The Restaurant Biz Blog

Top 3 Areas for Reducing Food Costs

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This is a follow-up to a series of articles I've been posting on controlling food costs in your restaurant.  The focus and time required to manage cost can seem daunting, so this week I just wanted to list a few key areas you can start with and can grow from there.  Next week we will be talking about recipe costing.    

The Kitchen:

• Reward staff when food costs are met
• Implement a meal plan, which allows your staff to eat at discounted prices to keep them from sneaking food here and there.
• Use spatulas to scrape every drop out of bowls and cans.
• Include portioning in your advanced prep instructions. Busy cooks may not have time to portion properly during a rush.
• Keep your knives sharp.
• Use the correct size of dish for each menu item to avoid the temptation to over-portion in order to make the plate look full.
• Inspect your garbage cans for food waste. If waste seems excessive, spend time training your staff to reduce the amount of food thrown away.

Planning Your Menu & Specials:

• Plan your specials to use ingredients you purchased on discount or items you would like to move out of your inventory.
• Use trim items from meal preparation to make soup or appetizers.
• When creating your plates, assign larger portions to items that have lower food cost and keep high-priced items to more manageable sizes.
• Use ingredients in several dishes so you can order in bulk. But beware of overstocking, as this may result in spoilage.
• Is your dishwasher throwing a lot of food away? If so, consider reducing your portions.

Ordering Food:

• When possible, buy fresh produce locally, direct from the grower.
• Stock enough supplies to avoid trips to the local discount or grocery store.
• Regularly schedule requests for quotes from both your current suppliers and new suppliers. Always get at least 3 quotes.

• How Do You Control Food Costs?
• Inventory Forecasting: You Can't Manage If You Don't Measure
• How Does Food Waste and Theft Happen in a Restaurant

Interested in learning about how we can help you manage your food costs? Join us for a demo of our inventory system. 

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