Exceptional food, amiable service, and a great ambiance make the perfect restaurant. But to be successful, it needs to be profitable.
A restaurant business usually spends a lot on food and beverage and labor to fuel up its operations. Furthermore, a restaurant business also incurs unnecessary costs due to mismanagement. Having these expenses in check is necessary to keep extra costs at bay. To achieve this, you need to have control over the costs that make up your business. You should be able to identify possible areas of improvement and provide solutions as a continuing commitment.
Some of the identified unique situations in the food business industry are as follows:
- staff eating unknowingly grab and go food items in the kitchen
- accidentally contaminated stocks
- spilled food due to accident or rejected food from customers
All of which can cut back on your bottom line by a huge amount if left uncorrected.
So here are some strategies you can adopt to improve your bottom line.
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Conducting Food Waste Audit
Determining the root cause of the problem is the start of finding solutions to undertake. Business owners should determine what causes food waste and how much it is cutting off from the bottom line. Monitoring the flow of waste is a continuous activity that should be done on a day in which your operations aren’t the busiest. Hiring someone solely for the job is costly so it’s best to request your staffs to cooperate as the most practical approach.
To start off, request your staffs to record where waste is coming from. This activity typically requires mindful observation. A trend of missteps and mismanagement is identified as a result of which will be the focus of improvement.
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Use a POS System to Track Inventory and More
Estimating the cost of wasted food would be quite difficult since the food menu consists of small amounts of ingredients such as spices. In order to save time tabulating information on spreadsheets, using a Point of Sale System is recommended. All the information needed to price each menu item is accumulated in this system. From here on it’s much easier to estimate the cost of wastage.
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Define an Inventory Intake Procedure
Proper handling of inventory when receiving is necessary to avoid prematurely spoiling raw ingredients and impairing supplies. Staffs must be trained on how to receive and store stocks properly according to your standard set of procedures. The price of your menu items is affected if you have damaged goods due to mishandling. Therefore, make sure that the quantity, quality, and the shelf life of stocks is right to avoid losses.
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Proper Pouring Technique and the Right Glassware
There is a right glassware for different kinds of drinks. It is important to serve drinks on the right glass to preserve its quality and maintain its aromas. Proper technique in pouring is necessary to avoid spilling the beverage. Also, it is to ensure that every glass has the consistent amount of beverage. Inconsistent amount leads to underpouring or overpouring the beverage than necessary. Overpouring means that you are selling more than you should, hence you are losing profit. Whereas underpouring means selling less than you should, hence you had been unfair to your customer. Charging your customers too much for what they received puts your business in a bad position.
As a business owner, you are responsible for the cost of doing your business. It is your task to set standards, proper procedures and appropriate prices for your products and services.
If you need help in controlling the costs of your restaurant business, as well as help in getting powerful financial insights, help in achieving diligent tax compliance, and help in achieving a healthy cash flow, contact us today at admin@fas-accountingsolutions.com or 832-437-0385.
