| Every restaurant can benefit from proper food | | | | during the reporting period. You can then compare |
| costing. Food costing is one of the most | | | | this to your food inventory costs for the same |
| important elements for making your restaurant | | | | period. You'll be able to calculate your total food |
| more profitable. Costing out your food enables | | | | cost and be able to make adjustments for |
| you to have complete control over how much | | | | inventory and food costs. For an even more |
| you spend on food and allows you to price your | | | | accurate analysis, try to conduct your reporting |
| dishes for maximum profit, as well as good value | | | | period over a longer period of time. This will allow |
| to your customer. | | | | you to further reduce costs and maximize |
| Typically, food costs should account for around 1 | | | | inventory and overall profits. |
| 3 of a restaurant's expenses. The food cost along | | | | Another way to calculate and optimize food costs |
| with labor and overhead costs should account for | | | | is to use software. There are food costing |
| more than 2/3 of the total expenses. Above that | | | | systems, as well as full scale restaurant inventory |
| is the profit the restaurant will generate. Since | | | | and management software packages that include |
| food costs are one of the highest expenses for a | | | | extensive food costing analysis and reporting. The |
| restaurant, food costing is viewed as one of the | | | | reporting and calculation is automatically done for |
| best ways to increase profitability for a | | | | you as inventory and sales are calculated. Cost |
| restaurant who needs to generate more profits | | | | Genie is one of the leading software packages for |
| to stay in business. | | | | this task and it's available at |
| There are a number of ways you can analyze | | | | Once you have analyzed your food costs and |
| and optimize your food costs. First, you can do | | | | inventory, whether manually or via a software |
| this manually, by thoroughly analyzing your food | | | | package like Cost Genie, you can make |
| costs during a set period of time, usually a period | | | | adjustments to your business, including |
| of several weeks or a month. Your statistics | | | | standardizing your recipes, evaluating your |
| should then be analyzed against restaurant | | | | purchases, minimizing spoilage and taking steps to |
| industry average food costs to try and pinpoint | | | | streamline your entire inventory and sales |
| areas of expense where your restaurant can | | | | process. |
| improve. Remember that all beverages should also | | | | The bottom line is that proper and detailed food |
| be included in your food cost analysis. From there, | | | | costing for your restaurant means increased |
| you should have a detailed report of all food | | | | profits and restaurant success. |
| purchases that were made in your restaurant | | | | |