--- title: "How two independent restaurants are managing a high-cost environment" url: https://burnaze.com/article/9c2b5aa0-b9d9-4725-8fbc-b6c75069eb95 source: "Nation's Restaurant News" original_url: https://www.nrn.com/independent-restaurants/how-two-independent-restaurants-are-managing-a-high-cost-environment author: "Alicia Kelso" category: "Restaurants" industry: "Restaurants" published: 2026-05-05T16:01:08.000Z modified: 2026-10-31T20:02:55.590Z image: https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/bltea7aee2fca050a19/blt4b9c940ed9fb0925/69fa15c02694621e928b733a/AdalinaPrime_KitchenShot.jpg?width=1280&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale --- # How two independent restaurants are managing a high-cost environment **TL;DR:** Adalina Prime and Talat Market, two independent restaurants, are navigating inflationary pressures by implementing vendor management protocols, using technology to track costs, and optimizing labor. The restaurants have made adjustments such as avoiding exclusivity agreements, deploying recipe-costing software, and cutting labor costs to manage high beef and energy costs. *By Alicia Kelso, originally published in Nation's Restaurant News on 2026-05-05. [Read the original](https://www.nrn.com/independent-restaurants/how-two-independent-restaurants-are-managing-a-high-cost-environment).* ## Story Adalina Prime, a fine dining steakhouse from Michelin-starred Top Chef Alum Chef Soo Ahn, opened in Chicago’s Fulton Market in the summer of 2025. The opening marked an expansion from the original Adalina, a modern Italian concept that debuted in Chicago’s Gold Coast in 2021. The cost environment within those two timeframes hasn’t exactly been rosy. In 2021, inflation spiked to its highest level in 40 years, driven by Covid-induced supply chain bottlenecks. In 2025, the industry was dealing with historically high beef prices, while everything else — from paper to energy to rent — remained elevated. In response to this persistent inflationary environment, Adalina Prime had to make some adjustments, including implementing more rigorous vendor management protocols such as avoiding exclusivity agreements. “By maintaining a diverse pool of high-quality suppliers, we leverage competition to secure premium products while softening the impact of the volatile market we’re all facing,” Ahn said. The establishment has also deployed recipe-costing and inventory software, which provides real-time tracking of price variances for every delivery received. The platform also enables Adalina Prime to benchmark procurement costs against regional and national datasets to make sure it is competitively positioned as operators run low on pricing power after years of menu inflation. “The best measurable win has been stabilizing pricing for our guests,” Ahn said. “By absorbing or managing backend costs through technology and vendor agility, we’ve avoided knee-jerk price increases.” Ahn added that this has created a strong value proposition for consumers as they become more selective with their dining dollars. Beyond food price management, the executive chef prioritizes labor optimization. Adalina Prime looks at historical sales data, real-time reservation volume and upcoming event schedules in Chicago to forecast demand and staff accordingly. “We then take this information and leverage our labor management platform (SpotOn) to adopt a data-driven approach that engineers staffing levels, ensuring hourly labor reduction without compromising service standards,” Ahn said. A little over 700 miles south, Rod Lassiter is also constantly working to manage inflationary pressures. The owner/partner of Talat Market, a Thai restaurant that opened in 2019 in the Summerhill neighborhood of Atlanta, said he has switched to more cost-effective dishes and has cut labor from the prep team “a bit.” He is also able to pinch pennies by fixing his own equipment while allocating more funds toward advertising to drive traffic. Talat Market just overhauled its website, for example. “We are so hands-on that we see small victories daily and can step in immediately if needed,” Lassiter said. He added that having a smaller location has also helped the concept manage through a choppy environment. Talat Market is located inside an old neighborhood store and seats about 45 people inside, with about 15 more seats on a covered patio. “(In this environment) it’s hard to find high-cost savings in one particular area, but keeping a smaller footprint and a smaller restaurant model has helped us navigate. We feel a little bit better than others that have higher rent or a bigger restaurant with more moving parts,” he said. Talat Market also is only open five days a week, Wednesday through Sunday. This allows the restaurants’ employees to recharge and gives them time to find solutions to any abrupt issues that may arise. The biggest solution, Lassiter said, also tends to be the simplest. “The best advice (to deal with inflation) is showing up and being there for staff, for the guests, and working service when you can,” he said. “(Being present) is ultra important these days as an owner/operator.” ## Entities - QSR (sector) - Nation's Restaurant News (publication) - Atlanta (location) - Chicago (location) - Alicia Kelso (person) - cost control (topic) - independent restaurants (topic) - labor optimization (topic) - vendor management (topic) - inflation management (topic) - Adalina Prime (company) - Talat Market (company) --- Originally reported by Alicia Kelso, Nation's Restaurant News (https://www.nrn.com/independent-restaurants/how-two-independent-restaurants-are-managing-a-high-cost-environment). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/9c2b5aa0-b9d9-4725-8fbc-b6c75069eb95).