Crashing the Engineers’ Breakfast Club in Seaside (CA) by Ruth Paget
Every time I go to the Breakfast Club in Seaside (California), I see someone in an engineering school sweatshirt. Even when it is hot outside, these people do not wear T-Shirts.
I ignore them and enjoy looking over the breakfast items on the menu. I like the eggs Benedict options and the omelet choices on the menu.
My favorite is a real locals choice: the Chile Verde, Pork, and Jack Omelet topped with Avocado and Sour Cream. It costs $20.75 and is built for an engineer. I cut mine in half and take one half home to warm up for dinner.
Two meals for $10.375 is a good deal for pork stewed with spicy green peppers (lots of Vitamin C here) and melted Monterey Jack cheese. This salty dish is especially good in summer heat.
The movers and shakers of Seaside and Monterey County eat at the Breakfast Club with the engineers.
I have an idea for raising $1,000 a day for this great restaurant that I would like to share with the owners and happy customers:
To raise the $1,000 sell 50 chile verde omelets each day to 10 corporate clients who buy 5 omelets or sell chile verde omelets to 5 corporate clients who buy 10 omelets.
(50 omelets x $20 = $1,000)
This is not an original idea. This is Cuban micro-capitalism. Little bakeries in Cuba are supposed to raise this kind of money this way on a daily basis thanks to locals and tourists.
Cuba’s problem is that they have very little money to spend and they no longer receive cash subsidies from Russia. Micro-capitalism has not been a huge success there.
The U.S. has more money and a tradition of buying lunch out. Micro-capitalism might work here.
$20 is expensive, but the same method works with $10 items as well to give you a daily cash flow of $500.
Good daily cash flow pays rent and employees.
Micro-capitalism might work in Monterey County and is a topic worthy of discussion at the Breakfast Club agora I think. Other restaurants might be interested in this method as well.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
