A lot of variables here. You need to know what your menu mix is going to be. Some items you will sell more of than others. Most important is to look at the gross profit contribution of each item. Too many chefs get caught up in the COS percentage.
Let's say you have a pasta dish on your menu, you sell it for $10.95 and your cost to produce it is $2.50. So your food cost on that item is 22.84%.
You also have a steak and lobster on the menu at $40.00 that costs you $23.00 to make. Your food cost on that is 57.5%.
Which one would you rather sell? The steak and lobster, of course, because even though your COS is 57% you are putting $17.00 in your pocket for each one vs. only $8.45 profit on each pasta.
The highest variable cost in a restaurant is labor. Sometimes you may want to take a hit on your food cost in a trade-off for saving labor. This is the reason you see so many more convenience products in restaurants now.
Food costs is a science that cannot be summed up in a short newsgroup posting. The good thing is your are paying attention to it. You would not believe how many chefs do not and it ends up being their demise.
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Michael |