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From the Questions and Problems section in this chapter in the textbook, answer questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 1- Distinguish between direct compensation and indirect compensation
From the Questions and Problems section in this chapter in the textbook, answer questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
1- Distinguish between direct compensation and indirect compensation.
2. Distinguish between current compensation and deferred compensation.
3. List five forms of indirect compensation.
4. Distinguish between salaries and wages.
5. List and discuss four hidden costs of labor turnover.
??? NINTH EDITION ??? LAST H1 HEAD ??? i PRINCIPLES OF FOOD, BEVERAGE, AND LABOR COST CONTROLS Paul R. Dittmer J. Desmond Keefe III JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC. ffirs.indd i 7/25/08 10:27:21 AM ftoc.indd viii 7/25/08 10:28:42 AM ??? NINTH EDITION ??? LAST H1 HEAD ??? i PRINCIPLES OF FOOD, BEVERAGE, AND LABOR COST CONTROLS Paul R. Dittmer J. Desmond Keefe III JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC. ffirs.indd i 7/25/08 10:27:21 AM This book is printed on acid-free paper. Copyright © 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. In all instances where John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is aware of a claim, the product names appear in initial capital or all capital letters. Readers, however, should contact the appropriate companies for more complete information regarding trademarks and registration. For general information on our other products and services, or technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at 800-762-2974, outside the United States at 317-572-3993 or fax 317-572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our Web site at http://www.wiley.com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Dittmer, Paul. Principles of food, beverage, and labor cost controls / Paul R. Dittmer, J. Desmond Keefe III. — 9th ed. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-471-78347-3 (cloth/CD: alk. paper) 1. Food service—Cost control. I. Keefe, J. Desmond. II. Title. TX911.3.C65D57 2009 647.95068—dc22 2008001373 Printed in the United States of America 10 ffirs.indd ii 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 7/25/08 10:27:24 AM CONTENTS PREFACE IX PART I INTRODUCTION TO FOOD, BEVERAGE, AND LABOR CONTROLS 1 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS 3 INTRODUCTION 4 • COST CONCEPTS 10 THE COST-TO-SALES RATIO: COST PERCENT 22 KEY TERMS IN THIS CHAPTER 32 • • SALES CONCEPTS 16 • • CHAPTER ESSENTIALS 31 QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 32 • • EXCEL EXERCISES 35 CHAPTER 2 THE CONTROL PROCESS INTRODUCTION 40 • CONTROL SYSTEMS 60 ESSENTIALS 66 • CONTROL 40 • • THE CONTROL PROCESS 43 COST–BENEFIT RATIO 64 • KEY TERMS IN THIS CHAPTER 66 • QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 67 CHAPTER 3 39 • • CHAPTER EXCEL EXERCISES 70 COST/VOLUME/PROFIT RELATIONSHIPS 71 INTRODUCTION 72 • THE COST/VOLUME/PROFIT EQUATION 75 VARIABLE RATE AND CONTRIBUTION RATE 78 POINT 80 • BISTRO 80 • • BREAK-EVEN COST/VOLUME/PROFIT CALCULATIONS FOR THE GRANDVIEW • COST CONTROL AND THE COST/VOLUME/PROFIT EQUATION 87 CHAPTER ESSENTIALS 91 AND PROBLEMS 91 • • KEY TERMS IN THIS CHAPTER 91 • • QUESTIONS EXCEL EXERCISES 94 PART II FOOD CONTROL 95 CHAPTER 4 FOOD PURCHASING AND RECEIVING CONTROL 97 INTRODUCTION 98 RECEIVING 98 • • DEVELOPING STANDARDS AND STANDARD PROCEDURES FOR PURCHASING 101 • STANDING ORDERS 123 • RECEIVING CONTROLS 123 • ESTABLISHING STANDARD PROCEDURES FOR RECEIVING 125 • CHAPTER ESSENTIALS 133 CHAPTER 134 EXERCISES 136 ftoc.indd iii THE CONTROL PROCESS—PURCHASING AND • • • QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 134 KEY TERMS IN THIS • EXCEL WEB ADDRESSES 137 7/25/08 10:28:39 AM iv CONTENTS CHAPTER 5 FOOD STORING AND ISSUING CONTROL 139 INTRODUCTION 140 • STORING CONTROL: ESTABLISHING STANDARDS AND STANDARD PROCEDURES FOR STORING 140 BEVERAGE TRANSFERS 150 • • IN THIS CHAPTER 156 QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 156 • • CHAPTER ESSENTIALS 156 FOOD AND KEY TERMS • EXCEL WEB ADDRESS 162 FOOD PRODUCTION CONTROL I: PORTIONS 163 INTRODUCTION 164 PROCEDURES 164 • • ESTABLISHING STANDARDS AND STANDARD CALCULATING STANDARD PORTION COSTS 170 • ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF STANDARDIZED YIELD 190 • USING YIELD PERCENTAGES 191 CHAPTER ESSENTIALS 193 PROBLEMS 194 CHAPTER 7 ISSUING CONTROL: ESTABLISHING • EXERCISES 162 CHAPTER 6 • STANDARDS AND STANDARD PROCEDURES FOR ISSUING 145 • • RECIPE SOFTWARE 192 KEY TERMS IN THIS CHAPTER 193 • EXCEL EXERCISES 198 • • • QUESTIONS AND WEB ADDRESS 198 FOOD PRODUCTION CONTROL II: QUANTITIES 199 INTRODUCTION 200 PROCEDURES 200 • • ESTABLISHING STANDARDS AND STANDARD DETERMINING PRODUCTION QUANTITIES 212 CONTROL OF PREPORTIONED ENTRÉES 221 CHAPTER ESSENTIALS 223 • QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 224 • KEY TERMS IN THIS CHAPTER 224 • • A WORD OF CAUTION 223 EXCEL EXERCISES 225 • • • WEB ADDRESS 225 CHAPTER 8 MONITORING FOODSERVICE OPERATIONS I: MONTHLY INVENTORY AND MONTHLY FOOD COST 227 INTRODUCTION 228 MANAGEMENT 243 ESSENTIALS 250 PROBLEMS 251 CHAPTER 9 • • • • MONTHLY INVENTORY 229 • INVENTORY TURNOVER 247 • KEY TERMS IN THIS CHAPTER 250 EXCEL EXERCISES 254 • CHAPTER • QUESTIONS AND WEB ADDRESS 255 MONITORING FOODSERVICE OPERATIONS II: DAILY FOOD COST 257 INTRODUCTION 258 • DETERMINING DAILY FOOD COST 258 BOOK VERSUS ACTUAL INVENTORY COMPARISON 269 ESSENTIALS 273 PROBLEMS 274 ftoc.indd iv REPORTS TO • • KEY TERMS IN THIS CHAPTER 274 • • CHAPTER • QUESTIONS AND EXCEL EXERCISES 278 7/25/08 10:28:40 AM CONTENTS v CHAPTER 10 MONITORING FOODSERVICE OPERATIONS III: ACTUAL VERSUS STANDARD FOOD COSTS 279 INTRODUCTION 280 • DETERMINING STANDARD COST 281 ACTUAL AND STANDARD COSTS 281 CHAPTER ESSENTIALS 297 AND PROBLEMS 297 • • • • COMPARING PERIODIC COMPARISON 293 KEY TERMS IN THIS CHAPTER 297 • • QUESTIONS EXCEL EXERCISES 300 CHAPTER 11 MENU ENGINEERING AND ANALYSIS 301 INTRODUCTION 302 • MENU ENGINEERING 303 ANALYSIS 309 • SOLD 314 CHAPTER ESSENTIALS 316 • CHAPTER 316 MENU USING 100 PERCENT OF THE AVERAGE FOR NUMBER • EXERCISES 319 • • KEY TERMS IN THIS QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 316 • • EXCEL WEB ADDRESSES 319 CHAPTER 12 CONTROLLING FOOD SALES 321 INTRODUCTION 322 • THE GOALS OF SALES CONTROL 322 OPTIMIZING THE NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS 323 PROFIT 332 • • CONTROLLING REVENUE 343 MANUAL MEANS 345 • CHAPTER ESSENTIALS 354 AND PROBLEMS 355 MAXIMIZING • REVENUE CONTROL USING REVENUE CONTROL USING COMPUTERS 352 • • • KEY TERMS IN THIS CHAPTER 355 • • QUESTIONS EXCEL EXERCISE 356 PART III BEVERAGE CONTROL 357 CHAPTER 13 BEVERAGE PURCHASING CONTROL 359 INTRODUCTION 360 • CONTROL PROCESS AND PURCHASING 360 ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES 361 PURCHASING 369 CHAPTER 383 • • EXERCISES 385 • • NONALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES 368 CHAPTER ESSENTIALS 383 • QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 384 • • BEVERAGE KEY TERMS IN THIS • EXCEL WEB ADDRESSES 386 CHAPTER 14 BEVERAGE RECEIVING, STORING, AND ISSUING CONTROL 387 INTRODUCTION 388 ISSUING 399 CHAPTER 408 EXERCISES 409 ftoc.indd v • • RECEIVING 388 CHAPTER ESSENTIALS 408 • • • STORING 392 • QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 408 • KEY TERMS IN THIS • EXCEL WEB ADDRESSES 409 7/25/08 10:28:41 AM vi CONTENTS CHAPTER 15 BEVERAGE PRODUCTION CONTROL 411 INTRODUCTION 412 CONTROL 412 • • OBJECTIVES OF BEVERAGE PRODUCTION ESTABLISHING STANDARDS AND STANDARD PROCEDURES FOR PRODUCTION 413 • CHAPTER 436 QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 436 EXERCISES 438 • • CHAPTER ESSENTIALS 436 • KEY TERMS IN THIS • EXCEL WEB ADDRESSES 438 CHAPTER 16 MONITORING BEVERAGE OPERATIONS 439 INTRODUCTION 440 • APPROACH 456 THE SALES VALUE APPROACH 457 • TURNOVER 466 CHAPTER 469 EXERCISES 473 • • THE COST APPROACH 440 CHAPTER ESSENTIALS 468 • • INVENTORY KEY TERMS IN THIS QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 469 • THE LIQUID MEASURE • • EXCEL WEB ADDRESSES 474 CHAPTER 17 BEVERAGE SALES CONTROL 475 INTRODUCTION 476 CONTROL 476 • ESSENTIALS 490 • GUEST CHECKS AND CONTROL 486 • CHAPTER KEY TERMS IN THIS CHAPTER 491 • QUESTIONS AND • PROBLEMS 491 • THE OBJECTIVES OF BEVERAGE SALES EXCEL EXERCISE 492 PART IV LABOR CONTROL 493 CHAPTER 18 LABOR COST CONSIDERATIONS 495 INTRODUCTION 496 • EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION 496 OF TOTAL LABOR COSTS AND LABOR COST PERCENTS 499 CONTROL 513 CHAPTER 516 CHAPTER19 • • CHAPTER ESSENTIALS 515 • QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 516 • DETERMINANTS LABOR COST KEY TERMS IN THIS • EXCEL EXERCISES 517 ESTABLISHING PERFORMANCE STANDARDS 519 INTRODUCTION 520 • ESTABLISHING PERFORMANCE STANDARDS AND STANDARD PROCEDURES 520 • PREPARING JOB DESCRIPTIONS 526 ORGANIZING THE ENTERPRISE 523 • SCHEDULING EMPLOYEES 531 PERFORMANCE STANDARDS BASED ON TEST PERIOD 547 REQUIREMENTS 548 COST 552 • CHAPTER 553 EXERCISES 556 ftoc.indd vi • • CHAPTER ESSENTIALS 553 • • • STANDARD WORK HOURS 550 • • • STANDARD STAFFING • STANDARD KEY TERMS IN THIS QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 554 • EXCEL WEB ADDRESSES 557 7/25/08 10:28:41 AM CONTENTS vii CHAPTER 20 TRAINING STAFF 559 INTRODUCTION 560 OF TRAINING 561 • • A DEFINITION OF TRAINING 560 THE TRAINING PROGRAM 561 VERSUS LOCALIZED TRAINING 575 ESSENTIALS 578 • PROBLEMS 579 • • THE PURPOSE CENTRALIZED TRAINING MANUALS 576 KEY TERMS IN THIS CHAPTER 578 • • EXCEL EXERCISES 580 • • • CHAPTER QUESTIONS AND WEB ADDRESSES 581 CHAPTER 21 MONITORING PERFORMANCE AND TAKING CORRECTIVE ACTION 583 INTRODUCTION 584 • MONITORING PERFORMANCE 584 • TAKING CORRECTIVE ACTION TO ADDRESS DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN STANDARDS AND PERFORMANCE 594 CHAPTER 599 • • • CHAPTER ESSENTIALS 599 QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 599 • • KEY TERMS IN THIS WEB ADDRESS 601 EXCEL EXERCISE 601 GLOSSARY 603 INDEX 623 ftoc.indd vii 7/25/08 10:28:41 AM ftoc.indd viii 7/25/08 10:28:42 AM PREFACE TO THE STUDENT Successful restaurant personnel, including chefs, restaurant managers, food and beverage controllers, dining room managers, and stewards have many skills. Among them is the ability to keep costs at predetermined levels. They understand that successful operations require that costs be carefully established and monitored so that profit will result. After all, most profitable restaurants have only about a 10 percent profit margin on sales after taking all costs into consideration. Food, beverage, and labor costs generally represent between 60% and 70% of the toal costs of a restaurant operation. If these costs are not carefully established and monitored, they can gradually increase until profit is eliminated and losses are sustained. This text has been written to provide the student with the necessary principles to keep restaurant costs under control so that a profitable operation can be sustained. Putting these principles into practice will not guarantee a profit, because there are other necessary elements for a successful restaurant. But they are absolutely necessary if a profit is to be maintained. Chain operations such as Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Burger King, and Wendy ’s have learned long ago the necessity of keeping cost under control They supply high-quality products to their restaurants and