national · vendor
One D.C. chef's playbook for keeping beef costs in check
Original headline: “How Ryan Ratino manages beef prices at his new steakhouse”
Why this matters
Ryan Ratino opened a steakhouse and built his beef program around small producers instead of broadline distributors. The strategy lets him find value at multiple price points rather than riding commodity beef markets up and down. For indie operators running any protein-heavy menu, the lesson is the same: direct relationships with smaller suppliers often unlock pricing flexibility, quality consistency, and negotiating leverage that a standard Sysco or US Foods account does not. The tradeoff is more relationship management and tighter delivery logistics.
What to do
Audit your top three protein line items and call one small or regional producer this week to compare landed cost against your current distributor price.
Reveal Newsroom · Auto-published from nrn →
Published Wed, 08 Jul 2026 21:08:08 GMT