Controlling Food Costs during Production 7 OH 7-1

Learning Objectives After completing this chapter, you should be able to: • Describe the tools managers use to estimate food-production levels. • Explain how managers monitor food quality. • Detail how managers monitor the food-production process. • Detail how managers monitor the beverage-production process. • Explain how managers monitor beverage quality.

Estimating Food-Production Levels Developing Sales Forecasts Notes: Sales forecasts are determined from sales histories and menu mix. Calculate by taking the total customer count multiplied by the average check per person.

Determining Quantity to Produce Accurate food production schedules are important because Overproduction causes excessive leftovers and waste. Underproduction causes production shortages and unhappy customers. Both situations reduce profits! Notes: Which is the bigger problem for the average restaurant—overproduction or underproduction? Explain why you feel this way.

Determining Quantity to Produce continued To maximize guest satisfaction, managers help their production staff know how much to prepare on the proper day and at the proper time. Notes: What will happen in a restaurant that consistently overproduces or underproduces its best selling menu items? Many QSRs ensure guest satisfaction remains high by holding prepared foods only for a specific time period.

To Ensure Proper Production Professional managers always use food production charts! Notes: Food production charts are also called food production schedules. Who should be responsible for production scheduling? Possible answers include Managers, Supervisors, the Chef, and the cooks.

Food Production Charts Created by studying past sales (sales histories) Generally, the best predictor of what guests will buy in the future is what they purchased in the past. Created based upon management’s estimate of future sales If we know the percent of customers that have previously purchased an item, we can apply that to the new estimated customers and arrive at the amount to forecast. Notes When you go to your favorite restaurant, do you order a new menu item each time, or if do you usually purchase a favorite items?

When Using Production Charts Prepare an estimate of the number of guests to be served. Indicate the actual number of items to be produced. Post the production chart where it can be seen easily. Instructor’s Notes Ask students where they would find information to help them estimate future guest counts. Answers may include the POS system, written sales history records, past guest checks.

When Using Production Charts continued Ensure the required standardized recipes are readily available. Periodically check the actual recipe yield against that listed on the standardized recipe. Notes: Why would the food production chart also be important to the individual who actually buys the food for the restaurant?

Recipe Yields Recipe yields must be known. Accurate costing of menu items is not possible without known and consistent yields from standardized recipes. Effective production planning is also impossible without known recipe yields. Notes: What are some additional problems that will be encountered if standardized recipe yields are not known. Examples include poor purchasing (because needed ingredient amounts are unknown) and portion size consistency problems (when recipes are “short,” and cooks respond by reducing portion sizes to increase the yield).

Recipe Yields continued To calculate a recipe yield, compute the total volume of the recipe by Weight—for those recipes where portion size is determined by weight. Volume—for those recipes where portion size is determined by volume. Notes: What is an example of when a recipe’s yield is computed by weight and when it is computed by volume?

Calculating Recipe Yield Weigh or measure only the major ingredients. Account for cooking loss, especially for Meats Vegetables Fruit Instructor’s Notes Ask students to identify some common food ingredients that “shrink” when cooked, e.g., fresh mushrooms.

Recipe Conversions Standardized recipes will need to be adjusted or scaled based on the revised forecasts. Step 1 – Compute the conversion factor. Notes: Some formulas must be memorized or committed to writing. This is one of them. Recipe conversion factors are used to scale recipes: another way NO New amount = Conversion factor Old amount Baker’s percentage Weight of ingredient ÷ Weight of total flour x 100 = Ingredient % Desired yield ÷ Current recipe yield = Conversion factor

Recipe Conversions continued Step 1 – Example Current yield, fifty portions Desired yield, forty portions Desired yield ÷ Current recipe yield = Conversion factor 40 ÷ 50 0.80 Notes: Point out When recipes are reduced in size, the conversion factor will always be less than 1.00. When recipes are increased in size, the conversion factor will always be greater than 1.00.

