A recent visit to Taverna Kyclades, located at 33-07 Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria, Queens left me thinking that they may be the most profitable restaurant of its size I’ve ever seen.   From a business perspective, they seem to be doing everything right:

• No Empty Tables – The food is delicious, the seafood is as fresh as can be, and the prices are very fair, which draws new and repeat customers from Queens, Manhattan and beyond.    Their “no reservations” policy lets  the hostess efficiently seat customers on a first come, first served basis, with no empty tables.  If you arrive after 5:15pm on most nights, plan to wait outside on the sidewalk, or stroll up and down Ditmars Boulevard, while you wait to get a call on your cell phone.

• Doing More With Less – I would estimate that the dining area represents 75% of the restaurant’s square footage – maybe more considering they have summer seating in an enclosed area on part of the sidewalk. The kitchen turns out an amazing amount of food considering its size.  At 6:30pm on a weeknight, we had to wait to get glasses of water until the dishwasher was emptied, all of the clean glasses were already being used by other diners.  Taverna Kyclades bring in seafood fresh every day from the fish market, and they are located next to the Astoria “Farmer’s Market”, so they are probably working on no more than one day of inventory.  The restaurant is open 7 days per week, and an average of 11 hours per day.

• Accurate Pricing – When I saw that the spinach pie was priced at $5.80, it showed me that someone at Taverna Kyclades really understands their costs, and is trying their best to make the product a great value for their customers.  Red Snapper, Sea Bass and Striped Bass are “Market Pricing,” which means the restaurant can offer them, and still not lose money when supplies are scarce.   Lunch specials are available, which guarantees that customers will start lining up pretty much at the noon opening.

Check out Taverna Kyclades next time you are near Astoria, you’ll love it!