This Restaurant Thing
Wolf Down is now half a year old. Hard to believe it’s been 6 months already. Sorry I haven’t posted since opening. I’ve been a little busy trying to figure out this whole restaurant thing. Oh, and I got engaged this summer! Apparently all I had to do was build the German boy a döner shop and — tada! — wifey material. haha.
I get asked a lot of the same questions about Wolf Down, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to finally offer some explanations — a little insight into our rationale for doing things a little differently. Time for a little FAQ.
Actually, first let me start with a little clarification. It’s döner — not donair. (No, the Germans weren’t inspired by Halifax)… and no, it’s not a sweet sauce. It’s also not shawarma. Sure the meat looks similar on the vertical skewer, but that’s pretty much it. Once you taste it you’ll get it. To quote many customers reviews: “It’s like shawarma, but better!”. They said, not me.
Anyway, here we go.
Yes, that’s our whole menu. Yes it’s small. Yes, that’s intentional. By design. Maybe it has to do with the lean startup mentality. Maybe it’s to make your life easier. More options is not always better. Maybe we just believe in doing one thing really well. There is beauty in simplicity.
No, we don’t do currywurst. Have you noticed that when it comes to food, people can be extremely opinionated? We often get asked why we don’t have currywurst. Sometimes they even get angry at us. I answer that we focus on Germany’s #1 street food which, by the way, is döner. “But, I went to Berlin, and I had currywurst!” Do you also go to a burger joint and demand hot dogs? I calmly explain that though many tend to think of sausage when they think of Germany, if you actually ask a German (like my husband), döner is king. Some stats for you: döner is the #1 street food in Germany, outselling both bratwurst and currywurst. 2 million döner are sold each day from over 40,000 outlets. Döner sales in Germany exceed $3.5 billion euros per year. So, ya. I swear, I have nothing against currywurst. I just love döner. So, I do döner. Simple as that. And if someone wants to open a currywurst shop, be my guest.
Yes, everything is the same price. Again, by design. I don’t want you to make a price based decision — I want you chose with your heart (stomach), not your wallet. I want you to get what you feel like: be it tofu or meat, sandwich or salad. I don’t believe vegans should pay more, or less, than meat eaters. I don’t believe salads should cost more and discourage a healthy choice. It might also have a little bit to do with my OCD… but mostly, it’s fair.
No, we don’t take cash. No, we don’t hate the poor. There are many benefits to this which you may not have thought of. For one, it protects against theft (you can’t rob a store with no cash), which protects our people. Not counting cash also saves time and money, which we re-invest in our people and our product. As for those who accuse us of hating the poor: when a customer comes in with only cash, we always try to accommodate them by taking cash and putting it on our own cards.
No, we don’t do tips. Tips has been an unexpectedly controversial topic. Our philosophy was that we did not want that social pressure on our guests. We are fast casual, not full service. We pay our staff more than minimum wage. We didn’t want to put that burden on you. We simply hoped you’d enjoy your döner, come back again soon, and maybe tell your friends. That said…
Yes, we will reconsider tips. I must say I’ve been shocked by the outrage from those wanting to tip. And honestly, we’re touched. We are listening to your feedback and reconsidering our stance. We are currently looking at ways to allow tips without putting any pressure on those who prefer to show their support in other ways.
Yes, we cater! This has been super fun. We love to doing office lunches for awesome teams. We’ve even catered private döner parties: yes this is now a thing — and we just did a wedding party! This added business really helps us and we are grateful for every opportunity to feed you and your pack.
Finally, I’ll finish with the big question: how is Wolf Down doing anyway? Well, we just hit our half year / half million goal which is pretty cool. Yay! $500k in 6 months is a lot of döner. And from the feedback we’re getting, it sounds like many of you are just as addicted as I am. Sorry. Not sorry.
Now, back to business. It’s time to crush the next 6 months. Who’s hungry?