establish procedures that guarantee food, beverage, and labor costs will be kept within predetermined bounds. Independent restaurants must do the same if profits are to be realized. Learn these principles well and you will stand a much better chance of being successful in your chosen profession. TO THE INSTRUCTOR This text has been developed for use in courses introducing food, beverage, and labor cost controls to students preparing for careers in food and beverage management as well as hotels and other enterprises where this knowledge is necessary. This edition consists of 21 chapters, divided into four parts, as follows: Part I offers an introduction to food, beverage, and labor cost controls, defining a number of key terms and concepts and providing a foundation for the balance of the work as well as some sense of its scope. It identifies flast.indd ix 7/25/08 10:28:01 AM x PREFACE working definitions for the terms cost and sales, discusses the control process in some detail, and introduces the basics of cost/volume/profit analysis. Part II addresses the application of the four-step control process to the primary phases of foodservice operations: purchasing, receiving, storing, issuing, and production. Specific techniques and procedures for each phase are explained and discussed in detail. Three chapters are devoted to determining costs and using them as monitoring devices in foodservice operations. One chapter deals specifically with menu analysis. Another discusses food sales control, offering a broad definition of the term and providing detailed discussion of several approaches to sales control. Part III discusses the application of the four-step control process to the various beverage operations: purchasing, receiving, storing, issuing, and production. Here, too, specific techniques and procedures for each phase are explained and discussed in detail. One chapter is devoted to the principal methods used to monitor beverage operations. The final chapter in Part III specifically addresses beverage sales control, offering a broad definition of the term and providing detailed discussions of several approaches to controlling beverage sales. Part IV is a four-chapter exposition of labor cost control. The first of the four explores the factors affecting labor cost and labor cost percentage. Admittedly, some of these are beyond the control of management, but it is important for managers to know about them. The second chapter discusses the need for performance standards. This leads naturally to a chapter on training, a topic many believe to be central to labor cost control. The concluding chapter in Part IV deals with monitoring performance and taking corrective action. The authors recognize that most food and beverage operations are computerized to a great extent. Thus, each of the chapters in Parts I, II, and III incorporates a discussion of computer use in food and beverage operations. Additionally, Excel computer exercises are provided at the end of each chapter, utilizing the CD-ROM found in the back of this book. In developing and revising the text, flexibility has always been a key concern. For example, each of the four parts can generally stand alone. Except for Part I, eliminating any other part will not make it difficult to use the remaining parts. Thus, in courses without beverage components, instructors may prefer to skip Part III. And instructors in courses that do not include labor cost control can choose to ignore Part IV. The book has a greater number of chapters than many instructors use in a one-term course. In our view, this is a virtue, because it provides instructors with opportunities to select chapters dealing with specific topics identified in flast.indd x 7/25/08 10:28:03 AM PREFACE xi their course syllabus. We believe this is the best way to meet the varying needs of instructors in the broad range of courses and programs in this field. Because a great many chapters include more questions and problems than most will be inclined to assign, instructors will find it easy to make selective use of the end-of-chapter exercises for written assignment or for in-class discussion. For those instructors who will use this text as a supplement to train management personnel, Chapter 20 is particularly useful. It outlines specific training methods, and provides various thoughts on training methods that can be best utilized in different circumstances. FEATURES Chapters are organized in the folowing manner. 1. Chapter objectives are listed at the beginning of each chapter. 2. Chapter 1 illustrates a hypothetical restaurant, and each chapter thereafter continues a discussion of that restaurant, relating the control procedures discussed in that chapter to the hypothetical restaurant. 3. A discussion of established computer programs that perform control procedures in each chapter is included. Web references for these programs are listed at the end of the chapter. 4. Chapter essentials and key terms in that chapter are shown at the end of each chapter discussion. 5. Substantial numbers of questions and problems are listed at the end of each chapter. 6. A running exercise for a hypothetical restaurant in Excel is included at the end of each chapter, and the CD-ROM for that exercise is included in the text. An additional feature is a glossary of all key terms listed in the text. It is found at the conclusion of text material. NEW TO THIS EDITION This edition contains the following new features. Each chapter has been updated with current material and outdated material has been eliminated. All figures have been updated. All chapters contain a discussion of computer flast.indd xi 7/25/08 10:28:03 AM xii PREFACE programs that perform the procedures outlined in the chapters. Web addresses for these programs are shown at the end of each chapter. A CD-ROM is included with the text for students use in doing Excel problems at the end of each chapter. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS An Instructor’s Manual (ISBN: 978-0-470-25732-6) to accompany the textbook is available to qualified adopters upon request from the publisher. It contains answers to the end-of-chapter questions and problems, along with various other materials designed to assist in the classroom. A companion Web site, at www.wiley/college/dittmer, is also available for instructors with this text, which includes the Instructor’s Manual and PowerPoint slides as well as the solutions to the Excel exercises. WebCT and Blackboard online courses are available for this book. Visit www.wiley.com/college/dittmer and click on “Blackboard” or “WebCT” in the Title Information box, or contact your Wiley representative. A newly created Study Guide (ISBN: 978-0-470-14056-7) provides several additional resources to help students review material and exercises to strengthen their knowledge of key concepts. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank those who provided their comments about how to improve this edition of Food, Beverage, and Labor Cost Controls by reviewing it in various stages of development: Eric Breckoff, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College Dr. Jaemin Cha, Niagara University Dr. Charles Godwin Ogbeide, Southwestern Minnesota University Jeff Igel, Fox Valley Technical College Ken Narcavage, Western Culinary Institute Terri Melincoff, New England Culinary Institute Dori Finley, East Carolina University Lloyd Shelton, Northern Arizona University Armando Trujillo, Pima Community College/Northern Arizona University Partnership Cliff Wener, College of Lake County flast.indd xii 7/25/08 10:28:04 AM PREFACE xiii And those who reviewed earlier editions of this book: Earl Arrowwood, Jr., Bucks County Community College James A. Bardi, the Berks Campus of Pennsylvania State University Patricia S. Bartholomew, New York Technical College of the City University of New York Kevin Bedard, of Canopy ’s Training Restaurant, a program of the Educational Opportunity Center, State University of New York at Brockport Anthony Bruno, Nassau Community College Mary Ann Caroll, Keystone Junior College Prakash Chathoth, San Francisco State University Frank C. Constantino, New York Technical College of the City University of New York John Drysdale, Johnson County Community College David Dyer, University of Central Florida Michael Evans, Appalachian State University Julie Fain, New Hampshire College George G. Fenich, University of New Orleans T.C. Girard, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale Robert A. Heath, Birmingham (U.K.) College of Food, Tourism, and Creative Studies Stephen K. Holzinger, New York Technical College of the City University of New York John Peter Laloganes, Cooking & Hospitality Institute of Chicago Charles Latour, Northern Virginia Community College Fredrick Laughlin, Jr., Northwestern Michigan College Chris Letchinger, Kendall College Edward F. McIntyre. Birmingham (U.K.) College of Food, Tourism, and Creative Studies Paul McVety, Johnson and Wales University Fedele J. Panzarino, New York Technical College of the City University of New York Wallace Rande, Northern Arizona University Larry Ross, Georgia State University Rodney Rudolph, State University of New York Technical College at Delhi Warren Sackler, Rochester Institute of Technology Andrew R. Schwartz, Sullivan County Community College flast.indd xiii 7/25/08 10:28:04 AM xiv PREFACE Jeffrey A. Sheldon, Cincinnati State Technical & Community College Allan Sherwin, Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship Robert Sobigraj, Johnson County Community College Don St. Hillaire, California State Polytechnic University-Pomona John Stefanelli, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Clorice Thomas-Haysbert, Delaware State University David Tishkoff, Columbus State Community College David Tucker, Widener University Clifford Wener, College of Lake County flast.indd xiv 7/25/08 10:28:04 AM ??? PART I ??? INTRODUCTION TO FOOD, BEVERAGE, AND LABOR CONTROLS This text outlines the elements and procedures for food, beverage, and labor cost control. But before discussing these topics, it is necessary to define the terminology used in the text and to discuss two other very important preliminary topics. These are outlined in the first three chapters. Chapter 1 is devoted to the basic concepts of costs and sales and their many variations and uses. Chapter 2 examines the concept of control—what exactly do we mean by it and what are the many ways we institute it? Chapter 3 is a necessary chapter dealing with break-even analysis and the ramifications associated with the various ways an establishment can break even and make a profit. In addition, it discusses the financial consequences of inadequate control over costs. As you begin your journey into this subject, keep in mind that cost control is absolutely necessary for a profitable operation. Learn the principles outlined in this text well, because all foodservice personnel at the supervisory and higher levels have an obligation to control those costs under their jurisdiction. p01.indd 1 7/25/08 10:29:11 AM p01.indd 2 7/25/08 10:29:15 AM CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS • LEARNING OBJECTIVES • After reading this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Define the terms cost and sales. 2. Define and provide an example of the following types of costs: fixed, directly variable, semivariable, controllable, noncontrollable, unit, total, prime, historical, and planned. 