How to Lower Food Cost Percentage with Recipe Costing Cards
There is one, and really only one, system that ultimately is the key to your restaurant running profitably.
That system is recipe costing cards!
Having recipe costing cards allows you to make smart business decisions to ensure your profitability, such as what to charge, whether you need to find less expensive products, if an item needs to change or even drop from the menu, etc. The only way to know the answers to these questions is to know what things cost.
Well, the good news is, it really is so simple a junior high school student can do it. There is nothing really difficult about it. There are no algebraic equations to follow, no funky mathematical algorithm, no scientific calculator needed, nothing scary. It’s simple arithmetic: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
And yes, before you ask… you must complete a recipe costing card for everything you make in your restaurant. That includes batch recipes, sides, sauces and daily specials. The only way we can truly ensure we are going to make money is to know exactly what each recipe costs.
While a restaurant might have gotten away with this in the past, because food costs weren’t at record levels and new minimum wage increases weren’t anywhere close to the highs they are now, in today’s marketplace a restaurant MUST know how much every dish costs before they sell it. There simply isn’t enough margin in the restaurant business to continue being sloppy in your operations.
To read more about the importance of recipe costing cards, read our free special report, Breaking Away from the Insanity: How to easily take control of your restaurant and make more money. Download it here.
