Principles of Food, Beverage, and Labor Cost Controls, Ninth Edition

 In Chapter 2, Control was defined as “a process used by managers to direct, regulate, and restrain the actions of people so that the established goals of an enterprise may be achieved.”  Revenue control is clearly an important goal of sales control, but it is not the only one.

 Optimize number of sales  Maximize profit  Control revenue

 Consider how customers select restaurants.  To be successful, a restaurant must meet a sufficient number of customer needs to appeal to a large enough market.

 Location  Menu item differentiation  Price acceptability  Décor  Portion sizes  Product quality  Service standards  Menu diversity

 Other things being equal, customers will choose the most conveniently located restaurant.  The greater the distance from a population center, the fewer the customers a restaurant can expect to attract from that center.  Having a good location is usually necessary for volume business.

 Homogenous products or services are so similar to one another that customers do not have a preference and will purchase whichever costs less.  Differentiated goods and services are sufficiently different that customers develop preferences for them.  Unique menu items created for increasing sales volume are called signature items.

 If restaurants are alike in every way except menu prices, the one with the lowest prices will have the greatest sales volume.  If menu items are price sensitive, a relationship exists between sales price and sales volume.

 Décor differentiates one restaurant from another.  Décor that appeals to a large segment of the targeted market should be selected.  Evaluate the decors of local restaurants.

 Portion sizes must be appropriate to a restaurant’s clientele.  Large portions do not always attract the greatest number of customers.  Various customer segments demand food products of various levels of quality.

 Customers select restaurants offering a type and level of service that they find appropriate to the occasion.  Managers must be able to adjust some aspects of service in order to increase customer satisfaction.

 Most restaurants find it necessary to have a broad range of menu items.  The number and range of menu items are governed by cost considerations, available equipment, and the culinary abilities of the kitchen staff.

 Cost is usually the most significant factor in establishing sales prices.  Restaurants with differentiated products have more flexibility to change menu prices than those with homogenous products.  The proper sales price for an item is that which will produce an acceptable number of sales.

1. Matching competitors prices. 2. Calculating prices from costs and cost percents. 3. Adding contribution margins to portion costs.

 The Menu is the primary sales tool.  The five most important elements of menu preparation are; ◦ Layout and Design ◦ Variety of Foods and Prices ◦ Item Location and Arrangement ◦ Descriptive Language ◦ Kitchen Personnel and Equipment

 Many managers hold daily meetings with servers just before opening time to review the menu.  Training servers to suggest various menu items.

 Documenting food sales  Using numbered checks  Checking and verifying food sales  Recording revenue

 Help servers remember orders  Give itemized bills to guests  Maintain records for sales history  Prove accuracy of cashiers’ work  Verify the accuracy of prices charged  Records for tax purposes

 Padded  Unpadded  Signature book  Concerns on using hand-written guest checks ◦ Legibility ◦ Accuracy

 Dupes  Restaurant sales control sheet © John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2009