3. Provide several examples illustrating monetary and nonmonetary sales concepts. 4. Describe the significance of cost-to-sales relationships and identify several cost-to-sales ratios important in food and beverage management. 5. Identify the formulas used to compute cost percent and sales price. 6. Describe factors that cause industrywide variations in cost percentages. 7. Explain the value of comparing current cost-to-sales ratios with those for previous periods. c01.indd 3 7/25/08 9:48:24 AM 4 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS A Taste of Tuscany Until she decided to purchase a restaurant two years ago, Joan Bailey had been a successful advertising executive. Her annual income was substantial, and she augmented it by investing in some profitable real estate ventures with her brother. However, her position in advertising required that she travel several days a week, and over time the travel became wearisome to her. This made her decide to give up the advertising business in favor of operating her own business. On the advice of her brother, she decided to go into the restaurant business, even though she lacked previous experience in the field. After all her years of travel, she thought she knew more about restaurants from the customer’s point of view than most restaurateurs. So she began to look around for an appropriate property. Fortunately, she soon found a place just 12 miles from her home, located on a main road on the outskirts of a city of 75,000 people. The building and equipment were only six years old and apparently in fine condition, and the retiring owner was anxious to sell at a very fair price. The owner’s books revealed a successful operation, with a restaurant profit of approximately $165,000 per year. Joan Bailey decided to buy. The restaurant, A Taste of Tuscany, had 150 seats. It was open seven days a week, from 5 to 10 P.M., serving a varied menu but emphasizing northern Italian food. Joan believed she would be able to run it successfully with a small and dedicated staff. In the first year, Joan’s profits were less than those of the previous owner. After two years, profits were continuing to decline. The restaurant was simply not showing an adequate profit, even though Joan had increased the volume of business over that of the previous owner. The place was reasonably busy, her customers often complimented her on the food, and her staff appeared to be loyal and helpful in every way. The truth was that Joan Bailey was operating a popular, but not very profitable, food and beverage business. At the end of the second full year of operation, the statement of income prepared by her accountant revealed a restaurant profit of $48,455 (see Figure 1.1). It quickly became apparent to Joan, her family, and her accountant that unless something could be done to make the restaurant more profitable, the operation would not be worth the effort required. The Grandview Bistro Just a few miles down the road from A Taste of Tuscany, the Grandview Bistro is owned and operated by Bill Young. After four years in the Air Force, Bill had c01.indd 4 7/25/08 9:48:29 AM INTRODUCTION 5 • FIGURE 1.1 • A Taste of Tuscany Income Statement, Year Ended December 31, 20XX Sales Food Beverage Total sales Cost of Sales Food Beverage Total cost of sales Gross Profit Controllable Expenses Salaries and wages Employee benefits Other controllable expenses Total Controllable Expenses Income before Occupancy Costs, Interest, Depreciation, and Income Taxes Occupancy Costs Interest Depreciation Total Restaurant Profit $1,686,740 $297,660 $1,984,400 $708,431 $95,251 $803,682 $1,180,718 $535,788 $133,947 $242,660 $912,395 $268,323 $132,608 $27,060 $60,200 $219,868 $48,455 worked for an insurance company for a few years before enrolling in a nearby college to study hospitality management. His interest in the food and beverage sector of the hospitality industry began during his high school days, when he worked part time at the local unit of a national fast-food chain. Although his interest had grown steadily over the years, it took considerable courage for him to give up a fairly promising insurance career to go back to school. He earned a degree in hospitality management and then went to work as the assistant manager in a local restaurant. Over the next several years, he worked in three food and beverage operations in the area, including A Taste of Tuscany, before deciding that he was ready to own and operate his own restaurant. With the help of his family and a local bank, Bill was able to purchase the Grandview Bistro, a fairly popular establishment with the same type c01.indd 5 7/25/08 9:48:30 AM 6 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS of menu as A Taste of Tuscany, as well as comparable prices and hours of operation. The only differences to the casual observer were size and location: The Grandview Bistro had only 75 seats and was in a somewhat less favorable location. The menu for the Grandview Bistro is illustrated in Figure 1.2. • FIGURE 1.2 • The Grandview Bistro Menu SOUPS Anasazi Bean and Roasted Corn with Chilies Beautiful purple beans with corn, chilies, celery, onions, and just enough spice $4.95 MANHATTAN STYLE FISH CHOWDER Traditional New York style tomato-based soup with haddock, swordfish, shrimp, and scallops $8.25 APPETIZERS DUCK EMPANADAS Tender roast duck encased in an empanada purse, served with roasted poblano vegetable sauce $7.65 GNOCCHI GRILLED VEGETABLE TARTLETS Semolina and potato tartlet shells filled with grilled sliced eggplant, zucchini, fennel, and fire-roasted tomato, garnished with shaved parmesan $6.50 SMOKED SALMON CHEESECAKE Smoked salmon and Gruyère cheese baked in a savory crust served with Cucumber Dill Cream Sauce $8.20 OYSTERS ROCKEFELLER Six Chesapeake Bay oysters baked on the half shell with spinach, onions, and hollandaise sauce $9.35 EGGPLANT ROULADE Thinly sliced fresh eggplant stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella, and goat cheese and served with a tomato basil sauce $5.50 SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS Sautéed wild mushroom and goat cheese layered in phyllo dough $5.50 c01.indd 6 7/25/08 9:48:31 AM INTRODUCTION 7 SALADS Mesclun Greens Topped with Hazelnuts Warm herbed chevre cheese and Dijon vinaigrette $4.95 CRACKED WHEAT SALAD Tossed with a citrus and green onion vinaigrette $4.75 CAESAR SALAD Topped with roasted garlic cornbread croutons and a Southwest-inspired dressing $5.45 ENTRÉES All entrées served with vegetables du jour and your choice of pasta, baked potato, or wild rice and choice of house salad or traditional Caesar salad. BLACK ANGUS NEW YORK STRIP STEAK 12-ounce prime steak charbroiled and topped with crimini mushrooms $23.65 TOURNEDOS ROSSINI Two 3-ounce fillets of beef pan-seared and topped with foie gras, truffles, and a Madeira sauce $24.75 ROASTED MUSCOVY DUCK BREAST Maple-infused jus lie, cashew and scallion rice, and spaghetti squash prima vera $21.40 LAMB CHOPS SALTIMBOCCA Succulent lamb chops sautéed with thin slices of prosciutto and served with a sage white burgundy butter sauce over angel hair pasta $21.50 LOIN OF PORK À MAISON Tender pork served with our sauce du jour $20.50 SAUTÉED GINGER SHRIMP* Gulf shrimp, bean sprouts, snow peas, enoki mushrooms, and scallions in an Asian glass noodle salad with a light ginger-sesame dressing $18.00 VEGETARIAN PORTOBELLO BURRITO* Grilled portobello mushrooms and monterey jack cheese baked in a flour tortilla with chipotle aioli and jicama and sweet potato cole slaw $16.50 TEA-SMOKED SALMON* Atlantic salmon lightly smoked and finished in the oven, accompanied by Italian white beans, fusilli, and saffron broth served with lemon baby spinach $19.20 (Continued ) c01.indd 7 7/25/08 9:48:31 AM 8 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS PAN-SEARED CHICKEN* Breast of chicken, sliced Canadian bacon, and toasted pine nuts with a Honey Adobo Chipotle Sauce $16.50 PARMESAN-CRUSTED VEAL STEAK* Provimi-veal à la Francaise accompanied by braised bok choy and roasted potatoes $20.85 STEAK DIANE WITH A FIVE-PEPPER CREAM SAUCE Prime New York Sirloin prepared to your specifications with a rich flavorful sauce, duchesse potatoes, and asparagus $24.75 CHICKEN ALBUFERA Chicken breast sautéed with shallots and artichoke hearts in a brandy cream sauce finished with red pepper butter $16.45 TROUT GRENOBLOISE Sautéed brook trout served with lemon and capers $19.00 SHRIMP À LA MARSEILLE Large shrimp served in a light tomato sauce, seasoned with our fine herbs and pernod $19.95 FRUITS DE MER Lobster, shrimp, and scallops tossed in a light basil cream with fresh romano, served over thin pasta $21.40 CATCH OF THE DAY Fresh fillet of fish sautéed and served with lemon $16.50 DESSERTS Ginger-Lime Cheesecakelettes Served with crystallized ginger $3.85 CHOCOLATE TORTE WITH CHERRY ICE* Chocolate, walnuts, and vanilla baked in a soufflé cup served with a cherry, ricotta, and maple syrup ice $4.40 FRESH FRUIT TART Prepared with the finest and freshest fruit of the season $2.75 *Heart-healthy items c01.indd 8 7/25/08 9:48:32 AM INTRODUCTION 9 Under the previous owner, the restaurant had shown a profit of $65,000 per year. But Bill felt sure he could increase the profit by applying the principles he had learned in the college’s hospitality management program. The employees he inherited with the restaurant were both loyal and cooperative, and he found them receptive to the changes that he made gradually over the first year of operation. None of the changes were dramatically apparent to the customers; in fact, at the end of the first year, most had not noticed any changes at all. In general, they were as pleased with the establishment as they had been when Bill first took it over, and they continued to return. In addition, newcomers tried the restaurant, liked it, and became regular customers. At the end of the first full year of operation, Bill’s accountant presented him with a statement of income showing a restaurant profit of $128,702 (see Figure 1.3). • FIGURE 1.3 • The Grandview Bistro Income Statement, Year Ended December 31, 20XX Sales Food Beverage Total Sales Cost of Sales Food Beverage Total Cost of Sales Gross Profit Controllable Expenses Salaries and wages Employee benefits Other controllable expenses Total Controllable Expenses Income before Occupancy Costs, Interest, Depreciation, and Income Taxes Occupancy Costs Interest Depreciation Total occupancy costs, interest, and depreciation Restaurant Profit c01.indd 9 $891,687 $157,356 $1,049,043 $312,090 $39,339 $351,429 $697,614 $209,809 $47,207 $162,602 $419,618 $277,996 $89,169 $13,875 $46,250 $149,294 $128,702 7/25/08 9:48:32 AM 10 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS The statement confirmed Bill’s expectations. It proved to him that his management of the operation was effective in the ways he had anticipated. At the end of his first year, he looked to the future with confidence. A comparison of the statements of income for these two restaurants reveals some very important facts. As one might expect, A Taste of Tuscany, with twice as many seats as the Grandview Bistro, as well as a comparable menu and comparable prices, shows approximately twice the dollar volume of sales. However, despite the apparently favorable sales comparison, the restaurant profit for A Taste of Tuscany is considerably less than the Grandview Bistro. Because the difference between sales and restaurant profit on each statement of income is represented by costs of various kinds, we can infer that part