Gourmet 'standing' restaurant a Tokyo hit

There's a French restaurant chain called "Ore no French" that's doing the same thing (in Ginza, Ebisu, and elsewhere), they've got lines out the door for what looks like really great food at remarkable prices, though in very cramped surroundings. Like Chef Shimada, they also emphasize the importance of turning tables, estimating they need do about 2.5 turns a night to break even (the typical high-priced sit-down French place will do 1 or maybe 1.5 turns), which works out to a maximum of two hours a table. Tokyoites are used to crowding, though, and don't seem to mind balancing glasses, wine bottles, and numerous plates on what amounts to barely a cocktail table...

Also the cost for ingredients is 50% of the price we charge here, much higher than other first-rated restaurants. So rotation is the key. And we have to be always busy.

Actually this is a fairly standard costing. I have several friends who are restauranters, and one night over dinner this topic came up and this is the basic formula used from Europe to Australia, "Double the cost of ingredients". Novelle cuisine is perhaps an exception, where the menu price is dozens of times cost of ingredients, but generally speaking, averaged across the menu, the pricing is figured by taking the cost of ingredients and doubling it.

passion is a beautiful thing, when cooking turns to concept art instead of business?