Food and Beverage Control in Restaurants PDF

Module 1 -------- Food and Beverage Control in Restaurants  ----------------------------------------- There are primarily four Food Service categories that need to be controlled in a restaurant. 1. 2. 3. 4. A. **Food Cost Control in Restaurants** The first step of food and beverage contro...

Module 1 -------- Food and Beverage Control in Restaurants  ----------------------------------------- There are primarily four Food Service categories that need to be controlled in a restaurant. 1. 2. 3. 4. A. **Food Cost Control in Restaurants** The first step of food and beverage control is Food Cost Control. But before you go ahead and take steps to control your Food Costs, you must analyze your actual food expenses and your Food Cost Percentage. This can be deduced by using predefined food and beverage cost control formulas. Food Cost Percentage is the portion of sales that was spent on food expenses. The cost of food sold divided by total sales gives you the Food Cost Percentage. Once you know your exact food cost percentage, you can control your restaurant's Food Cost by following certain practices. These are:- 1. **Menu forecasting** Menu item forecasting is an integral part of the Food and Beverage Control. Food Cost Control begins with forecasting the menu. Forecasting the menu is ascertaining the demand for different menu items. It is required to make decisions regarding raw materials to be ordered, the workforce to be supplied, time to be given, etc. Menu item forecasting will decrease your food waste and save you the cost of labor and raw materials. Depending on your customer psychology you must forecast your menu to ensure that your menu bolsters your sales. Only after understanding the requirements of a particular item should you decide how much of a specific item should be prepared in your restaurant. You can forecast the sales of a dish by calculating its Popularity Index. ***Popularity Index= Total number of a specific menu item sold/ Total number of all items sold*** ***Predicted Number of Item Sold= Number of guests to visit your restaurant X Popularity Index*** Save some unexpected surprises, it is usually quite easy to predict the number of guests to visit your restaurant. The footfall depends on several factors that must be taken into consideration, such as quality of your service, competition in your area, season, etc. Over a period, you can predict the trend of footfall. Refer to the reports generated by your POS software that would give you a detailed insight into the amount of footfall in your restaurant, the busiest time of the day, the most popular dish, etc. 2. **Standardized recipe** A standardized recipe consists of the detailed procedures to be used in preparing and serving each of your menu items and is integral to Food and Beverage Control. They give a set measure of the exact amount of ingredients to be used, declare the number of servings, set portions for each meal, and of course the preparation method. They are critical for controlling food and beverage costs as even a slight imbalance in the servings, cascaded over a period could lead to a severe dip in your margins. **Common Recipe Elements in a Standardized Recipe** **Recipe Name / Recipe Card Number / Section / Meal Pattern Contribution:** Include the name of the recipe, the recipe card number, the section that the recipe should be classified under (grains, meat and meat alternate, etc.) and the contribution that one serving makes toward the child nutrition meal pattern. Example: Pizzeria Pizza Crust, B-48, Grains, 2.5-ounce equivalents per portion. **Ingredients:** Listed in order of preparation and specifies the type of food used, such as fresh apples; canned corn; macaroni (uncooked); ground beef (raw). **Weight and Measures:** The weight and measures of each ingredient used in both weight and volume measure. Note: weighing ingredients is faster, easier and more accurate. **Procedure:** Directions on how to prepare the recipe. Include directions for mixing, number and size of pans, cooking temperature and time, and the directions for serving. **Yield:** The yield of a recipe should be recorded as the total weight or volume produced per 50 or 100 servings (or another specified number of servings). Example: 50 servings: 23 pounds four ounces or 100 servings: 46 pounds eight ounces or 50 servings: one quart 2 1/4 cups. **Serving Size:** List the number of servings that the recipe yields and the portion size to be served. Example: 50 -- 1/2 cup servings. Consider including the suggested portioning tools to use. Example: 50 --1/2 cup servings (No. 8 scoops). **Cost per serving (optional):** Determine the total cost to prepare the recipe and divide by the number of servings prepared to equal the cost of one serving. **Equipment and Utensils to Use:** Listing of cooking and serving tools needed to produce and serve the food item. **Cooking Temperatures and Time:** Appropriate temperature and amount of time needed for the highest quality product. 