of the difficulty with A Taste of Tuscany is somehow related to cost. The costs of operation seem to be in more favorable proportion to sales at the Grandview Bistro. Initially, we must look to the nature of these costs and their relations to sales to find the differences between the two establishments. It is possible that the costs of operation are not well regulated, or controlled, by A Taste of Tuscany. It is also possible that sales are not well controlled, and that if Joan Bailey is going to increase her profit to a desirable level, she must begin by exercising greater control over the several kinds of operating costs, as well as over sales. The statement of income from the Grandview Bistro suggests that Bill Young has kept both costs and sales under control, and, as we shall see, this is critically important to the success of his business. Comparative investigation of the two restaurants would reveal that Bill Young had instituted various control procedures in the Grandview Bistro that are noticeably absent in Joan Bailey ’s business. These control procedures are important features of a computer program that plays a significant part in the operation of the Grandview Bistro. These procedures have enabled Bill to manage his business more effectively. It will be important, therefore, to look closely at the nature and effect of these control procedures in succeeding chapters. However, before proceeding, it will be useful to establish clear definitions of the terms cost, sales, and control. Cost and sales will be defined and discussed in this chapter; control will be covered in Chapter 2. COST CONCEPTS Definition of Cost Accountants define a cost as a reduction in the value of an asset for the purpose of securing benefit or gain. That definition, although technically c01.indd 10 7/25/08 9:48:33 AM COST CONCEPTS 11 correct, is not very useful in a basic discussion of controls, so we will modify it somewhat. As we use the term in our discussion of cost control in the food and beverage business, cost is defined as the expense to a foodservice establishment for goods or services when the goods are consumed or the services are rendered. Foods and beverages are considered “consumed” when they have been used, wastefully or otherwise, and are no longer available for the purposes for which they were acquired. Thus, the cost of a piece of meat is incurred when the piece is no longer available for the purpose for which it was purchased, because it has been cooked, served, or thrown away because it has spoiled, or even because it has been stolen. The cost of labor is incurred when people are on duty, whether or not they are working and whether they are paid at the end of a shift or at some later date. The cost of any item may be expressed in a variety of units: weight, volume, or total value. The cost of meat, for example, can be expressed as a value per piece, per pound, or per individual portion. The cost of liquor can be expressed as a value per bottle, per drink, or per ounce. Labor costs can be expressed as value per hour (an hourly wage, for example) or value per week (a weekly salary). Costs can be viewed in several different ways, and it will be useful to identify some of them before proceeding. Fixed and Variable Costs The terms fixed and variable are used to distinguish between those costs that have no direct relationship to business volume and those that do. Fixed Costs Fixed costs are normally unaffected by changes in sales volume. They are said to have little direct relationship to the business volume because they do not change significantly when the number of sales increases or decreases. Insurance premiums, real estate taxes, and depreciation on equipment are examples of fixed costs. Real estate taxes, after all, are set by governmental authorities and are based on a government’s need for a determined amount of total revenue. The real estate taxes for an individual establishment are based on the appraised value of the assessed property as real estate. Real estate taxes do not change when the sales volume in an establishment changes. All fixed costs change over time, sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing. However, changes in fixed costs are not normally related to short-term changes in business volume. They are sometimes tied indirectly c01.indd 11 7/25/08 9:48:33 AM 12 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS to long-term volume changes. For example, an increase in the cost of insurance premiums may be attributable to an insurance company ’s perception of increased risk associated with higher volume. Even though the increase in insurance cost is somehow related to an increase in volume, the cost of insurance is still considered a fixed cost. Advertising expense is another example: Larger establishments tend to spend more on advertising because their larger sales volume makes larger amounts of money available for the purpose, but advertising expense is still considered a fixed cost. The term fixed should never be taken to mean static or unchanging, but merely to indicate that any changes that may occur in such costs are related only indirectly or distantly to changes in volume. Sometimes, in fact, changes in fixed costs are wholly unrelated to changes in volume, as with real estate taxes. Other examples of costs that are generally considered fixed include repairs and maintenance, rent or occupancy costs, most utility costs, and the costs of professional services, such as accounting. Variable Costs Variable costs are clearly related to business volume. As business volume increases, variable costs will increase; as volume decreases, variable costs should decrease as well. The obvious examples of variable costs are food, beverages, and labor. However, there are significant differences between the behavior of food and beverage costs and the behavior of labor costs. Food and beverage costs are considered directly variable costs. Directly variable costs are directly linked to volume of business, so that every increase or decrease in volume brings a corresponding increase or decrease in cost. Every time a restaurant sells an order of steak, it incurs a cost for the meat. Similarly, each sale of a bottle of beer at the bar results in a cost for the beer. Total directly variable costs, then, increase or decrease—or at least should increase or decrease—in direct proportion to sales volume. Payroll costs (including salaries and wages and employee benefits, and often referred to as labor costs) present an interesting contrast. Foodservice employees may be divided into two categories—those whose numbers will remain constant despite normal fluctuations in business volume, and those whose numbers and consequent total costs should logically (and often will) vary with normal changes in business volume. The first category includes such personnel as the manager, bookkeeper, chef, and cashier. In terms of the preceding definition, they are fixed-cost personnel. Their numbers and costs may change, but not because of short-term changes in business volume. The second category includes the servers, or the waitstaff. As business volume changes, their numbers and total costs can be expected to increase c01.indd 12 7/25/08 9:48:34 AM COST CONCEPTS 13 or decrease accordingly. Both fixed-cost and variable-cost employees are included in one category on the statement of income: salaries and wages. Because payroll cost has both the fixed element and the variable element, it is known as a semivariable cost, meaning that a portion of it should change with short-term changes in business volume and another portion should not. It must be noted that each establishment must determine which employees should be fixed-cost personnel and which should be variable cost. In some specialized cases, it is possible for payroll to consist entirely of either fixed-cost or variable-cost personnel. For example, there are some restaurants in which the entire staff works for hourly wages. In these cases, numbers of hours worked and consequent costs are almost wholly related to business volume. Conversely, in some smaller restaurants, employees may all be on regular salaries, in which case labor cost is considered fixed. Controllable and Noncontrollable Costs Costs may also be labeled controllable and noncontrollable. Controllable costs can be changed in the short term. Variable costs are normally controllable. The cost of food or beverages, for example, can be changed in several ways—by changing portion sizes, by changing ingredients in a recipe, or by changing the quality of the products purchased. The cost of labor can be increased or decreased in the short term by hiring additional employees or by laying some off, by increasing or decreasing the hours of work, or, in some instances, by increasing or decreasing wages. In addition, certain fixed costs are controllable, including advertising and promotion, utilities, repairs and maintenance, and administrative and general expenses, a category that includes office supplies, postage, and telephone expenses, among others. It is possible for owners or managers to make decisions that will change any of these in the short term. In contrast, noncontrollable costs cannot normally be changed in the short term. These are usually fixed costs, and a list of the more common ones would include rent, interest on a mortgage, real estate taxes, license fees, and depreciation. Managers do not normally have the ability to change any of these costs in the near term. Unit and Total Costs It is also important to distinguish between unit costs and total costs. The units may be food or beverage portions, as in the cost of one steak or one c01.indd 13 7/25/08 9:48:34 AM 14 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS martini, or units of work, as in the hourly rate for an employee. It is also useful to consider costs in terms of totals, as in the total cost of all food served in one period, such as a week or a month, or the total cost of labor for one period. The costs on a statement of income are all total costs, rather than unit costs. These concepts are best illustrated by example. In the Grandview Bistro, where steaks are cut from strip loins, a strip loin was purchased for $98.25. If one entire strip were consumed in one day, the total cost would be $98.25. However, the cost per unit (the steak) depends on the number of steaks cut from the strip. If there are 15, the unit cost is an average of $6.55. No two of the 15 steaks are likely to have identical costs, because it is not normally possible for a butcher to cut all steaks to exactly the same weight. In the food and beverage business, we commonly deal with average unit costs, rather than actual unit costs. It is important to know unit costs for purposes of establishing menu prices and determining unit profitability. Total costs, including those that appear in statements of income, are normally used for broader purposes, including determining the relationship between total costs and total sales—as discussed later in this chapter—and determining overall profitability of operations. It is important to note that, as business volume changes, total and unit costs are affected in different ways. Assume that a restaurant has a fixed cost for rent of $2,000 per month. If 2,000 customers were served during a period of one month, the fixed cost of rent per customer would be $1.00. If, in the succeeding month, the number of customers increased to 4,000, the total fixed cost for rent would