| Tuesday, December 24, 2024 | CONTACT |
Add $1,000 or More to Your Business's bottom Line in 30 Days!
Product lost to over portioning
Hopefully, when you determined the prices for the items you would be selling from your menu, you calculated how much of each ingredient would go into an item, and what the cost of those ingredients were. It will be critical for your employees to know what your prescribed portions are, and to adhere to them!
If you don't already, you need to have recipe sheets for all the items you serve from your menu, (if they require assembly by your employees). I like to laminate these recipe guides, and tape them down to the countertop or wall directly adjacent to where the items will be made. Having recipe guides will provide your employees with a reference, should they be in doubt, and it will eliminate the excuse, I didn't know.
Be sure to supply your employees with the tools necessary to accomplish precise portioning, even when business volume is brisk. Portion control pumps on all your syrups and sauces will permit for fast, accurate dispensing; much better than free pouring, or using a graduated shot glass to measure with. Use a scale to portion sandwich meats, cheeses, and salad greens. Use a portion control scoop or ladle to scoop potato or pasta salad, and to dish up soup.
Over portioning can cost you big bucks. Let's say your morning barista is using one extra pump (1/4 oz.) of flavoring in every flavored drink they prepare; (it might be that they don't know the portion... that's your fault; or they just think the drinks taste better with more flavoring). If you are paying $6.00 for a bottle of syrup, and the bottle contains 25 oz., then ¼ oz. is worth 6¢ ($6.00 ÷ 25 = 24¢ per oz., ÷ 4 = 6¢). If your barista is preparing 50 drinks a day that contain a flavor, this represents a loss of $3.00 due to over portioning. If they work 20 days per month, this equals $60. $60 x 12 months = $720. of lost product per year!
Perhaps $60 doesn't sound like a significant monthly loss to you, but what if two of your other baristas are doing the same thing? And, what if your prep cook is over portioning sandwich meats and salad green by an ounce or two? It all adds up!
Coffee is a business of pennies, watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves! Or here's another way to look at it, if you had employees that were steeling $60 a month from you in cash, would you tolerate it? I'm sure you wouldn't, and you shouldn't tolerate over portioning either!
So how do you know if your employees are over portioning? You have to watch them work, and verify their portions. Stand behind your baristas during the rush, and make sure they are dispensing the proper portions of ingredients into your drinks. Watch your prep cook make sandwiches and salads, and make sure they are using a scale to achieve accurate portions. If during your day you see a sandwich or salad that seems overly generous in ingredients, disassemble it and weigh the ingredients to make sure they were portioned properly. If they weren't, make sure you correct and educate the person who was responsible for preparing it.
Product lost to spoilage
Spoilage of product can happen for a number of reasons, including: over ordering, over production, improper rotation, improper storage, improper handling, cross contamination, and malfunctioning equipment.
First, make sure you are not ordering excessive amounts of perishable products. Be aware of what you can order weekly, and also those products that don't hold up as well for an entire week. If your salad greens seem to wilt after four days, you may need to split your normal weekly order and order them twice a week. The ordering system you are using should allow you to understand what your usage has been. Knowing your usage will allow you to order just enough to get you through to the next order day. I like to use an order form that provides 3 spaces for each product on each order day. The first space is for the amount of product you have on hand when you take inventory for ordering. The second space is for the amount you are ordering. The third space is to record the amount that was used. It will take two orders to figure out usage. This is done by taking the amount that was on hand, plus what you ordered, and then subtracting what is on hand the following order day. So, for example:
Beginning inventory 3 bottles of vanilla syrup
+ Purchases (your order) 12 bottles of vanilla syrup
- Ending inventory 4 bottles of vanilla syrup (the amount on hand before your next order)
= Usage 11 bottles of vanilla syrup used
Similar to over ordering, over production can also result in spoilage. If you are only selling 6 turkey sandwiches a day, and they are only good for one day, (because the bread gets soggy, or the lettuce wilts), then don't produce 10 sandwiches each day! Use a form similar to the order sheet I just described to gear production to demand, and make sure your prep cook knows how to use it.
Of course, if you end up with leftover sandwiches, be sure to recycle ingredients if useable. While the bread and lettuce may need to be thrown out, you can probably reincorporate the meat & cheese into the sandwiches you prepare tomorrow.