IT USED TO BE EASY TO DO A restaurant’s books. You’d budget a third of your expenses for food, a third for labor, and a third for overhead. Then you’d trim wherever possible and call that profit. Alas, this formula no longer works, particularly not in Chicago and other cities that have made the nettlesome decision to require businesses to pay all employees a living wage. As labor costs hit new highs, restaurants have to figure out ways to afford local hakurei turnips and then squeeze blood from them.
John’s Food & Wine, nestled in a boutique-heavy stretch of Lincoln Park, has made the odd