not change, but the fixed cost per unit (customer) would be reduced from $1.00 to $0.50. A similar analysis may be done with variable costs. The variable cost for the steak described earlier is $6.55 per unit. If 240 customers in a given month order steak, the total variable cost would be $1,572, at $6.55 average unit cost per steak. If, in the following month, 300 customers order steak, the variable cost per unit (the steak) should remain at $6.55, whereas the total variable cost for 300 steaks increases to $1,965. The preceding paragraphs illustrate cost behavior only as business volume increases, but it is important to recognize that costs behave similarly as business volume decreases. The relationships hold true. Figure 1.4 illustrates the behavior of fixed and variable costs per unit and in total. It is important to understand these relationships when dealing with cost/volume/profit analysis and the calculation of break-even points, which are discussed in Chapter 3. c01.indd 14 7/25/08 9:48:35 AM COST CONCEPTS 15 • FIGURE 1.4 • Cost Behavior as Business Volume Changes Fixed cost Variable cost Unit Costs Total Cost Changes Does not change Does not change Changes It must be noted that this relationship does not always hold true. As volume increases, some variable costs have a tendency to decrease. This is particularly true with variable labor costs, because workers become more productive with greater time utilization. Food can be purchased cheaper in larger quantities and can thus reduce variable costs. Prime Cost Prime cost is a term our industry uses to refer to the costs of materials and labor: food, beverages, and payroll. Unfortunately, although everyone agrees that total food costs and total beverage costs should be included in prime cost, there is no general agreement on the payroll cost component. Some would include all payroll costs, whereas others would include only the cost of kitchen staff. In this text, prime cost is defined as the sum of food costs, beverage costs, and labor costs (salaries and wages, plus employee benefits). Referring to Figure 1.3, these costs for the Grandview Bistro are $351,429 (food and beverage costs), $209,809 (labor costs), and $47,207 (employee benefits). These, taken together ($608,445), represent the largest portion of total costs for virtually all foodservice operations. In addition, management can typically alter these costs more easily than most fixed costs. Consequently, prime cost is of the greatest interest to most owners and managers. The level and control of prime cost plays a large part in determining whether an establishment will meet its financial goals. In this text, we therefore concentrate on those controllable costs that are most important in determining profit: food cost, beverage cost, and labor cost. Historical and Planned Costs Two additional cost concepts are important for those seeking to comprehend cost control: historical cost and planned cost. The definition of cost at the beginning of this chapter carries with it an implication that all costs are historical—that is, that they can be found in business records, books of c01.indd 15 7/25/08 9:48:36 AM 16 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS account, financial statements, invoices, employees’ time cards, and other similar records. Historical costs are used for various important purposes, such as establishing unit costs, determining menu prices, and comparing present with past labor costs. However, the value of historical costs is not limited to these few purposes. Historical records of costs are of particular value for planning—for determining in the present what is likely to happen in the future. Planning is among the most important functions of management, and, in order to plan effectively, managers use historical costs to develop planned costs—projections of what costs will be or should be for a future period. Thus, historical costs are necessary for effective planning. This kind of planning is often called budgeting, a topic to be discussed in Chapter 2. SALES CONCEPTS A brief introduction to costs in food and beverage operations having been given, it will be useful to establish a working definition of the term sales and to examine some of the principal sales concepts required for an understanding of control in foodservice. The term sales is used in several ways among professionals in the foodservice industry. For the term to be meaningful, one must be specific about the context in which it is used. The following paragraphs therefore define the term and explore some of the many ways it is used in the industry. Sales Defined In general, the term sales is defined as revenue resulting from the exchange of products and services for value. In our industry, food and beverage sales are exchanges of the products and services of a restaurant, bar, or related enterprise for value. We normally express sales in monetary terms, although there are other possibilities. Actually, there are two basic groups of terms normally used in food and beverage operations to express sales concepts: monetary and nonmonetary. Monetary Terms Total Sales Total sales is a term that refers to the total volume of sales expressed in dollar terms. This may be for any given time period, such as a week, a month, c01.indd 16 7/25/08 9:48:36 AM SALES CONCEPTS 17 or a year. For example, total dollar sales for the Grandview Bistro was expressed as $1,049,043 for the year ending December 31, 20XX. Total Sales by Category. Examples of total dollar sales by category are total food sales or total beverage sales, referring to the total dollar volume of sales for all items in one category. By extension, we may see such terms as total steak sales or total seafood sales, referring to the total dollar volume of sales for all items in those particular categories. Total Sales per Server. Total sales per server is the total dollar volume of sales for which a given server has been responsible in a given time period, such as a meal period, a day, or a week. Management sometimes uses these figures to make judgments about the comparative performance of two or more employees. It may be helpful, for example, to identify those servers responsible for the greatest and least dollar sales in a given period. Total Sales per Seat. Total sales per seat is the total dollar sales for a given time period divided by the number of seats in the restaurant. The normal time period used is one year. This figure is most frequently used by chain operations as a means for comparing sales results of one unit with those of another. In addition, the National Restaurant Association determines this average nationally so that individual operators may compare their results with those of other similar restaurants. Sales Price. Sales price refers to the amount charged to each customer purchasing one unit of a particular item. The unit may be a single item (e.g., an appetizer or an entrée) or an entire meal, depending on the manner in which a restaurant prices its products. Figure 1.2 shows the sales prices for each of the dinner menu items at the Grandview Bistro. The sum of all sales prices charged for all items sold in a given time period will be total dollar sales for that time period. Figure 1.5 shows the sales on one particular Saturday. Total dollar sales for soups, appetizers, entrées, and desserts is shown as $3,902.30. Average Sale. An average sale in business is determined by adding individual sales to determine a total and then dividing that total by the number of individual sales. There are two such averages commonly calculated in food and beverage operations: average check and average sale per server. c01.indd 17 7/25/08 9:48:37 AM 18 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS • FIGURE 1.5 • The Grandview Bistro Daily Sales and Covers, Saturday, February 6, 20XX Menu Item Bean Soup Fish Chowder Duck Empanadas Vegetable Tartlets Salmon Cheesecake Oysters Rockefeller Eggplant Roulade Shiitake Mushrooms Strip Steak Tournedos Rossini Roasted Duck Breast Lamb Chops Loin of Pork Ginger Shrimp Vegetarian Burrito Tea-Smoked Salmon Pan-Seared Chicken Parmesan Veal Steak Steak Diane Chicken Albufera Trout Grenobloise Shrimp à la Marseille Fruites de Mer Catch of the Day Cheesecakelettes Chocolate Torte Fresh Fruit Tart Total Covers Total Sales Number Sold 16 24 13 9 16 17 9 14 13 10 5 8 6 9 6 13 9 7 8 11 9 6 9 11 15 25 28 Sales Price, $ $4.95 8.25 7.65 6.50 8.20 9.35 5.50 5.50 23.65 24.75 21.40 21.50 20.50 18.00 16.50 19.20 16.50 20.85 24.75 16.45 19.00 19.95 21.40 16.50 3.85 4.40 2.75 Total Sales, $ $79.20 198.00 99.45 58.50 131.20 158.95 49.50 77.00 307.45 247.50 107.00 172.00 123.00 162.00 99.00 249.60 148.50 145.95 198.00 180.95 171.00 119.70 192.60 181.50 57.75 110.00 77.00 140 $3,902.30 Average Check. Average check is the result of dividing total dollar sales by the number of sales or customers. In the foodservice industry, this is also known as covers. The term cover is defined in greater detail later in the chapter. c01.indd 18 7/25/08 9:48:38 AM SALES CONCEPTS 19 This average is determined as follows: Average check Total dollar sales Total number of covers Figure 1.5 shows total sales of $3,902.30 and 140 covers. Thus, Average sale $3,902.30 140 $27.87 Note that appetizers and desserts are not included when determining the number of covers. The assumption is that each customer ordered an entrée and that appetizers and desserts were additional orders placed by customers. This figure is for food only and does not include beverages. Many restaurants keep food and beverage figures separate when calculating average sale per customer. The average dollar sale is used by foodservice operators to compare the sales performance of one employee with that of another, to identify sales trends, and to compare the effectiveness of various menus, menu listings, or sales promotions. This figure is of considerable interest to managers, who are likely to be watching business trends. If the average sale decreases over time, management will probably investigate the reasons for the changes in customer spending habits. Possibilities include a deterioration in service standards, customer dissatisfaction with food quality, inadequate sales promotion, and changes in portion sizes. Average Sale per Server. Average sale per server is total dollar sales for an individual server divided by the number of customers served by that individual. This, too, is a figure used for comparative purposes, and it is usually considered a better indicator of the sales ability of a particular individual because, unlike total sales per server, it eliminates differences caused by variations in the numbers of persons served. If the Grandview Bistro had four servers on duty, and Jim, one of the servers, had 30 customers and total dollar sale of $565 on the Saturday night of February 13, average sale per server for Jim would be calculated as follows: Average sale for Jim Total sales for Jim Number of customers for Jim $565 30 $18.83 c01.indd 19 7/25/08 9:48:39 AM 20 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS The average sale per server for Jim would be compared with other servers’. If Jim’s average sale per customer was considerably lower than other servers, management might look into the reason why, and possibly decide to retrain Jim in the selling aspects of serving. All of these monetary sales concepts are common in the industry and are likely to be encountered quickly by those seeking careers in food and beverage