Restaurants over the past two years have transformed in ways they never could have imagined, all while keeping their doors open.
One of the most important objectives is to control food and labor costs, especially in the last years of the pandemic.
In this post we analyze a few tips to control spending in restaurants.
Manage and track your inventory.
One of the main reasons restaurants have trouble controlling expenses is that they don’t control inventory.
This is the first and most important step in keeping your expenses under control.
Make sure you know what goes in and what goes out. This can help you make sure your staff aren’t overserving meals.
Managing and controlling your inventory allows you to know exactly where your money is going at all times.
You want to track your inventory every day at the same time every day. This is a good practice because it will help you keep your numbers consistent from day to day.
Knowing your inventory well helps you adjust your food costs to reduce spending.
Find out your costs of your goods sold.
This involves an analysis of your costs and monitoring of the costs of your products sold. This includes what it costs to make each of your menu items.
Stay on top of your inventory spend so you can quickly adjust to control spend.
Reduce waste.
Another smart business decision is to reduce your restaurant waste. Something very important is to watch the size of the portions and rotate the products before they spoil.
Make sure you have a plan so your staff knows exactly how much is put on each plate. Also, put someone in charge of rotating fresh produce, dairy, and meat. This way, you have a plan to use them as they get closer to their expiration dates.
Be proactive about keeping your equipment in good shape and clean so you don’t have to spend money to repair or replace it. This is very important. At Frucosol we offer you an after-sales service where you can quickly obtain any consumable for our equipment or answer any questions you may have about them.
Do portion control.
Do your kitchen staff serve portions that are too large? Or does your menu include dishes that are too big and end up throwing the food away?
If you are dishing out excessive portions on your plates, your food costs will skyrocket.
Make sure you have the right tools to ensure you are serving the correct size portions. Plate your food properly and don’t over serve to control restaurant expenses.
In addition, monitor the following points continuously because they may also be increasing your costs:
- Know the amount of food that diners return to the kitchen because it is not good or it is not well done.
- Be aware of the amount of food that is thrown away in the kitchen because it is burned or undercooked.
- Know how much food is spilled and therefore lost.
- Make sure you know how much of the large portions are thrown away.
Pay attention to personnel costs.
Many restaurants manage labor costs well while others struggle.
Here are some tips to help you control them:
Make a plan of the number of diners and tables you expect for the next month.
Make a plan for who will work each shift. Don’t schedule a team of rookies because they will work slower and less efficiently. Be sure to mix experienced staff with newer staff. This way, they will be able to manage the tables with ease and without being overstaffed.
Don’t employ your entire staff to mount and dismount.
Another way to control expenses is to design your menu to be successful. When you use menu engineering, you can measure the popularity and profitability of each item on your menu.
Consider removing less profitable menu items, especially if they aren’t popular. If they are popular, research food costs to find ways to make it as affordable as possible.
Talk to your food suppliers. Discuss ways to reduce your food costs.
See all the possibilities offered by different providers to see if they can offer you lower costs. Consider buying in bulk when it makes sense too.
