33 Possible Food Cost Problem Areas

The food is great, the service fabulous and the restaurant is busier than ever, but are you wondering why the bottom line isn’t all it should be? Check your FOOD COST! Here are 33 possible food cost problem areas:

1. No balance of high and low cost items on the menu
2. Theft in any form
3. Purchasing of more than what’s needed
4. No Daily checks of invoices, quality and prices
5. No controls on issuing items from storage areas
6. Over preparing
7. Approving invoices without checking the deliveries and following procedures
8. Not following exact portion sizes
9. No reconciliation of food sold vs food consumed
10. Frozen Food not rotated
11. Negative relationships with suppliers
12. Not implementing a HACCP program
13. Chemicals stored next to food causing possible poisoning
14. Perishable left out of the refrigerated area
15. Food used in the bar and recorded as bar sales
16. Food purchased at cost for personal use
17. Supply doors not locked
18. Poor paperwork and use of control rooms
19. Burned or overcooked food due to poor training
20. Scales not regularly calibrated or replaced
21. Poor training
22. Not using standardized recipe
23. Dull knives
24. Fake company invoices being sent for payment
25. No control of after dinner mints
26. Credit not received from vendor for returned merchandise
27. Dry foods areas are not well organized causing over ordering
28. No forward planning for deliveries to ensure sufficient refrigerator/freezer space
29. Low yields on products
30. Failure to raise prices when food costs increase
31. No reconciling of Kitchen checks and Guest checks
32. No guest checks rung up for house, complimentary or manager food
33. Invoice Accuracy 

Contact us for details on how we can assist you with your stock control and ensure your profitability!

Warm Regards,

Ian Said, Owner, Ideal Software

 Ian Said, entrepreneur and founder of Ideal Software, specializing in Inventory Control and Point of Sale software for restaurant / hospitality industries. Follow him on Twitter @costofsale