management. Yet several nonmonetary sales concepts and terms should also be understood. Nonmonetary Terms Total Number Sold Total number sold refers to the total number of steaks, shrimp cocktails, or any other menu items sold in a given time period. This figure is useful in several ways. For example, foodservice managers use total number sold to identify unpopular menu items in order to eliminate such items from the menu. In addition, historical records of total numbers of specific items sold are useful for forecasting sales. Such forecasts are helpful in making decisions about purchasing and production. Total number of a specific item sold is a figure used to make judgments about quantities in inventory and about sales records, as discussed in later chapters. For example, Figure 1.5 shows that only five orders of roasted duck breast, six orders of loin of pork, and six orders of vegetarian burrito were sold on the day these calculations were made. The purchasing steward would track these items carefully so as not to order too much. Additionally, the manager might consider eliminating these three items from the menu if the number sold does not improve. Covers Cover is a term used in the industry to describe one diner, regardless of the quantity of food he or she consumes. An individual consuming a continental breakfast in a hotel coffee shop is counted as one cover. So is another individual in the same coffee shop who orders a full breakfast consisting of juice, eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee. These two diners are counted as two covers. Total Covers. Total covers refers to the total number of customers served in a given period—an hour, a meal period, a day, a week, or some other period. Foodservice managers are usually particularly interested in these figures, which are compared with figures for similar periods in the past so that c01.indd 20 7/25/08 9:48:39 AM SALES CONCEPTS 21 judgments can be made about business trends. As shown in Figure 1.5, there were 140 covers for that Saturday night. Average Covers. An average number of covers is determined by dividing the total number of covers for a given time period by some other number. That number may be the number of hours in a meal period, the number of days the establishment is open per week, or the number of servers on duty during the time period, among many other possibilities. The following calculations are some of the more common ones used: Covers per hour Total covers Number of hours of operation Covers per day Total covers Number of days of operation Covers per server Total covers Number of servers The averages so derived can be of considerable help to a manager attempting to make judgments about such common questions as the efficiency of service in the dining room, the effectiveness of a promotional campaign, or the effectiveness of a particular server. Seat Turnover Seat turnover, most often called simply turnover or turns, refers to the number of seats occupied during a given period (or the number of customers served during that period) divided by the number of seats available. For example, Figure 1.5 shows 140 customers served during that one Saturday meal. The restaurant has 75 seats, so seat turnover would be calculated as follows: Seat turnover Number of customers served ÷ Number of seats 140 75 1.87 turns In other words, each seat in the Grandview Bistro was occupied an average of 1.87 times during that Saturday dinner meal. Seat turnover may be calculated for any period, but is most often calculated for a given meal period. Sales Mix Sales mix is a term used to describe the relative quantity sold of any menu item as compared with other items in the same category. The relative c01.indd 21 7/25/08 9:48:40 AM 22 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS • FIGURE 1.6 • The Grandview Bistro Sales Mix, Saturday February 6, 20XX Menu Item Strip Steak Tournedos Rossini Roasted Duck Breast Lamb Chops Loin of Pork Ginger Shrimp Vegetarian Burrito Tea-Smoked Salmon Pan-Seared Chicken Parmesan Veal Steak Steak Diane Chicken Albufera Trout Grenobloise Shrimp à la Marseille Fruites de Mer Catch of the Day Total Covers Number Sold Sales Mix, % 13 10 5 8 6 9 6 13 9 7 8 11 9 6 9 11 9.29 7.14 3.57 5.71 4.29 6.43 4.29 9.29 6.43 5.00 5.71 7.86 6.43 4.29 6.43 7.86 140 100.00 quantities are normally percentages of total unit sales and always total 100 percent. Figure 1.6 shows the number of entrées sold for each of the entrée items, and the sales mix at the Grandview Bistro for Saturday, February 6. Note that the percentages vary from 3.57 percent to 9.29 percent. These percentages will be significant when we discuss Menu Engineering in Chapter 11. THE COST-TO-SALES RATIO: COST PERCENT Raw dollar figures for directly variable and semivariable costs are seldom, if ever, of any particular significance for control purposes. Because these costs vary to some extent with business volume, they become significant only when expressed in relation to that volume with which they vary. Foodservice managers calculate costs in dollars and compare those costs with sales in dollars. This enables them to discuss the relationship between costs and sales, sometimes described as the cost per dollar of sale, the ratio of costs c01.indd 22 7/25/08 9:48:40 AM THE COST-TO-SALES RATIO: COST PERCENT 23 to sales, or simply as the cost-to-sales ratio. The industry uses the following basic formula for calculating cost-to-sales ratio. Cost Sales Cost per dollar of sale The formula normally results in a decimal answer, and any decimal can be converted to a percentage if one multiplies it by 100 and adds a percent sign (%). This is the same as simply moving the decimal point two places to the right and adding a percent sign. This is the formula used to calculate cost percents; it is commonly written as Cost Sales 100 Cost% This formula can then be extended to show the following relationships: Food cost Food sales 100 Food cost% Beverage cost Beverage sales 100 Beverage cost% Labor cost Total sales 100 Labor cost% Consider Figures 1.1 and 1.3, the statements of income for the two establishments described earlier—A Taste of Tuscany and the Grandview Bistro. In the case of the Grandview Bistro, we saw that food costing $312,090 ultimately resulted in sales of $891,687. To determine the percentage of sales represented by cost, we divide cost by sales, as in the preceding formula, and multiply the resulting decimal answer by 100 in order to convert it to a percentage. The costing triangle illustrated in Figure 1.7a is very useful when solving cost percent formulas. It should be noted that the costing triangle can be used to solve for cost percent as well as for cost and sales. The idea is that any number over another number indicates division, therefore in Figure 1.7a, cost divided by sales multiplied by 100 is equal to cost percent. Similarly, when solving for sales, the cost would be over the cost percent figure, as shown in Figure 1.7b, thus cost divided by cost percent (after converting to a decimal) is equal to sales. Finally, when using the costing triangle to solve for cost, the cost percent and sales numbers are side by side, as shown in Figure 1.7c. In this case, we multiply to find the unknown cost, remembering always to convert percents to decimals before using in a formula: $312,090 $891,687 .35 and .35 100 35.0% c01.indd 23 7/25/08 9:48:41 AM 24 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS • FIGURE 1.7 • Costing Triangle Cost Cost Cost % Sales % Solving for cost percent: Remember to multiply solution by 100 to convert to a percent (a) Sales % Solving for sales: Remember to divide percent by 100 to convert to a decimal (b) Sales Solving for cost: Remember to divide percent by 100 to convert to a decimal (c) Thus, we learn that the food cost percent, or the food cost-to-sales ratio, in the Grandview Bistro over the past year has been 35 percent. This tells us that 35 percent of the income from food sales over the year has gone to cover the cost of the food. Because the cost of food represents $0.35 out of each $1.00 in sales, we can also say that food cost per dollar sale is $0.35. Following the same formula, we may now take the figures for food costs and food sales from the statement of income for A Taste of Tuscany and calculate both the food cost percent and the cost per dollar of sale for purposes of comparison: $708,431 $1,686,740 .42 and .42 100 42.0% So, in the case of A Taste of Tuscany, the food cost per dollar of sale is $0.42, and the food cost percent is 42 percent. Cost percents are useful to managers in at least two ways: (1) they provide a means of comparing costs relative to sales for two or more periods of time; and (2) they provide a means of comparing two or more operations. When comparing cost percents for two or more operations, it is important to note that the comparisons are valid only if the operations are similar. Thus, one can compare two fast-food restaurants offering similar products, but one cannot compare a French restaurant with a local diner and expect the comparison to be meaningful. Useful information about the two restaurants is compared in Figure 1.8. c01.indd 24 7/25/08 9:48:42 AM THE COST-TO-SALES RATIO: COST PERCENT 25 • FIGURE 1.8 • Comparison of Costs and Sales, The Grandview Bistro and A Taste of Tuscany Food Sales Cost of Food Sold Cost per dollar of sale Food cost % The Grandview Bistro A Taste of Tuscany $891,687 $312,090 $0.35 35% $1,686,740 $708,431 $0.42 42% It is only at this point that the figures can begin to take on some real meaning and that one can begin to compare them intelligently. It is significant that a principal difference between the two restaurants lies in the fact that the food cost per dollar of sale is $.07 higher in one. Expressed another way, one can say that the cost-to-sales ratio for food is 7 percent higher at A Taste of Tuscany. It is not until raw dollar figures have been converted to this form that there is any useful way of comparing them. Because food cost is variable, it increases and decreases with sales volume. It would not be possible to make useful comparisons between operating periods for one restaurant or between similar restaurants (as in a chain, for example) unless one were to work with cost percents, or with costs per dollar of sale. Because cost-control figures in the hospitality industry are most commonly expressed in terms of cost percents, we will deal with those figures in this text. In addition, because real dollar figures in real restaurant operations seldom result in round numbers, our percents will be expressed in tenths of 1 percent—35.9 percent or 36.2 percent, for example. This, too, is common in the hospitality industry and permits a greater degree of accuracy. After all, in the case of the Grandview Bistro, one-tenth of 1 percent of sales is $891.69, which is a considerable number of real dollars. Using the preceding formula, it is now possible to develop a chart (Figure 1.9) comparing cost percents in the two restaurants. It is both interesting and significant that the cost percents for prime cost as well as the components of prime cost—food, beverages, and labor— are all higher at A Taste of Tuscany than they are at the Grandview Bistro. The remaining costs are lower in A Taste of Tuscany when expressed as a percent of sales. In foodservice, these remaining costs are often referred to as overhead costs. In this text, the term overhead cost is used to mean all costs other than prime cost. Overhead