Here is an excellent article by Executive Chef, Daniel Slobodien,
that can really help to improve your restaurant's bottom line:
http://www.topserveconsulting.com/articles/food_costs.html
Get A Handle On Your Food Costs
Other than payroll, Food Costs is the largest expense in almost
every restaurant operation. Tight control over them is essential if
the restaurant operator has any hope to be profitable. Fortunately,
food costs are a fairly flexible expense, and can be easily
controlled with some vigilant monitoring. Most operators always
want to drive for more sales to increase profits. However, if you
are losing money on each sale, this is actually counter-productive.
A far better way to increase profitability is to maintain costs.
Cutting costs effectively goes straight down to the bottom line as
pure, clean profit.
Follow these simple steps, and watch your profit level soar:
Cost out each and every recipe on your menus. I know that this is
tedious, at best. But, how can you set a reasonable budget target
if you do not know for certain the cost of every recipe? How can
you set your pricing in a logical manner? You should know what
profit margin each recipe contributes to your bottom line. Then,
you can price it appropriately and also encourage your staff to
recommend to your guests the more profitable items.
Of course, these costs need to be reviewed and revised
periodically. For example, if beef costs are rising, you should be
aware of this in order to react in a timely fashion.
Ascertain your Food Costs on a weekly basis. Conventional wisdom
has always dictated that you should figure out your food costs on a
monthly basis. While that is better than nothing, it is far too
late if you are over your budget. You have already wasted too much
money. Consider this: If your food sales total $100,000 per month,
and you target a 30% food cost, you should spend $30,000 per month
on food. However, if you discover that your food costs are running
at 35%, then you have actually spent $35,000. Wasting $5,000 per
month is some serious cash. However, if you had been monitoring
your costs on a weekly basis, and taken corrective action, you
would have potentially limited the damage to a total of
approximately $1,250.
To ascertain your food costs, simply total up your food purchases
for the week. Unless you are experiencing some budgetary problems,
there is really no need to take a weekly physical inventory. Simply
take inventory on a periodic basis to make sure that you are on
track and that your figures are correct.
Control the waste. This is the trickiest part, and requires the
most attention from managers. Waste can take many forms, both
obvious and subtle. How much winds up in the garbage cans? Why is
it being thrown away? Here are some things to look for to help
minimize waste:
Examine your ordering systems. Is the proper amount of food being
ordered for the level of business and demand?
Examine your storage. Are perishable food items being properly
rotated (First In, First Out)? Everything should be clearly marked
with the date of receipt. Is everything being held at the proper
temperatures to retard spoilage? Is everything neat and orderly,
with no cross contamination?
Make it a habit to check out the diners' plates as they go to the
dishwasher. Do they appear to be licked clean, or is there a
considerable amount of food leftover? Do you need to revamp your
portion sizes?
If your food is prepared to order, always make sure your cooks are
preparing the correct amount of food. For example, if a recipe
specifies 4 oz. of beef, and your cook is using 6 oz. portions,
your food costs for that dish have now increased by 50%. If you
costed out the dish out at $4.00, it now costs you $6.00. It is
easy to see how quickly this can add up. I once fired a cook who
always seemed to have half of a recipe still in the pan after
plating it up. This is inexcusable, and must be stopped. After all,
the cooks make the same dish hundreds of times. They can, and will,
quickly get a feel for the proper amounts needed if they know that
you are watching. Also, insist that all portioned products be
weighed on a portioning scale.
A more subtle form of waste is over-preparing. If you sell 10
orders of a your shrimp dish each night, but the cooks prepare
enough of the ingredients each day to make 20 shrimp dishes , then
half of it is very likely to wind up in the trash. Prep levels
should always be examined. All of your cooks and chefs should be
well aware of sales levels for all the respective dishes, and
prepare accordingly.
If training and consistent monitoring are not having the desired
effect, try more graphic messages. One place I worked had a
clipboard nailed up in a conspicuous location in the kitchen.
Anytime we threw out a food item, we were required to write that
item down, and to initial it. As you can imagine, this was resented
by the kitchen staff, but it certainly limited our waste! Another
method would be to put a large, clear container in the middle of
the kitchen. All food waste should be thrown into this as a visual
reminder that waste needs to be strictly limited, if not
eliminated. If the visual reminder is not enough, weigh it at the
end of each shift. Make a game out of it - set goals to get the
weight of the bucket down to acceptable targets. Reward the staff
when they achieve these goals. Strictly controlling your food costs
is mostly a matter of awareness. For the overall financial
well-being of the restaurant, your staff should always be acutely
aware of the importance of maintaining the budget. After all, they
have a stake in this, as well If they know that it is important to
you, they will consider it to be important, as well.
Daniel Slobodien, graduate of Cornell University, was head Chef and
former restaurant owner for eight years--(732-549-8556)
Read many more informative Restaurant articles at:
http://www.topserveconsulting.com/articles.html
Best Regards
Richard Saporito
Topserve Restaurant Consulting
www.topserveconsulting.com
www.howtoimprovediningroomservice.com
(888)276-4808
.
Topserve Consulting, 147- 45 Beech Ave., Flushing, NY 11355, USA
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