Volunteering at a Gift-economy restaurant can be challenging at times. Initially when my wife Lahar and I decided to co-ordinate Seva Cafe, I immediately sat down to get a handle on the numbers. An excel sheet was created with figures on variable costs, fixed costs and a break-even. We eventually came up with an average break-even benchmark per guest in order to stay afloat. Even though this was all meant as reference numbers, it was interesting to observe how it was subtly working on us. When ever a guest walked in, We would question the likelihood of him paying the minimum break-even amount. At some point of time, we also thought about how we should attract guests who would pay more than this amount.
This continued for a couple days...
http://mammovies.com/blogs/2012/01/10/a-leap-of-faith-at-seva-cafe/
www.sevacafe.org