normally consists of all the fixed costs associated with operating the business. One of the reasons that the overhead c01.indd 25 7/25/08 9:48:42 AM 26 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS • FIGURE 1.9 • Comparison of Cost Percentages, The Grandview Bistro and A Taste of Tuscany Food cost as a % of food sales Beverage cost as a % of beverage sales Combined food and beverage cost as a % of total sales Payroll as a % of total sales Overhead as a % of total sales Prime cost as a % of total sales Profit before taxes as a % of total sales Grandview Bistro A Taste of Tuscany 35.00% 25.00% 33.50% 42.00% 32.00% 40.50% 24.50% 29.73% 58.00% 12.27% 33.75% 23.31% 74.25% 2.44% costs of A Taste of Tuscany are lower than those of the Grandview Bistro, when expressed as a percentage of sales, is the higher sales volume of A Taste of Tuscany. It is normal for high-volume restaurants to have a lower overhead cost percentage than restaurants with lower volume of sales. Nevertheless, the Grandview Bistro still makes a higher profit than A Taste of Tuscany and has a much higher profit percentage. As explained in Figure 1.7, sometimes the formula Cost Sales 100 Cost% is rearranged algebraically to facilitate other calculations. For instance, suppose a banquet manager has been directed by her boss to ensure that all banquet functions operate at a given food cost percent, and she wants to quote a sales price for a particular menu item, the cost of which is known. The calculation of sales price is simplified if the formula is rearranged in the following form: Cost Cost% (expressed as a decimal) Sales (or sales price) Remember: When working with percents, one must convert to a decimal before using it in a formula. If the given cost percentage were 30.0 percent and the food cost for the item were $3.60, the appropriate sales price would be $12.00, as illustrated here: c01.indd 26 7/25/08 9:48:43 AM THE COST-TO-SALES RATIO: COST PERCENT 27 30.0% 100 0.3 $3.60 0.3 $12.00 Suppose this banquet manager is dealing with a group willing to spend $15.00 per person for a banquet, and the same given 30.0 percent cost percent is to apply. Calculation of the maximum permissible cost per person is facilitated by rearranging the formula once again: Sales Cost% (expressed as a decimal) Cost So the cost per person can be calculated as $4.50: 30.0% 100 0.3 $15.00 0.3 $4.50 In summary, the cost percent formula can be written and used in any one of three possible forms: Cost Sales Cost% Cost Cost% (expressed as a decimal) Sales Sales Cost% (expressed as a decimal) Cost The foregoing discussion has assumed that food and beverage costs are relatively stable over time and that one can readily predict future costs accurately. Unfortunately, that is not normally the case. However, it is often necessary to quote prices for functions to be held some months in the future. To do so with some reasonable degree of accuracy, one should consider both seasonal fluctuations in costs and inflation rates. For example, the price of most shellfish is highest in New England during the winter months when the catch is smallest, and this fact should be taken into account when quoting prices in July for a function to be held in January. Moreover, in times of inflation, various food costs increase at various rates. These can frequently be anticipated by management from published information and should be taken into account when quoting future sales prices. An example is the case of an establishment quoting a banquet price for a date six months in the future when the current rate of inflation is 5 percent on an annual basis. If the current food cost for one item is calculated to be $4.00, the manager may be reasonably sure that the cost will be somewhat higher in six months. c01.indd 27 7/25/08 9:48:44 AM 28 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS Although it is not possible to predict a future cost with perfect accuracy, it is possible to approximate it. A simple way is to assume that one-half of the annual rate will apply to the first six months of the upcoming year, and thus use 2.5 percent (one-half of 5 percent) as the approximate future cost—$4.10, in this case. Assuming a preestablished food cost percent of 30 percent, sales price will be increased from $13.33 to $13.67, as illustrated here. 30.0% 100 0.3 $4.00 0.3 $13.33 versus $4.10 0.3 $13.67 Mathematicians will immediately recognize that this calculation is not wholly accurate. However, it does offer a simple system for taking inflation into account and is clearly better than ignoring inflation completely. Industrywide Variations in Cost Percents Cost percents vary considerably from one foodservice operation to another. There are many possible reasons for these variations, several of which are discussed in the following paragraphs. Some of the factors contributing to these variations are type of service, location, price structure, and type of menu. In very broad terms, there are two basic types of foodservice operations: 1. Those that operate at a low margin of profit per item served and depend on relatively high business volume 2. Those that operate at a relatively high margin of profit per item and therefore do not require such high business volume It is apparent that if two operations—one of each type—were to have any menu items in common, the menu price would tend to be lower in the operation of the first type. The following examples of the cost structures of establishments in these two categories are intended to serve only as illustrations of relative costs. The examples should not be taken to imply either that these are standards for the industry or that any particular restaurant should have or should strive to achieve the illustrated cost structure. The cost structure for each individual restaurant must be determined for that restaurant alone, the obvious point being that, as percentages of sales, costs must always total less than 100.0 percent if the operation is to be profitable. Restaurants that depend principally on convenience foods—the socalled fast-food or quick-service operations—are generally included in the c01.indd 28 7/25/08 9:48:44 AM THE COST-TO-SALES RATIO: COST PERCENT 29 • FIGURE 1.10 • Cost Analysis for Typical Low-Margin Restaurant Cost of food and beverages Labor cost Other controllable and noncontrollable costs Profit before income taxes Total 40% 20 30 10 100% first (low margin) category. Because of relatively lower menu prices, the food cost percents in these restaurants tend to be higher. However, they hire unskilled personnel, pay lower wages, and keep the number of employees at a minimum. This makes it possible for them to offset high food cost percent with low labor cost and low labor cost percent. A typical cost analysis for such a restaurant is shown in Figure 1.10. Restaurants in the second (high margin) category tend to depend less on convenience foods, catering to customers who prefer fresh foods (often prepared gourmet-style) and more personal service. This type of food preparation and service usually requires a greater number of personnel who are more highly skilled and often better paid. This tends to keep the cost of labor higher in these restaurants than in establishments of the first type cited. However, the food cost percent in such establishments tends to be lower, partly because of higher menu prices and partly because foods purchased in raw form are less expensive than preportioned convenience items. An analysis of costs for a typical restaurant of this type would resemble that in Figure 1.11. It is important to note that operations in the first category require greater numbers of customers to achieve a given dollar volume of sales. In the second example, partly because of higher menu prices, fewer customers • FIGURE 1.11 • Cost Analysis for Typical High-Margin Restaurant Cost of food and beverages Labor cost Other controllable and noncontrollable costs Profit before income taxes Total c01.indd 29 25% 35 30 10 100% 7/25/08 9:48:45 AM 30 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS are required to reach a given dollar volume. In general, it is possible to achieve a profit with fewer customers if menu prices are high. In the two examples cited, profit as a percentage of sales is shown to be 10.0 percent. It must be remembered that these figures are not to be taken as industry standards or even as necessarily desirable standards. Some experts believe that 5.0 percent profit is desirable; others think that a lower percentage of profit will help ensure customer satisfaction and will induce customers to return regularly. If true, this would be likely to lengthen the business life of a restaurant. The appropriate percentage of profit for a given restaurant must be based on other factors, such as desired return on investment, the real and perceived risks of being in the foodservice business as compared with other forms of investment, the return one might expect to earn in some other business, and a whole range of considerations involving the competition in a specific market. In the last analysis, evaluations and judgments about costs, sales, and profits must be made on an individual, case-by-case basis. Each restaurant tends to be unique. Monitoring Costs and Sales It is obvious that total sales must exceed total costs if a foodservice enterprise is to be profitable. If costs exceed sales for an extended period of time, the enterprise may eventually face bankruptcy. At the very least, the owner will have to put additional funds into the business to keep it going. It is the job of the manager—and the cost controller, if there is one—to be constantly aware of the costs of operating the business and to keep these costs below the level of sales. Fortunately, many smaller operations and most larger operations have the benefit of computers and industry-specific computer programs that automatically calculate the data described in this chapter (see Chapter 2 for an example of such a program). Daily reports printed out by the computer allow management to monitor various cost and sales information, as well as the important ratios (percents). These ratios are compared with the same ratios from previous periods, and judgments are made about whether the ratios are satisfactory. If not, remedial steps must be taken to bring these ratios into line with those of previous periods. It is important that the cost and sales data used to calculate these ratios be from like periods. Customarily, comparisons are made for specific days of the week—Monday of last week compared with Monday of this week, for example. Sometimes comparisons are made of like weeks in two different c01.indd 30 7/25/08 9:48:45 AM CHAPTER ESSENTIALS 31 months—the first week in June compared with the first week in July, for example. Sometimes trends can be identified by those who track these ratios from week to week. However, there are still many establishments in which cost and sales data are seldom examined and ratios are rarely calculated. If this is the case, it should be obvious that management is taking a high degree of risk. Establishments that gather cost and sales information only monthly, quarterly, or annually may not be able to take effective remedial action, because the information is not sufficiently timely to shed light on current problems. CHAPTER ESSENTIALS In this chapter, we defined cost as the term is used in the foodservice industry and showed that all industry-related costs can be viewed from several