5 Restaurant Food Cost Control Tips You Should Be Using
Wholesale prices are rising day by day. Tariffs are hitting some foods very hard. If you don’t have controlled spoilage measures in place, it’s time to start implementing some.
1. Track the Local (Or Even Global) Food Cost Tendencies
Go beyond your internal figures. Predictions and forecasts are a good place to start. When you know what the forecasted prices will be, you can adjust your menu accordingly.
The United States Department of Agriculture is a good start. The Consumer Price Index, listed by the Department, can help a restaurant better understand what their future prices are expected to be.
Use a food costing app to keep tight control over all of your food.
2. Inventory Control
If you’re not tracking inventory, you’ll waste more than you want. The goal is to know what your inventory is at all times. This data will allow you to learn how to reduce food cost by:
- Ensuring that items are not unnecessarily ordered
- Wasted due to spoilage
The data that is kept from proper inventory control can be your go-to data for everything from food portion control to tracking waste.
A few measures should be incorporated:
- Assign inventory responsibilities on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. This allows more than one team member to better understand how inventory is managed and what goes into the control process.
- Incorporate a First-in, First-out system. What this allows for is the oldest inventory to be used first, allowing items to stay fresher for longer.
- Daily inventory for highly used items should be kept. Accurate inventory should be kept weekly and monthly.
- Keep a “dollar account” for all inventory.
3. Proper Food Portion Management
Food cost management software will allow for a better waste control and prevent waste eating into your profits. You want to refine your menu over time, and the goal is to:
- Serve the right portion sizes
- Reduce waste
Watch the plates that come back to the kitchen. Make notes of dishes that always seem to have leftovers that are discarded.
Overfilling plates can lead to losing money.
Work with chefs to better understand how to adjust portions to what the patrons of the restaurant want.
Restaurant food costs are directly tied to the portions that you establish.
4. Track All of Your Food Waste
You’ll want to keep track of:
- Food spillage
- Discarded food
- Returned food
- Burned food
If you can track the waste, you can better control your costs. Knowing why and when food is wasted is key to keeping your costs under control.
5. Be Flexible With Menu and Pricing
The dish may offer a nice profit margin, but this profit means nothing if 30% of the ingredients are discarded every week. A lot of restaurants will offer half-price deals once a week.
For example, you may choose to offer half priced appetizers on Tuesday night. New shipments come in on Wednesday, so you’re able to use up any remaining wings in your inventory before they spoil.
Offering discounts or deals strategically throughout the week or month may be able to keep your costs down because less food is wasted.
Source: https://mcdonaldpaper.com/blog/restaurant-food-cost-control-methods
