Six Most Important Things You Need to Know About Your Restaurant Food

Restaurant Owners...Food Cost is one of the things that I get contacted the most about. Today, I am sharing my list of the 6 most important things to know about Food Cost. Watch now!
To learn more please either watch the videos above or click the link below to read the transcript or listen to the podcast on my website.
Also, please leave your questions or comments I will answer them all.
COST CONTROL BASICS:
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[@Therestaurantboss]

What is your target food cost and what method do you use to calculate it?

[@tanbaongosmaokl]

The Restaurant Boss 40lb cases of chicken for 120$ 90%yld 40lb x90 %yld u gonna have 36 Usable product 36 x 16 Divided by 6 oz portions u have 96 portions per case 120$ cases Divided by 96 portions 1..25 chix + rice vegie and souce coast to mke 2.25 $ 2.25 and u loking for food coast 28 % 2.25 Divided by ..28 =8.03$ to charge for the “chix rice dish “

[@Therestaurantboss]

​@@tanbaongosmaokl I didn't check the math but your explanation is correct. However that is just one method, I prefer the other method for pricing menu items: therestaurantboss.com/how-to-set-prices-on-your-restaurant-menu/

[@amoszahir7346]

InstaBlaster

[@alibilal554]

I am a casualty of this business 2 times when covid end we doing it again I am learning a lot of things from these videos thank you

[@Therestaurantboss]

COVID has hit so many SO hard. I am glad these videos are helping you and wish you the best!

[@asimnazir755]

Excellent

[@Mav3rick88]

Thank you🙏🏼

[@Ocheecheenay]

Great video. Thank you

[@edithdavis3806]

Please send me more of this.

[@prasadsadvilkar711]

Love all your videos. Very insightful. Thank you for sharing them.

[@Therestaurantboss]

Glad you like them!

[@tonyharrell5970]

Thanks for the videos! Let me just say, that since I’ve started to implement the knowledge I’ve got from your videos? it has elevated the guest experience, made our store more profitable, and gave me more tools to hold myself and my team accountable! For New GMs like myself this is such good information! Keep up all of the great work Blessings

[@Therestaurantboss]

Wow - thank you, Tony! Would you mind if we used this quote as a testimonial?

[@tonyharrell5970]

The Restaurant Boss Absolutely!!!

[@tonyharrell5970]

Go for it!

[@Therestaurantboss]

Hey Tony! Can you email Andrea from my team so we can get some additional info from you? andrea (at) therestaurantboss (dot) com. Thank you!

[@bryanarri3422]

Thanks!

[@machonamondiwa4434]

I enjoy your explanation

[@Therestaurantboss]

Thanks! -Dawn, Team TRB

[@Mously1]

Binge watching!!! Please keep them coming

[@Therestaurantboss]

Every Wednesday, my friend!

[@OREOFEABIOLA]

Thanks for the video

[@Therestaurantboss]

Our pleasure!

[@JATINKUMAR-wn3js]

Nice

[@abrahamzekios2666]

Good thanks

[@veldezarnold4823]

Keep up the good work

[@richsavortv251]

i'm learning a lot... thanks

[@Therestaurantboss]

Glad to hear that!

[@multipliedbooks2103]

Great video!

[@Therestaurantboss]

Thank you!

[@marcodambrosio8248]

Well done, very nice video. 👏😉

[@Therestaurantboss]

Thank you!

[@T_210]

Great point- you can't take percentage points to the bank and the power company won't take them to pay your bill. Its the dollars that matter, but percentages get you there. The way to discover what the food cost "should" be* is to calculate the plate cost (as covered in other video) and how many of each of those plates were ordered. I promise you aren't selling one (or 20) of every item on your menu. This will allow you to determine with YOUR mix of sales (how many of each menu item has been sold) and what your Theoretical Food Cost should be (based on actual mix of sale items). Be careful to include in your cost every food ingredient from raw/prep/cook stages or it won't be accurate. If you then compare actual Food Cost to Theoretical- you can quickly see where you are getting hurt (or shortchanging your customers). Likely its over/under portioning by a cook or prep person- or theft- so training/awareness can quickly fix that. Next, compare your Actual Food costs (by item) to Theoretical and boom- you know right where to start investigating. This delta is the single best "ah-hah" moment you can have- share it with your managers and the entire team- its the lifeblood of making payroll and a buck or two for owners. If you have Cost problems, you simply HAVE to drill down tot he item level to find where you are getting hurt. Be well. *All of this costing is easy once you set up a tool for it- Excel (if you like using it, like I do) and large suppliers make it even easier as they provide a tool online & will load your purchases right into the tool, you just plug in Sales and Inventory)

[@Therestaurantboss]

Actual compared to ideal is ideal, but also more than most will do. I like to teach a simpler method of first just measuring total purchases against total sales per category, sounds simple but its not as easy for most as it sounds. Then start establishing trends for rolling 4 week periods and then you will know if you there is a spike or not. clickbacon.com will do this for you.

