Becoming a Good Administrator I: Foodservice

Once a restaurateur has laid down an overall goal and game plan, the nest task is to establish systems to implement and track those plans. Now your hat becomes that if an administrator. Some administrative duties may not sound at all galmourous-prepareing schedules, tracking deliveries, computing costs, and so on and forth. If a restaurant is small, the “executive” and “administrator” will be the dame person. That same person also might but the one who dons a uniform and works the line.

The best administrator are those who can create a felling throughout the entire staff that they have a stake in getting things done correctly. When you give people the opportunity to help make decisions, and the tools needed to [inform as we; as they can, you will see that it is easier to achieve the goals you have established on an executive level.

There are tools that you can give and should learn to use. Computers accounting systems, and careful record keeping all play a role. Many organizations are relying more and more on software that enable them to track purchases, losses, sales, profits, food cost, recipes, and customer comments, If you (or the professionals that you employ) are not already using a system capable of incorporating all of this information and more, you cannot be as effective as you need to be.

On becoming a good manager, management issues have received a good deal of attention in this industry, as well as in others. All businesses must operate more effectively and efficiently, with fewer resources. Managing a foodservice operation is a job that requires the ability to manage fours areas effectively: physical assets, information, people (human resources) and time.

Managing physical assets is very important because the primary reason being in business is to make money and if you squander your assets, then you cannot make a profit. The increasing complex problems of budgeting, taxes, wages, and many other business considerations make it a good idea to hire professionals trained specifically to handle these areas. When talking about managing physical assets, considering how anything that must purchase or pay for affects your ability to so business well. This includes, but certainly not limited to,

• Food and Beverage
• Operating costs such as utilities, waste removal, taxes, and insurance
• Rent. Mortgage, or lease payments
• Tables, chairs, linens, china, flatware, glassware
• Computers, cash registers
• Pots and pans, and other large and small kitchen equipment
• Cleaning supplies and/or services, ware washing machines

To bring the expenses associated with your physical assets under control is to know what your expenses really are. Then you can bring this process of making the adjustments and instituting systems that will keep your operating at maximum efficiency. One of the biggest expenses of a foodservice operation will always be food and beverage costs. An operation must maintain and work hard to develop a good purchasing system. Purchasing has a direct impact on cost control. An adequate store of supplies is needed so that the operation can be run smoothly. This included not only food but also nonfood items such as cleaning supplies, all tools and equipment. Having too little of any given sign of poor planning just as much as having too much.

1) First, develop a list of your needs. All food and equipment purchased for the kitchen should have a direct relation to the menu. Review your menu carefully. Create a master lists for foods, small and large equipment, and any special service items.

2) Develop quality and purchasing specifications. This is a precise description of the product, including trade or common names, type of container, brand names or federal grades, container size, and the unit (pound, case, bunch, can, bunch, and so on), which the item’s price is quoted. Any other pertinent specifications, such as meats should be aged should as so be included. These specifications should take the form of a written communication between the operation and distributor.

3) Select Distributor that should be at a minimum of least two for any item purchased. Well-chosen purveyors can provide an operation with products of consistent quality and setting up a delivery schedule. To determine if the operation is giving the best possible service is that:\

· The price quote by the salesperson should be the same as the price paid upon the receipt of the goods

· Foods should be of the quality and quantity requested

· Delivery trucks should be clean and refrigerated, if necessary

· Invoices are clearly written

· Returns of unacceptable products are handled quickly

· Foods arrive in appropriate containers

4) Organize a delivery schedule- that is consistent and reliable for evening out the workload. If you cannot be certain when a delivery will arrive, it may force you into unwise purchasing unwise purchasing patterns. Also may find it necessary to over purchase some items in order to be prepared in case a delivery is delayed. Or, may be in the position of removing a dish from the menu in the middle of service if item does not arrive on time.

5) Develop a par stock-is the amount of stock you should have consistently available to cover operating needs between deliveries. Being overstocked can be as bad as having too little of stock. If too much stock, valuable space and money is tied up, if too little of stock, might be impossible to produce am item at some point.

6) Take purchase inventory that is the physical count of what is availed. Should be taken in a detailed view on a daily, weekly, monthly, semi-annular, and yearly basis. The amount on hand should be “brought up to par” by ordering enough to replace depleted levels.

7) Forecast contingency needs- keeping full and complete records can help predict what times of the year, month, or week may be busier than others

8) Take market quotes-may factors can affect what an operation pays for food and beverage items. A strike, flood, or a hurricane, poor growing conditions, drought all can cause a sharp price increase and make adjustments accordingly if necessary.

