A Day in the Life of a San Francisco Restaurant (By the Numbers)

Rachel Tepper Paley
·Editor
Updated

Think you want to open a restaurant? Watch this (gorgeous) video featuring a frenzied day at Delfina, a 15-year-old Italian classic in San Francisco, and then answer that question.

"It’s organized chaos," sous chef Dexter Lee told us. "But everyone knows what their goals are and what they have to do."

They certainly have to, considering Delfina’s fast pace. Lee said the restaurant does 190 covers on weeknights and well over 200 on Fridays and Saturdays. To meet demand, the 11 crew members cover shifts spanning from 4:45 a.m. to 11 p.m. This, mind you, at a restaurant that doesn’t serve lunch.

Still not getting it? Consider this: Delfina employs two main pasta makers. The first arrives at 4:45 a.m. and makes fresh pasta through 11 a.m, after which he makes pizza dough through 3 p.m. Then he heads home. (In a single day, he’ll probably go through 10 dozen eggs.) The second arrives at 4 p.m. and makes filled pastas through 10:30 p.m. ”They don’t cross paths,” Lee said of the pair.

So if you don’t mind standing on your feet for up to 18 hours a day, by all means, get into the restaurant biz. As for us, we’ll be at the bar.

[via Laughing Squid]