3. **Inventory management** Stocking up the inventory is the first thing that restaurant owners do to get the operations going. However, managing the inventory is arguably the most important part of Food and Beverage Control. Before you go and start stocking up your inventory, you first need to define what inventory levels are needed in your restaurant. That is, you need to have a clear understanding of how much stock of which items would be needed in your restaurant kitchen, and for how long would those items last. This comes from menu forecasting and yield management. When you forecast your menu, you determine how much of a dish will be required. When you manage yield per dish, you estimate how much raw material will be necessary to avoid wastage. Both of them together will work towards your food and beverage cost control by determining exactly how much inventory would be needed. You need to consider the storage capacity of your inventory and shelf life and perishability of each item in mind before purchasing. 4. **Purchasing** Much care needs to be given while purchasing inventory items or your food costs might escalate. You need to have a list of all the items that need to be purchased and how many to be purchased. You should also order enough to maintain a steady supply so that you don't run out of an item. Waste Percentage is given by, ***Waste Percentage= Product Loss/ Total Weight of the item when purchased.*** 5. **Vendor management** Before you choose a vendor to supply the raw ingredients to your kitchen, you need to have the Purchase Order. It is essential to have a Purchase Order (PO) for all orders, no matter how trivial they are, and their records should be maintained. Once you have the Purchase Order prepared, you need to decide on a vendor for supplying the stock to your restaurant kitchen. It is better to purchase from the same vendor to maintain the quality and taste of your food. Buying from the same vendor at the same price also helps in keeping the Fixed Cost of your menu. Also, to lower your purchasing costs order on credit instead of cash. 6. **Receiving** Receiving is one aspect of Food and Beverage control that is often overlooked, but it is just as important. The maximum discrepancy in stock happens while receiving the order. A not so honest employee may be tempted to steal from the inventory while receiving the order. Dishonest employees are also known to often strike an agreement with the Vendor and receive only half the amount of the ordered items while pocketing the money of the entire order. To reduce the possibility of thefts, you should ensure that the purchasing agent and receiving clerk are two different individuals and that the entire purchasing and receiving procedure is carefully monitored. Receiving clerks should be adequately trained to verify the weight, quantity, quality, and price of the products while collecting the stock items. They should be adequately equipped with the necessary tools for weighing and measurement of the stock. 7. **Storage** All Food Costing and Control methods can go in vain if the stock items purchased are not stored properly, as food items are highly perishable. You must follow proper stocking practices to ensure longevity of the stocked goods. There should be separate areas for storing dry, refrigerated, and frozen products. Storage can be done in the following ways- **First In First Out:** In this method, the items are purchased first and consumed first. The items that are purchased first are more likely to spoil than the items purchased later. This method is preferred in cases of grocery, dairy, etc., and is the most popular method of storage utilization. **Last In First Out:** In this method, the items that are purchased last are consumed first. The idea behind this storage is that certain items such as baked goods are best consumed when fresh. Last in First Out method helps to maintain quality and deliver high customer service. The best way to store your inventory items is to ensure that the items are kept in a cool, dry, and sterile place. The items should also be appropriately rotated. **Importance of Food Cost Formula** Food cost is essentially the total cost of your food net of the existing Inventory. Most of the time ,if not always, beverage costs are not included and are counted separately. In percentage,the food cost is primarily a restaurant's total food purchase divided by the restaurant's total sales. We all know that's calculating the restaurant food costs helps in maintaining a healthy business. However, calculating it with the help of proper food cost formula can help you achieve accuracy, which can help you to reduce your overall expenses. The reasons why calculating food cost is essential are: Food cost determines a restaurant's profitability. Without knowing the prices of the items, and the menu costs at the end of the different periods, it will be challenging for you to run and track a highly profitable restaurant, and knowing where you need to make adjustments and changes which will help you to garner more profit. Lower food cost means higher profit, and this makes it imperative to track food costs. It helps you to price your menu items correctly. Once you accurately price your menu items, it will help you to optimize your menu as when required. This is mostly called menu engineering. Just by moving things in the menu, putting items in boxes, and highlighting a few items can do wonders and help you to increase your profits to a great extent. .