9) Maintain a purchase log- keeping good records of all orders, invoices, and price lists helps to make ordering, receiving and storing procedures efficient. An up-to-date purchase log eliminates costly guesswork.

Storage Areas, no matter how small, are well maintained and well monitored; the amount of money lost through waste and spoilage will automatically be lowered. Keep all refrigerators and freezers cleaned ands properly maintained. Check temperatures consistently and whenever a unit appears to be function at less than optimal temperatures, have it repaired or serviced quickly.

Storage areas for dry goods, cleaning supplies, linens and paper goods should be carefully maintained, shelving, storage bins, and other storage systems must be sturdy enough to hold supplies. Doors and windows should be rodent and pest proof. Dry storage areas must be properly ventilated. The lighting in these areas should be adequate to permit you to easily and safely and retrieve the items needed.

Food costs- the food and drink that are ultimately served to the guest are the raw materials of the industry. It is impossible to overemphasis how important it is for to be aware of what food and drink actually cost and to take steps to maximize the use of these raw materials. Controlling spoilage and waste is of the first lines of defense. Many of the materials working with are perishable. Having adequate space to store foods properly is imperative. Refrigerators, walk-ins, reach-ins, freezers, and dry storage should be carefully maintained and monitored. Insist that foods be labeled, dated and used in sequence-FIFO (first in, first out).

Another are that deserves attention is trim loss, whenever foods are cut, trimmed and cleaned there is a possibility that money is lost through carelessness or mishandling. The cost of the food when it is received is referred to as the “as purchased” or AP cost. Once it is properly processed prior to cooking is determined as edible portion or EP cost.

To cut down on trim loss, be sure that the kitchen staff is properly trained. If a coulis can be made from the end of red peppers then let the person who does the advance preparation know how to process every bit of the peppers. Potion control is another area that is a very special vigilance. When hamburgers are made into patties, check to see if the scales are use properly. Sot check portions sizes periodically and let all staff associates see what the correct portions are of each item. Having portioning tools available during preparation as well as during service helps reduce waste significantly.

Using recipes as a tool is telling someone the steps in preparing a dish as performing one function. An equally important role of a recipe in helping is to control costs, ensure consistency, and maintain quality standards. The measurements need to be very accurate so that little loss as possible during production. Check the yields and measurements periodically to sure that is expected from a recipe. Recipes written in a HACCP model clearly identify “critical control points” and correct cooking, holding, and service temperatures. Portion control is monitoring waste during advance preparation and cooking. Large variances can give the customers the wrong impression on how the establishments are being run.

Menu princing- once the true food cost and determined the correct serving or portion size for an menu item, the next task is establishing a menu price. A variety of methods is used. Will need to assess the market, the cost of food that is being served and type of operation. All three factors will play an important role in deciding the final menu price. For instance, some establishments keep prices low ans rely upon high volume to make a profit while others will use a higher markup, making but requiring a lower sales volume to make a profit. Like mentioning before, there are several methods used for menu pricing…

1. Factor Method- Reflects that the cost of the food sold should fall within range that is equal to a specified percentage of sales in dollars. To use this method, must forst dertermine the raw coast of food using standardized recipes. Then need to decide what an acceptable food-cost percentage is for the operation. For example, if 25% of total sales, the calculation is as follows…

Divide the desired percentage, 25 percent, into 100. The result is 4 which is the “factor” would use to multiply the food cost in order to arrive at the selling price. The advantage of this method is the simplicity.

2. Prime Cost- This pricing method is more complex than the factor method and if done exactly as to its defination might be an extremely complex and time sonsuming process. Most managers use this strategy will modify the method slightly. They make a few accumptions based on good unserstanding of the total operating costs. Percentages of the prime cost are assign to cover raw food, direct labor and operating costs. Once the percentages are established, need only use raw food cost and cost of labor for food preparation to determine a menu price.

3. Actual Cost- If accurate records are on hand, this method can be used to determine menu prices as follows. First, need to determine as accurately the actual cost fo the raw ingredients using standardized recipes. Also use payroll records or other sources to determine the actual cost of labor involved in food preparation. Finally, determine the cost of all other fixed and variable expenses involved. All of these costs are assigned a percentage to determine what the dollar and cents value for these items ought to be so that the actual figures are being worked with. Then determine the menu price.

So soups on!