You can make minor changes in price, ingredients, change your business hours," said Lintz. "There's other things to do rather than looking at cost-cutting. Cost-cutting carries a negative approach.”
Currently a student himself, Dawson has learned to get creative, exploring local farms right in Door County.
“We've had a little bit of snail farming done, which is kind of cool," he said. "That's really awesome to see. Lambs, ducks that's kind of the the big three there. It's great to see a lot of local farmers back up on their feet and doing very well. The tourist season has been great in door County and we hope that helps all of our local farmers in their mission to get really great product on the table.”
With just the right amount of chopped garlic, chives and red pepper flakes, restaurants are working harder than ever so loyal customers can continue to safeguard their savings.
“I'll always find a way," said Dawson. "That’s kind of the magic of cooking, and that's why I love it, is that it is constant problem-solving game. And that's why I think that a lot of people in the restaurant industry, the ones who have come out on top and been successful, are the problem-solvers within the industry. The ones who really take the bull by the horns and figure out what the issue is and you figure out a way around it to make it best for the customer.”
