Controlling the Costs of Your Restaurant Business

Undetermined or fluctuating costs can really get out of hand if you don’t work to keep them under control.

If you haven’t experienced it already, you’d be surprised how much waste and other unfixed costs can affect your bottom line.

The following is a list of several ways you can ensure that these kinds of losses won’t run you out of business entirely:

Don’t try to capitalise on every single menu trend at the expense of your restaurant’s identity, which you can lose if you try to be everything to everyone.

Your loyal customers may find it kitschy and eventually move elsewhere. Also if these trends don’t become a hit you may end up wasting a lot of food.

Keep a tight leash on what you spend for advertising, and try to verify whether or not your advertising is even doing anything. Try to make ads that advertise around a specific hour of the day or a specific event so that you can monitor whether or not the ads are really bringing people in. If nothing seems to have changed, then you need to change things up, and try advertising elsewhere or differently.

Order your ingredients wisely in order to keep your costs under control. Any items used in large quantities or that have a long shelf life should be bought in bulk to cut costs. Also keep a detailed inventory and make sure everything is running smoothly and regularly.

Measure, weigh, or count all of your orders to help you manage and stay in control of your stock. It’s amazing how much a little extra food here and there can deplete your stock and cause you to spend more money.

Ask your suppliers frequently and explicitly about any deals or reductions in prices. Another good technique is to mention quotes you’ve received from their competitors to try to get more out of them for less.

Monitor your waste closely, since this amounts to wasted money. It is very important to get your employees up to speed with the following practices to avoid wasting food:

Watch your waste. Waste in the kitchen means higher food costs.

That’s why it’s important to train employees on the following best practices:

1. To avoid spoilage or contamination always handle and store food properly
2. Always measure your portion sizes accurately
3. Whenever it can be avoided don’t prepare large quantities of food ahead of time
4. Don’t purchase too much inventory at once

Another thing you can do is keep track of not only what food is being wasted in the kitchen, but also what people tend to be leaving on their plates.

Certain dishes that tend not to be finished can either be changed to a smaller portion or removed from the menu in order to prevent waste on this end.

In short, don’t let variable costs like this run rampant, and take the time and effort to closely monitor and keep them under control, and you can prevent a lot of losses that would otherwise hurt your business.