The 4-1-1 on the Restaurant Industry

The restaurant industry plays a prominent roll in The Rock Star’s Wife series, especially book one, Sexual Awakening.  Nearly the entire Economos family depends on Costas’ Place, the family’s restaurant for its support, and Cassandra, the series’ main character, works there part time throughout three books, starting when she is 15 years old.

Here is how Cassandra explains the restaurant’s history in Sexual Awakening:  “My grandfather, Costas Economos, named Costas’ Place after himself when he founded it in 1947.  He came to Sterling from Peoria during the war with my grandmother, Kalliope, for factory work.  According to him, his coworkers were always jealous of the food he brought for lunch, so he decided to share it with them.  It started with bringing stuff to work, before he sold food from a stand and finally founded this restaurant.”

As she points out in the following paragraph, restaurant work isn’t fun or glamourous but it does pay the extended family’s bills.

Let’s examine the restaurant industry with a focus on how it affects the Economos family’s day-to-day life.

The Parts of A Restaurant

The Economos family spends a great deal of time at the restaurant.  So where are they spending this time?

We see Chris, Papou and, starting in Mr. Right is a Myth, Phil in the administrator’s office.  The top chef also has an office in a typical restaurant located in the kitchen.

The staff has a breakroom with lockers where they can store belongings, eat and rest while out of the view of patrons.

Restaurant kitchens are divided into specific sections called “lines.”  Each line is dedicated to a task.  The hot line is for the preparation of hot entrees, the cold line is for the preparation of cold foods, the dessert line is for the preparation of desserts, and the breakfast line for the preparation of simple meals and beverages.

To maintain a sanitary environment, meat is prepared in a separate room close to the cooking area.  Fish also is kept in a separate area.  To avoid cross contamination, fruits and vegetables must also be prepared away from meat and seafood.

The wait station is located between the kitchen and dining room, and contains utensils and glasses as well as beverages such as water and coffee.

Keeping the dishes and pots and pans cleaned is a never-ending task throughout the work day. White dishes and glasses are cleaned separately from anything made of metal.  The dishwashing station contains large sinks, trash bins or a garbage disposal, shelves for plates, and tables.

New foods are delivered to the restaurant’s back entrance and enter the building in what is called the receiving area.

Foods must be properly stored to avoid spoilage and cross contamination from raw meat.  Perishable goods are stored in refrigerators and freezers near the preparation area.  Other food is kept in dry storage beside the main kitchen area in their original packaging.

What Kind of Restaurant is Costas’ Place?

Costas’ Place would be classified as a casual dining restaurant.

Casual dining is defined as “the section of the restaurant industry that provides a more relaxed setting for customers to enjoy their meal. This means the level of formality is toned down when compared to fine dining restaurants, although table service is likely to still be in place. When compared to fine dining restaurants, casual dining environments are more affordable, although the quality of food is not going to be as high.”

It also is a full-service restaurant which means it offers table service and a variety of menu options. Food at full-service restaurants typical takes more time to prepare than fast-food restaurants.

Restaurant Industry by the Numbers

Pre-COVID-19 pandemic, households with an annual income of at least $70,000 were responsible for 63 percent of total restaurant spending, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Here are some other facts about the restaurant industry that affect the Economos family:

• In 2021, there were 660,936 restaurants in the United States, employing 14.9 million people.
• The pandemic forced the closure of 110,000 restaurants, either temporarily or permanently, and 2.4 million restaurant employees lost their jobs. Ten percent closed permanently.
• In 2021, sales were down $132.8 billion compared to 2019.
• The majority of restaurants, 90 percent, have 50 or fewer employees.
• The average profit margin for a full-service restaurant is 3 percent to 5 percent.
• The average annual salary of a restaurant employee is $25,504.
• Sixty percent of restaurants close before their first year in business, and 80 percent close by their fourth year.

Source:  Zippia

Greek Restaurants In Illinois

The fictional Costa’s Place is located in Sterling, Illinois.  In reality, three Illinois Greek restaurants were recently named among the best restaurants in the country.

Two of the restaurants are located in Chicago which, according to Wanderlust Marriage Travel, has one of the largest populations of Greeks in the United States.  The Greektown neighborhood hosts the restaurants.  The area also is the birthplace of saganaki, a flaming cheese dish.

The website’s top pick was Greek Islands, a restaurant so famous it has its own Wikipedia page.  Konstantinos Koutsogeorgas founded Greek Islands in 1971.  It is known for its seafood which was featured on the Food Network.

Wanderlust Marriage Travel’s second pick is Athena, known for its kalamata chicken.

“Comedian Tina Fey, who is Greek, raved about the dish to David Letterman who also loved it. Kalamata chicken is a half rotisserie chicken atop crispy fries swimming in jus,” the website says.

The National Herald selected Chrissoulas in the Chicagoland suburb of Libertyville (the hometown of Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello and Tool’s Adam Jones) as one of the top 10 Greek restaurants in the nation.  Nick and Theo Dimitriou, who own the restaurant, named it after their grandmother. Guilty Eats, a restaurant news website, featured Chrissoulas’ grilled octopus.

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How often do you eat at Greek restaurants?   Leave a comment below.  Comments close after 90 days.

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Here’s the 4-1-1

This blog is a companion piece to The Rock Star’s Wife, a series about sex, family, and rock & roll.  The series has elements of chick lit, romance and erotica and is best compared to The Vagina Monologues for its frank talk of sex and its consequences.  The series follows Cassandra from her teenage years into her 40s as she navigates relationships (both romantic and platonic) — all with music playing a prominent roll.

Book one, Sexual Awakening, drops February 2023:  Teenager Cassandra Economos loves five things: Her awesome friends. Her big fat, dysfunctional, Greek family. Rock music. Her plan to move to Chicago. And Kurt Cobain.  Soon, she’ll gain another love.  Sex.  Stifled by her family’s rules, how will Cassie explore her sexuality?

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