#365 - Measuring Kitchen & Food Cost Performance

Your kitchen staff need accurate and up-to-date figures. Do they have them?

If there are problems, you can take corrective action quickly. If you are having success, you'll know to do more of what you're doing! Modern POS and accounting systems should make data collection and sharing faster and more accurate than ever - it's time for chefs to have the information they need to do a great job.

• Food Cost % - measure it quickly by adding up food purchases for the week and dividing by the food sales. This is based on the assumption that perishable stock is kept to a minimum. Do a stocktake for an accurate food cost percentage, although in many small operators this is often infrequent.

• Menu Items with Highest Gross Profit Margin. They may be the most expensive item on the menu, but not always. Are these 'big winners' being promoted well? Profitable Recipe Manager works out the figures quickly and easily.

• Best (and worst) Selling Items - check the weekly sales from your POS or dockets. Did you know what the best sellers were? Work these out on the Menu Profitability Analyser.

• Total Food Costs - how much was your total food bill? Sometimes a useful figure to show staff who think you are made of money!

• Food Costs per Head - how much does it cost each week to feed a customer? If your menu and sales methods are consistent, this should also remain much the same. If it starts to go up, you may have a problem with waste or stealing.

• Kitchen Labour % - it's only fair to measure kitchen productivity by comparing kitchen labour against food sales, not total sales (alcohol and beverage sales may be influenced by other factors).

• Kitchen Labour Hours - how many hours worked are in this section? Compare against sales to measure productivity.

• Total Stock Value - how much is being held? It should be less than a week's use (but may be higher out if you are storing frozen seafood or cryovac meat).

• Stock Turnover - work out how much food you use in a week (from invoices) and divide by 7 to get a daily figure. Now divide the total stock value by this daily figure to see how many days of stock you hold. It should be 3-5 days for a fast and casual operation, and not much more than 7 days if deliveries are less frequent.

• Kitchen Linen Costs - the cost of uniforms, aprons and tea-towels can be a shock! How many tea-towels are you using per day, or per staff member??

• Chemical & Cleaning Costs - these can be very high, especially if there are automatic dispensers. How much does this cost per customer?

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• Quick Fixes for Rising Food Costs - action you can take this week.
• How to Manager the Kitchen if You're Not a Chef - essential skills for managers and restaurateurs.
• How to Make Stocktaking Faster and Easier [Video] - reduce the time taken on this important task.
• How to Interview a Chef - build credibility and find out about skills, knowledge and attitude.
• 99 Ways Staff Steal from a Restaurant, Cafe or Bar - it's always a problem!