One Simple (?) Way to Address Post Pandemic Issues

All reports that we have read and comments from our clients lead us to believe that we are facing a new era in foodservice operations: one that is beset with increased difficulty in obtaining certain products as well as difficulties hiring and retaining staff. In addition, the price of raw food products and labor costs have increased. These factors are contributing to shrinking profit margins.

In our many years in the foodservice industry we have interacted with many, many operations that have needed to improve their profit margins and increase staff efficiency. One "simple" way is to look at your menu and your sales abstracts (a listing of how many of each item on your menu you sell on a monthly or daily basis) and to eliminate those that aren't selling well. This should be done by classification, so if your menu has appetizers, salads, sandwiches, entrees, and desserts, you look at appetizers first, then salads, etc. Rank your items from the best seller to the worst seller and look at the average daily sales of each and then calculate the percentage of the total category sales (by number) that item accounts for.

I like to establish a "fair share" for each item sold. So, if I have 15 entrees and they all sold equally well, each should account for 6.67% of the entrees sold. Obviously, not all items sell as well: some sell well; some sell poorly. With 15 items, any items that sell twice as many as their fair share, more than 13%, are obviously to remain on your menu (and you may be able to increase their selling price); any that sell less than half their fair share, less than 3.4%, are candidates for being dropped.

By dropping items that don't sell well, you may be:

Eliminating some food products from your orders and inventory, simplifying the ordering, receiving, and storage process. You may also eliminate some shrinkage and spoilage of food products that don't turnover fast enough.
Reducing some of the kitchen's preparation load, since there will be fewer items to prep. Even if you have to prep more of the remaining items, there should be time savings.
Making it easier for your guests to read the menu, decide what they are going to eat, and in turn speeding up service and reducing the turn time of tables.
With fewer different food preparations to complete, the workload on staff is reduced and this can reduce turnover.

There was a time, in the 2010s when menus kept expanding to attract more customers. The pandemic has seen many, many restaurants reducing their menu size with little or no impact on sales. Even before the pandemic there were a number of individuals who recommended reducing the size of menus, stating that the optimum number of choices might be as low as seven (7). Personally, I think that may be fine for appetizers, salads, desserts, and possibly sandwiches, but I think it is too limiting for entrees in most cases. It may be, however, interesting for you to look at which items you offer make it into the "top seven" in each category.

Now may also be the time to look for labor-saving products that can be substituted for things you used to do - such as buying pre-peeled garlic.

You can also use the average daily sales information to modify your production process to be more efficient. If, for example, you sell 20 items a night that use 3 ounces of a certain sauce, it may be possible to prepare a 2 gallons of sauce every four days instead of making the sauce each day. (If you do make the product in a greater quantity, remember to use proper safe food handling and use techniques!)

Wish you a Safe and Happy Holiday Season - Wheelwright Consultants.

Posted: to Latest Wheelwright News on Tue, Nov 10, 2020
Updated: Tue, Nov 10, 2020