LogFAQs > #979109030

ai123 posted...

I don't think people realize how much it costs to run a Michelin starred restaurant.

It's incredibly labour intensive, and requires top quality personnel, from head chefs to wine waiters, and they don't come for minimum wage plus tips. Then there are the ingredients which are absolutely the finest, with nothing served that isn't highest quality.

Even at the prices they charge, they barely make a profit. Some even run at a loss. El Bulli was rated the best restaurant in the world, but had to close because it was hemorrhaging money.

I'm aware, but sometimes it feels like that cost gets passed on to the customer without the extra quality being passed on to the customer.

In this instance the food wasn't all that and the ambience wasn't incredible or anything. The staff were clearly well trained though. So in this case (to overly simplify it), if so much of the cost was wrapped up in the waitress who knew the history of every vineyard of every bottle and the waiter who was being extra charming, I'm not sure that's really what I was hoping to pay more for on the whole.