Most independent restaurant operators don’t have a system in place to track their spend on food and supplies or a way to identify areas of opportunity where they could be saving money. Many chefs are throwing money away by not prioritizing food cost control.

Consider riding your bike without a helmet. Wearing a helmet protects us if we fall off the bike. Could you ride your bike without a helmet? Of course, but it’s probably not the best idea.

Managing a restaurant without food cost control is kind of like riding a bike without a helmet – you’re doing your best to keep track of prices and usage, but you have nothing in place to protect you from missing price increases or ways you could be saving money.

PAY ATTENTION TO PRICES

Everyone is running a business to maximize their profits. Suppliers are no different.

Prices of ingredients constantly fluctuate. Being the busy chef that you are, who has the time to sit down and review each invoice and product you paid for that week? If you aren’t monitoring your food costs, any increase in price could easily be missed.

Food cost control allows you to know what items are rising or decreasing in price.

For example: Beef prices increased significantly due to the pandemic. If a chef costed out their burger recipe they may decide that right now is not the best time to be selling burgers. In return, if a chef notices an ingredient falling in price it may be a good time to put it on your menu as you are able to make more margin on that menu item.

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR FOOD COST

You’re probably asking yourself “You said to pay attention to prices and food cost but I don’t even have the time to update our spreadsheet of ingredients. How can I do everything without spending more time that I don’t have?”

This is where tools like FoodBAM can help you gain time back into your busy life and become confident with food cost control. FoodBAM helps you track inventory and analyze your purchase data all in one place.

Questions?

Do you have questions about controlling food costs, or other ways to best manage your restaurant’s costs? FoodBAM offers restaurants tools and insights to help them manage their business. Interested in learning more? Request a demo!