[@karinhurry2379]

Very helpful information

[@Therestaurantboss]

Glad it was useful! -Dawn, Team TRB

[@cehinton]

Great video. I learned me something. Again!

[@Therestaurantboss]

Love reading this!

[@cehinton]

@@Therestaurantboss Yeah, and I've never owned a restaurant or even worked in one. I just find it a fascinating industry and one that fits my passion. I did write a turnaround plan for a restaurant once though when I was considering becoming a partner.

[@Therestaurantboss]

Once this industry sets it hooks... :)

[@antoniopasacreta481]

I always use the 25 or 50% food cost theory to owners. Use the same $10-$20 analogy. Going to search more on your simple food cost theory. I like the sounds of that.

[@Therestaurantboss]

Awesome - thank you!

[@collinsgourmet3109]

Thank you so much for this advice it is amazing as I am starting to open my own restaurant we hope in sep 2020. We are studying before we start opening I think this will help me as I get right into business. I can't wait to use your software with our pos. also scale for ongoing support we are Excited to use you as our restaurant mentor thank you for your info and just to let you know I have printed your goal paper sheet to follow and I will always make sure I am at that 10 level I am so hungry to get this restaurant started it been 15 or more years having a vision and that vision is coming true.

[@Therestaurantboss]

Fantastic!!! SCALE will be a game changer for sure. As you dive in, ask the Facebook Group (you should have gotten an invite when you signed up for SCALE) questions. I look forward to seeing your progress!

[@collinsgourmet3109]

@@Therestaurantboss Thank you. I can't wait until they process starts it is coming slowly but we are getting there action is everything. I can't wait to use you as my other mentor for the restaurant business thank you for your support and looking forward for the future of our restaurant. we will talk again soon,

[@fredrickmoses9901]

Dear Mr Rayn this is very important things to know thank you so much this only for the restaurant but Hotel Restaurant is little different i am rant manager

[@Therestaurantboss]

How are they different. I got most of my training in hotel restaurants?

[@ausrako2764]

Love this guy. Just do it with paper and pen like how did huge establishments did it 100years ago? Paper pen

[@Therestaurantboss]

LOL - you got it!

[@hungryanimalfoundationllc.4799]

Does this apply to food trucks as well? And also, what if you're just starting out, and you don't quite know this info?

[@Therestaurantboss]

Hi! Yes, all of my teachings apply to food trucks as well...they are just restaurants on wheels. I am not sure how to answer your next question...was it for something specifically? If you are just starting out, I recommend watching my playlists...they are full of great info. If you need one on one help, grab a One Thing call at therestaurantboss.com/hire-me

[@tinuvarghese3942]

How to keep a track of all invoices to calculate food cost exactly???

[@Therestaurantboss]

Hi Tinu! I recommend using a good software program. Check out my food, beverage and labor cost control software, clickBACON, at www.clickbacon.com.

[@artman1166]

Scenario: let's say your ideal food cost is set at 34%. You don't arbitrarily set every plate cost to 34%, rather some items are higher and some are lower. Also need to account for theft, waste and mistakes. So what determines which items are to be set at 25%, and which are to be set at 45%? Is it popularity of the item and quantity sold? Is it competitive pricing in the market place for like items? If the price is set to result in a particular plate cost percentage, but that requires the menu price to be astromincal for what the item is, then it will just not sell, so ia that an item that we set to a higher plate cost, just to move it? Thanks

[@Kvin86]

How to add in the $ amount of waste? Thanks.

[@Therestaurantboss]

Waste is not factored into food cost, waste is measured so it can be improved, but it is not credited back. That is the entire point of measuring food costs, to gather the efficiency of the kitchen.

[@kayp36]

Hit like if you are from watching it from Delhi, India

[@azizchoukar4667]

Hi aziz from morocco Marrakech Great vidéos honestly I learned and im sleel learning a lot Thank you