Recipe Conversions continued Step 2 – Convert ingredients into units that can be easily multiplied or divided. Convert weights to ounces. Convert cups, pints, and quarts to fluid ounces. Notes: In very large recipes, dry ingredients may be converted more easily to pounds rather than to ounces, if the original recipe calls for pounds.

Recipe Conversions continued Step 3 – Multiply each ingredient by the conversion factor. Example 96 oz x 0.80 = 76.8 oz Notes Explain that computerized spreadsheets make this an easy task today.

Recipe Conversions continued Step 4 – Convert ingredient amounts back to normally used units. Example 76.8 oz ÷ 8 oz = 9.6 c; or 2 qt, 1½ c Notes: In this example, why is the new recipe amount divided by 8 ounces? Answer—because there are eight ounces in one cup. Rounding skills and common sense must be applied when converting ingredient amounts back to usable “recipe ready” amounts. In this case, 76.8 ounces became 77 ounces. After converting the resulting 9.6 cups to quarts, 1.6 cups remain (8 cups = 2 quarts). The 0.6 cup is rounded down to 0.5 cup, or ½ cup.

Monitoring Standards Tasting foods regularly is one way to ensure standards are met. The use of standardized recipes is another. Notes: You now know standards to be attained when buying, receiving, and storing food products. Standards are also required for production and service. Ask, “What should happen to foods that do not meet the restaurant’s standards?”

Food That Does Not Meet the Restaurant’s Standards Should not be served Should be salvaged (all or part), if possible Should be discarded if not salvageable Increase costs Reduce profits Notes: What are reasons that foods become unservable? Describe an unservable product you have cooked or otherwise prepared at home. What happened? The same types of recipe-related errors made in home kitchens can also occur in professional kitchens if recipes are not carefully followed.

Questions to Ask When Food Fails to Meet Standards Is the recipe clearly written? Did the cook understand the recipe? Notes: How would you communicate with a cook who cannot read or write in English. There are more questions to ask when foods are not prepared according to the restaurant’s standards.

Questions to Ask When Food Fails to Meet Standards continued Are ingredients used in the recipe clearly labeled? Are the appropriate ingredients in the proper containers? (Do ingredients in containers match the containers’ labels?) Notes: What are additional reasons that proven recipes might not yield the restaurant’s standard for an item(s)? Answers will likely include: Cook in a hurry, cook misreads recipe, substitute ingredients used, cooking times not followed properly. OH 7-6

How Would You Answer the Following Questions? It (is/is not) possible for a cook using a standardized recipe to create a substandard menu item. Waste reports indicate when employees overportion and waste food. (True/False) How many steps does the recipe conversion process have? Three Four Five Six A recipe (yield/portion conversion) test is a calculation of the number of portions produced by a standardized recipe. Instructor’s Notes Answers Is False B Yield Note: indicate that the last part of this discussion will provide a review of definitions for the key terms used in the chapter.

Other controls in food production Adequate training Prep and pull lists Diagrams for line set up Cooking and Holding temperature logs Carry over production

Example prep list

Monitoring Beverage Production Maintaining Beverage Quality Standards Maintaining Beverage Cost Controls

Key Terms: Baker’s percentage A formula in which the weight of the flour equals 100 percent and all the other ingredients are calculated in proportion to the weight of the flour. Carry-over production Food that has been previously produced but not served to customers. Conversion factor When converting recipes, a multiplier used to adjust the quantity of ingredients on the existing recipe to the quantity needed to produce the desired yield. Food-production chart A chart that provides the essential information a staff needs to know on exactly what and how much food to prepare. Popularity index The percentage share of a given menu item in its respective category (e.g., entrée), derived by dividing the number of portions sold by the total number of items in the same category that were sold. Pour cost percentage The proportion of beverage cost to sales price.

Key Terms continued: Quality-control line check A system for ensuring product freshness and sufficient quantities, encompassing taste tests and checking standards. Recipe conversion A method used to change the yield of a recipe from its original yield to a desired yield. Recipe yield The number of portions a standardized recipe produces. Taste test Tasting done by staff prior to the start of a meal period to determine if products meet the establishment’s standards.