When beef tenderloin got too expensive, Mochi didn't raise the price, it took the dish off the menu.
Sandra Jedliczka is one of the founder-owners of Mochi, arguably the best Japanese fusion restaurant in Vienna. Since opening in 2012, the portfolio has grown to include the Asian gourmet shops omk, Mochi Ramen Bar, Kikko Bā (Spanish-Japanese tapas), Cucina Itameshi (Italian-Japanese), a Mochi outpost in Bolzano, and Chicken Karate, a fast-food stand at Vorgartenmarkt. Across all of it, pricing runs on one rule: the menu price moves last. Some dishes never carry the increase and some leave the menu rather than carry it.
In this conversation:
- how Mochi works through purchasing, suppliers and recipe adjustments before a price ever moves,
- why its best-selling dishes are allowed to run below margin target as a matter of identity,
- and why lunch, not any single menu category, is where the squeezed consumer first stops showing up.
