Cooking Savings

My mom always tells me that it’s not about how much money you make but how much you can save and that I can save a lot of money by cooking at home. Being in my 20s, it’s a bit hard to eat at home all the time since I always have the urge to go out and try new restaurants with my friends. However, after coming across pictures of bugs and rodents at several restaurants and getting stomach aches at numerous dirty restaurants, I decided it was time to give in to my mom’s advice. I love to eat all types of noodle soups so I looked up recipes online and tried making various Vietnamese noodle soups for the first time. I tried making Pho Ga (Chicken Pho) noodle soup and it cost me $15 for 10 servings then I tried making Bun Rieu noodle soup and it cost me $30 for 10 servings. From doing the simple math, you’ll find that it only cost me $1.50 serving for Pho Ga and $3.00 a serving for Bun Rieu and most restaurants charge $8-10 a serving. I decided to share most of the food with my Mom and family and they were all very impressed with the taste. Not only did I save a lot of money from cooking at home, I also built a sense of confidence with cooking. Also, I noticed that I’ve been able to loose weight naturally from cooking good and healthy food which is a great plus. Cooking at home is very beneficial and I encourage anyone who wants to cook to try it and don’t be scared of long strenuous recipes. There are tons of very detailed step-by-step recipes online and several videos as well that are very helpful. I’m really glad I took my mom’s advice and started cooking at home. Someday, I would like to become more innovative with my cooking and combine different cuisines and spices together to find out what the outcome will be.

Pho Profits?

I googled “Pho profit margins” and found this Pho restaurant for sale in San Diego for $600K:

I was not surprised to find out that the gross income is $1.3 million for a profitable Pho restaurant. When I did the calculations of popular Pho restaurants I like to go to, I found that their gross income was over $1 million. I’m sure it mainly has to do with the cost of making Pho which is less than $1 a bowl. Even with the labor costs calculated in, I think profitable Pho restaurants are still making a 50% or more profit which is probably why there are so many Pho restaurants. Everyone wants to get in on the profits but of course, not everyone succeeds. When analyzing whether or not it’s worth it to own a Pho restaurant, I would need to find out how the broth tastes and if people like it. Also, is there a team you can count on to consistently make the same broth everyday and provide good customer service? Another big factor would be whether or not the location is good. If yes to all of the above then go for it!

Whoever thought of the concept of Pho which is a simple Vietnamese beef noodle soup is a genius! The question  for the innovators out there would be, what’s next? What can be combined with Pho to make it even greater? Will people ever get sick of Pho? If you have any ideas or comments, please tell me!