If you’ re responsible for the financial performance of food at your club, you need to know how the kitchen works. Here’ s how a non-chef can manage‘ secret kitchen business’:
1. Improve the ordering systems. Make sure ordering is done from standard printed lists or electronic systems, not a paper diary. Set re-order levels to ensure enough is on hand for 3-4 day’ s supply, no more – that’ s plenty unless deliveries come from a distance.
2. Upgrade food delivery and storage systems. Treat it with the same care given to alcohol. Have heavy-duty scales available for checking the weight of delivered items. Install locks on store rooms and label shelves. Delivery people are always in a hurry so have your rules about signatures and delivery times up on the wall and printed on the invoice.
3. Supply updated commodity and ingredient prices every week. Where possible, have the chef enter price changes into the recipe costing system. But if your chef is busy, it’ s unrealistic to add more admin to her load – it’ s a job for the office staff.
4. Invest in a recipe costing system. Software like Cooking the Books and Resort Kitchen have a learning curve, but they’ re well worth taking on. Bring office staff in to help with data updates and have the results shared with management – these systems given an honest daily snapshot of costs and stock levels. Spreadsheets and paper systems are out of date for this important task.
5. Provide good equipment and keep it repaired. Commercial stoves, fryers and microwaves are needed to get food out fast: nothing frustrates staff more than poorly maintained equipment. Don’ t offer easy excuses for why it‘ can’ t be done’.
6. Install Electronic Costing Scales: one of your best investments. Buy a set similar to those used in a deli that weigh the goods AND work out the cost. The price is much less than you think. Toss out the old round-dial ones. When you want to check the actual cost of 5 scallops or a juicy steak, the result is instant- and may be a shock!
7. Insist the Point-of-Sale is used properly: this shows exactly what’ s selling( and what’ s not). Check the most and least popular items, and how well side-orders are moving. Disable the‘ Open Key’ which is often used by staff in a hurry to ring up unknown items, and corrupts the sales data. Make the correct use of the POS a‘ holy obligation’ in your business.
8. Check and discuss the figures every week. The quickest way to find out food costs is to compare purchases( from delivery invoices) against sales. This gives you a‘ close enough’ figure and identifies problems quickly. It is also valuable to know per-head sales for food, side-orders, desserts and beverages. Many chefs rightly complain they are kept in the dark and only told about problems when it’ s too late- share as much as you can. A short weekly meeting is the chance to assess performance and plan improvements.
9. Employ truly competent kitchen leaders. Staff who are good at getting the best from a team, knowledgeable about food issues, strong, fast, able to train staff quickly, reliable with numbers and happy to report to you regularly. The Head Chef’ s Job Description should be a key document, but used as a guide, not a weapon.
10. Finally, play dumb( to be smart). Cooking is manufacturing, so ask lots of questions and watch closely how the process works. Compare it with the operation of a well-organised bar or even a trade that’ s not in hospitality. Successful manufacturing needs good modern equipment, affordable quality supplies, precise systems and a willingness to repeat processes the same way every time.
IQ 27