Operations · 2 min read
Where Food Cost Quietly Disappears in a Restaurant
The signs that restaurant food cost is slipping, and the places it leaks.
Food cost is one of the two biggest numbers in a restaurant. When it creeps up, margins disappear quietly, usually without anyone noticing until the month closes.
Signs it is slipping
- Sales hold steady but month-end profit keeps shrinking.
- Stock counts never match the system.
- Supplier prices have moved and menu prices have not.
- Nobody can say what a dish should cost today.
Where it leaks
- Over-ordering, and stock that expires before it is used.
- Storage: wrong temperatures, no rotation, open containers.
- Portions that change between cooks and shifts.
- Staff meals, comps and breakages that go unrecorded.
- Deliveries accepted without checking weight, quality and price.
The gap between what your food should cost and what it does cost is where the money goes. Finding it takes a look at the stock, the recipes and the ordering together.
