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Managing Food Costs at Your Restaurant
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f you are like many restaurants today, you are constantly looking for ways to lower food costs without consuming too much time or resources from operations already stretched thin. The practices below should be used (ideally together) to optimize various areas of operations for managing and improving food cost percentages. Tracking Food Waste Track waste in your kitchen and in the dining area. If certain dishes aren’t getting completely eaten, you should cut back on your portion size. One way to do this is to tell staff to notice the plates that come back clean more often. Another idea is to keep another trash bin designated for
the leftovers to help determine food waste. However, if you find you are throwing away excess inventory in the long term, adjust menu items. Another big way to control food waste is having consistent expectations on how much a recipe should yield. Are you using the amount of oil to fry 5 portions of fries but you are only frying for two– throwing out the excess? This waste can be costly over time. Try using things like measuring jars and cups to keep measurement accurate and consistent Inventory Audits Given the issue many face with not having enough labor to operate at
