Focus F&B Coaching

Who is in charge of the Food cost anyway? The Chef always gets the blame, and of course, he is ultimately responsible for it. However, it takes everyone being involved to really make it work. The sales team, purchasing team, servers, managers, cooks, accounting, and owners. There are lots of variables to consider when trying to figure out your food cost issues, but here are a few good starting places: Are your menu items priced correctly? Are recipes costed correctly [and recently]? Double check what you are paying for your product versus other vendors, versus your recipe card, and menu price. How much waste are you producing? If the team preps food that is not selling, we need to adjust something. Are you and your staff eating the profit? Everything should be recorded. Even your meals should be recorded and backed out as a credit to food cost! How is the P.O.S.? Are you collecting the correct amount? Check each menu item. This actually happens a lot. Are we count...

“It’s not the person you fail to hire that destroys your restaurant; it’s the person you fail to fire”. I read this last week and thought that it was all too true in many cases! We knew better but failed to act! The renowned  Osmond’s  song above implies  one bad apple doesn’t spoil the bunch , but we know from experience, it’s quite the contrary. In this world where we endeavor to be supportive and understanding, living in an environment where we never want to upset anyone, we sometimes miss the boat on what our staff really needs from us as leaders, and that is making those tough decisions. Believe me, the rest of the team usually knows what needs to be done and wonder why you are not addressing it. I am not suggesting that you go after your team with a vengeance. Simply evaluate if there is anyone you are keeping around that should not be there. When you read the title of this article, who did you think of? Is there someone in your organization that can be rot...

I know that it is something that we do not like to talk about. There are statistics quoted that say that 1 out of every 8 bartenders or cocktail servers is taking money from you, and while I choose not to believe that statistic, it does make you think about it.   I always chose to [and still do] believe in the goodness of people and like to trust all the staff that worked for me; I also believe in putting systems in place to prevent the accidental incident from becoming the norm. I heard this from someone that had been caught with the hand in the cookie jar:   “The first time it happened was purely by accident, and then a couple of weeks later, I realized that no one had noticed or said anything. Then I thought, maybe I can have another accident. It then became weekly, and eventually, it was part of my income.  I couldn’t stop; it became a habit.” How can we avoid this happening in our bar or restaurant?   Several ways come to mind. Firstly, creating, if y...