Restaurants, cafes, canteens and cafeterias are dependent on the purchasing power of their customers as well as the cost of commodites. If you suddenly produce a dish in which too many expensive commodities are integrated, customers may not pay for it. Therefore it is always a good idea to keep updated with the cost prices on your meals and make sure it gives the desired return.
The cost price determines restaurants profitability. One of the sharpest weapons to secure positive numbers on the bottom line is to know your cost prices. You may know this situation: You call your local supplier and wants to order the same amount of cod as always. But this time you notice that the kilo price on cod has become more expensive. You’re just annoyed by the fact that you have to pay a little more this time, but do not think more about it. Only at the end of the day, you notice that you have sold 100 dishes with cod but lost 5 dkr. on each dish because the kilo price on cod has become more expensive.
Does it now make sense why it is extremely important to control your cost prices? Then let’s take a look at how you can maintain low cost prices on your dishes.
How to get low cost prices on your dishes
You can do a lot to ensure low cost prices on your dishes. Here are a number of suggestions you can try to practice.
- In order to maintain low cost prices, it is important to have complete control over your stocks. When you know what you have in stock, you usually save money. This may be because you have leftovers or commodities that you did not use the day before. According to a study by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency in 2014, Denmark’s professional kitchens is responsible for 8% of the total food waste in the country. This is about 60,000 tonnes of food waste. If you, as a single restaurateur, take your share of responsibility to reduce food waste, it also has a positive effect on the overall cost. In addition, you automatically build a sustainable profile and actively work for a better environment. In order to return to the importance of controlling your stocks, then it is also necessary to tell that the more often you update your stocks, the easier it is for you to know what you have in stock.
- An increasing trend in the restaurant industry is the “root to stem” wave. Instead of throwing out potato peel, several restaurants also make a virtue of using the peel in a creative way. Again, it helps to build a sustainable profile and at the same time it adds a “free” item to your dish, which may replace another item.
- Stay constantly updated on your purchase prices and make sure how commodity prices vary from week to week or month to month. A change in a single commodity price can be decisive for the total cost of a dish. Therefore, do yourself the service by constantly correcting your calculations based on your commodity prices. For example, if you calculate with a 30% product consumption and the purchase price on cod increases 5 dkr at your supplier, it can directly affect your product consumption. In this case, you can maintain your product consumption by looking into whether you can obtain cod at a cheaper price from another supplier. You can also adjust the calculation so that the customer gets a little less cod and instead gets more of another commodity. It may sound hysterical, but nonetheless, it may be crucial to get positive numbers on the bottom line.