Controlling Food Cost in Production 7 Controlling Foodservice Costs OH 7-1

Chapter Learning Objectives Develop a food production chart. Describe how a waste report helps control food costs. Use a conversion factor to calculate a new yield for an existing recipe. Determine a recipe’s yield and the number of portions it will produce. Instructor’s Notes Indicate that these objectives (competencies) drive the information in the chapter and in this session. Ask, “How might the production area contribute to increased food costs?”

Monitoring Standards Tasting foods regularly is one way to ensure standards are met. The use of standardized recipes is another. Instructor’s Notes Remind students that they 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 Instructor’s Notes Ask about reasons that foods become unservable. Ask students to describe an unservable product they have cooked or otherwise prepared at home. What happened? Point out that 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? Instructor’s Notes Ask students how they would communicate with a cook who cannot read or write in English. Indicate that 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?) Instructor’s Notes Ask for 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

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! Instructor’s Notes Ask, “Which is the bigger problem for the average restaurant—overproduction or underproduction? Encourage students to explain why they feel as they do.

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. Instructor’s Notes Ask, “What will happen in a restaurant that consistently overproduces or underproduces its best selling menu items.” Explain that 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! Instructor’s Notes Explain that food production charts are also called food production schedules. Ask, “Who should be responsible for production scheduling?” Possible answers include Managers, Supervisors, the Chef, and the cooks.

Sample Production Chart Instructor’s Notes Review the purpose of each of the six columns found in this exhibit.

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 Instructor’s Notes Ask students if, when they go to their favorite restaurant, they order a new menu item each time, or if they usually purchase their 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. Instructor’s Notes Ask why the food production chart is also important to the individual who actually buys the food for the restaurant.

Waste Reports Critical to food cost control Easily completed Should be maintained for each shift May indicate Where training is needed Production concerns that require attention Instructor’s Notes Explain that one advantage to the completion of a daily waste report is the effect it has on raising employee consciousness of production-related food waste.

Sample Waste Report Instructor’s Notes If appropriate, have students refer to Exhibit 7c on page 116 in the guide. Point out the importance of the “Reason discarded” column on this form. Ask for additional reasons why foods may have been wasted or discarded.

Analysis of Waste Reports Determine why each item had to be discarded. Develop a strategy to prevent similar future losses. Share findings with those who need to know. Instructor’s Notes Use an example of ground beef patties that have been pushed to the back of a reach-in (and then must later be discarded because they were too old) to illustrate the three-step method indicated on this slide. Indicate that in order to prevent waste, the restaurant must produce the proper quantity of each menu item. The next section will discuss how recipe conversions help ensure the production of the proper quantity.

Recipe Conversions Step 1 – Compute the conversion factor. Desired yield ÷ Current recipe yield = Conversion factor Instructor’s Notes Explain that some formulas must be memorized or committed to writing. This is one of them. Show the example on the following slide.

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 Instructor’s 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. Instructor’s Notes Explain that, 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 Instructor’s 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 Instructor’s Notes Ask, “In this example, why is the new recipe amount divided by 8 ounces?” Answer—because there are eight ounces in one cup. Help students understand how the final answer of 2 quarts and 1-1/2 cups was determined. Explain that rounding skill 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.

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. Instructor’s Notes Ask about 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. Instructor’s Notes Ask for 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.

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.

Key Term Review Conversion factor Food production chart Recipe conversion Recipe yield Taste test Waste report Instructor’s Notes Conversion factor—multiplier used to increase or decrease quantities in a standardized recipe Food production chart—form that details how much product is to be produced by the kitchen during a specified time period Recipe conversion—method used to change the yield of a recipe from its original yield to a desired yield Recipe yield—number of individual portions that a recipe will produce Taste test—product sampling performed prior to the start of a meal period to determine if products to be served meet the restaurant’s standards Waste report—form used to track food that was deemed unfit for sale; it also indicates the cause of the food waste

Chapter Learning Objectives— What Did You Learn? Develop a food production chart. Describe how a waste report helps control food costs. Use a conversion factor to calculate a new yield for an existing recipe. Determine a recipe’s yield and the number of portions it will produce. Instructor’s Notes Ask students to do a personal assessment of the extent to which they know the information or can perform the activity noted in each objective.