perspectives, including fixed versus variable (with some variable costs being directly variable and others being semivariable), controllable versus noncontrollable, total versus unit, and historical versus planned. We defined the term prime cost and showed how the components of the prime cost relate to one another as well as to total sales. We defined sales and illustrated special terms commonly used in the industry to discuss and compare various ways of identifying and expressing sales. Monetary expressions of sales include total sales; total sales by category, by server, and by seat; sales prices; and average sale per customer and per server. We defined the term cover, and identified such nonmonetary expressions of sales as total number sold, total covers, average covers, seat turnover, and sales mix. We defined the cost-tosales ratio and provided the formulas used in the industry for various common calculations. We also showed how cost-to-sales ratios may vary from one establishment to another throughout the industry. Finally, we discussed the importance of monitoring cost and sales data and of calculating significant ratios regularly. An understanding of these concepts will provide the necessary foundation for those seeking to understand and apply the control process in food service. c01.indd 31 7/25/08 9:48:46 AM 32 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS KEY TERMS IN THIS CHAPTER Average number of covers Average sale Average check Average sale per server Controllable costs Cost Cost per dollar of sale Cost percent Cover Directly variable costs Fixed costs Historical cost Labor costs Noncontrollable costs Overhead Planned cost Prime cost Sales Sales mix Sales price Seat turnover Semivariable cost Total costs Total covers Total dollar sales by category Total number sold Total sales Total sales per seat Total sales per server Unit costs Variable costs QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 1. Given the following information, calculate cost percentages. Round your answers to the nearest tenth of a percent. a. Cost, $200.00; Sales, $500.00 b. Cost, $150.00; Sales, $500.00 c. Cost, $178.50; Sales, $700.00 d. Cost, $216.80; Sales, $800.00 e. Cost, $127.80; Sales, $450.00 f. Cost, $610.00; Sales, $2,000.00 2. Calculate cost, given the following figures for cost percent and sales: a. Cost percent, 28.0%; Sales, $500.00 b. Cost percent, 34.5%; Sales, $2,400.00 c. Cost percent, 24.8%; Sales, $225.00 d. Cost percent, 31.6%; Sales, $1,065.00 e. Cost percent, 29.7%; Sales, $790.00 f. Cost percent, 21.2%; Sales, $4,100.00 3. Calculate sales, given the following figures for cost percent and cost: a. Cost percent, 30.0%; Cost, $90.00 b. Cost percent, 25.0%; Cost, $500.00 c01.indd 32 7/25/08 9:48:47 AM QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. c01.indd 33 33 c. Cost percent, 33.3%; Cost, $1,000.00 d. Cost percent, 27.3%; Cost, $1,300.40 e. Cost percent, 24.5%; Cost, $88.20 f. Cost percent, 34.8%; Cost, $1,113.60 List three examples of foodservice costs that are fixed. Are they controllable? Explain your answers. List three examples of foodservice costs that are variable. Are they controllable? Explain your answers. Write a short paragraph illustrating why a comparison of raw dollar costs in two restaurants would not be meaningful, but a comparison of the cost percents for food, beverages, labor, and overhead might be. The present cost to Lil’s Restaurant for one à la carte steak is $3.20. This is 40 percent of the menu sales price. a. What is the present sales price? b. At an annual inflation rate of 5 percent, what is this steak likely to cost one year from today? c. Using the cost calculated in (b) above, what should the menu sales price be for this item in one year if the cost percent at that time is to be 38 percent? d. If you were a banquet manager planning a function six months from now and planning to use this item, what unit cost would you plan for? e. The banquet manager in (d) above has already calculated that the other items included in this banquet menu will have increased in cost in six months from $2.00 to $2.11. What should the sales price per person be for this banquet if the desired cost percentage is 40 percent? At the Loner Inn, total fixed costs for October were $28,422.80. In that month, 14,228 covers were served. a. What was the fixed cost per cover for October? b. Assume that fixed costs will increase by 2 percent in November. Determine fixed cost per cover if the number of covers decreases by 10 percent in November. Joe’s Downtown Restaurant purchases domestic red wine at $9.20 per bottle. Each bottle contains 3 liters, the equivalent of 101 ounces. The wine is served in 5-ounce glasses, and management allows for 1 ounce of spillage per 3-liter bottle. a. What is the average unit cost per drink? b. What is the total cost of 60 glasses of wine? 7/25/08 9:48:47 AM 34 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS c. The banquet manager is planning a function for 120 persons for next Friday evening. Each guest will be given one glass of wine. How many bottles should be ordered for the party? d. What will be the unit cost of the wine? The total cost? 10. Sales records for a luncheon in the Newmarket Restaurant for a recent week were: Item A, 196 Item B, 72 Item C, 142 Item D, 24 Item E, 112 Item F, 224 Item G, 162 Given this information, calculate the sales mix. 11. Calculate the average check from the following data: a. Sales, $1,000.00; Number of customers, 125 b. Sales, $1,300.00; Number of customers, 158 c. Sales, $8,720.53; Number of customers, 976 12. The following table indicates the number of covers served and the gross sales per server for one three-hour period in Sally ’s Restaurant. Determine: (a) the average number of covers served per hour per server, and (b) the average sale per server for the three-hour period. Server A B C Covers Served 71 66 58 Gross Sales Per Server $237.40 $263.95 $188.25 13. Use the information about Sally ’s Restaurant identified in Question 12 to complete the following: a. Calculate the average check. b. Calculate the turnover for the three-hour period if there are 65 seats in the restaurant. 14. Given the information about Sally ’s Restaurant identified in Questions 12 and 13, assume the restaurant had 85,629 customers per year and gross sales were $352,783.40. a. Calculate the average check. b. Calculate sales per seat for the year. c01.indd 34 7/25/08 9:48:48 AM EXCEL EXERCISES 35 15. The financial records of the Colonial Restaurant reveal the following figures for the year ending December 31, 20XX: Depreciation, $25,000 Food sales, $375,000 Cost of beverages sold, $30,000 Other controllable expenses, $60,000 Salaries and wages, $130,000 Beverage sales, $125,000 Employee benefits, $20,000 Cost of food sold, $127,500 Occupancy costs, $55,000 a. Following the form illustrated in Figure 1.1, prepare a statement of income for the business. b. Determine the following percentages: Food cost percent Labor cost percent (payroll, plus payroll taxes and employee benefits) Beverage cost percent Combined food and beverage cost percent Percentage of profit before income taxes c. Assuming the restaurant has 75 seats, determine food sales per seat for the year. 16. Define the key terms in this chapter. EXCEL EXERCISES The disk accompanying this text provides computer exercises for students using Microsoft Excel. Bring up the exercises for each chapter on your Excel spreadsheet and complete the problems. Students using another spreadsheet program can complete these exercises but must construct their own templates, using the illustrations in the text as examples. Barnaby ’s Hideaway is a 140-seat restaurant located on the outskirts of a city of 250,000 population. Its menu is shown as Figure 1.12. Exercise 1.1 Complete the income statement for Barnaby ’s Hideaway by inserting the following figures in the appropriate places. Print your completed income statement. This will give you printed information for completing Exercises 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4. c01.indd 35 7/25/08 9:48:48 AM 36 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS Sales Food, $1,120,964 Beverage, $465,200 Cost of Sales Food, $392,337 Beverage, $102,344 Salaries and Wages, $396,541 Employee Benefits, $99,135 Other Controllable Expenses, $275,330 Occupancy Costs, $75,230 Interest, $25,600 Depreciation, $79,099 Exercise 1.2 On your Excel spreadsheet, calculate food cost percent and labor cost percent for Barnaby ’s Hideaway. Exercise 1.3 On your Excel spreadsheet, calculate overhead as a percentage of total sales for Barnaby ’s Hideaway. Exercise 1.4 On your Excel spreadsheet, calculate prime cost as a percentage of total costs for Barnaby ’s Hideaway. When completed, add the cost percentages for prime cost, overhead costs, and profit to arrive at 100 percent. Exercise 1.5 Sales for one Friday night are shown on your disk. On your Excel spreadsheet: a. Calculate the average check (assume one customer for each entrée sold). b. Calculate the sales mix. c. Eight servers are on duty that night. Calculate the average sales per server. d. Calculate the seat turnover for the meal period. Exercise 1.6 Follow the instructions on the disc to complete this exercise. c01.indd 36 7/25/08 9:48:49 AM EXCEL EXERCISES 37 • FIGURE 1.12 • Menu for Barnaby’s Hideaway SOUPS Black Bean Soup $4.30 New England Style Clam Chowder $5.50 APPETIZERS SHRIMP COCKTAIL Five jumbo shrimp served with a zesty cocktail sauce $6.95 OYSTERS ROCKEFELLER Six oysters on the half shell baked with spinach, onion, bread crumbs, bacon, and spices $6.95 PROSCIUTTO AND FIG BRUSCHETTA Bruschetta covered with Italian prosciutto and figs $5.45 JEWELS OF THE SEA IN PUFF PASTRY Six different shellfish served with a delicious sauce in puff pastry $6.95 SALADS Wild Mushroom and Quinoa Salad With fresh thyme, goat cheese, and shallot vinaigrette Carmelized Apple Salad With walnuts and spicey orance vinaigrette Caesar Salad Topped with roasted garlic cornbread croutons and our own dressing ENTRÉES All entrées served with pasta, baked potato, or wild rice; vegetables du jour; and choice of salad NEW YORK STRIP STEAK 12-ounce prime steak charbroiled and topped with crimini mushrooms $21.50 PRIME RIB OF BEEF 10-ounce prime beef with corn-poblano pudding $19.50 BABY BACK PORK RIBS Barbecued ribs with our own barbecue sauce $15.45 (Continued ) c01.indd 37 7/25/08 9:48:49 AM 38 CHAPTER 1 COST AND SALES CONCEPTS ROAST LEG OF LAMB Roast lamb with honey, balsamic vinegar, and fresh mint paste $17.45 LOIN OF PORK À MAISON Tender pork served with our sauce du jour $17.45 MEATLESS MANICOTTI* Pasta stuffed with a delicious low-fat cheese filling $10.45 CHICKEN BREASTS AU SOY* Breasts marinated in soy sauce and honey $12.45 TEA-SMOKED SALMON* Italian white beans, fusilli, and saffron broth served with salmon on a bed of lemon baby spinach $17.45 BAKED STUFFED SHRIMP Five large shrimp stuffed with a crab dressing $19.50 CHICKEN ALBUFERA Chicken breast sautéed with shallots, brandy cream sauce, and artichoke hearts $14.45 FRUITES DE MER Lobster, shrimp, and scallops tossed in a light basil cream with fresh romano, served over thin pasta $19.45 CATCH OF THE DAY Fresh fillet of fish sautéed and served with lemon $14.50 DESSERTS Deep-Dish Apple Pie $3.50 Banana Beignets with Orange-Caramel Sauce $4.00 Caramelized Apple-Blackberry Cobbler $3.50 *Heart-healthy items c01.indd 38 7/25/08 9:48:50 AM CHAPTER 2 THE CONTROL PROCESS • LEARNING OBJECTIVES • After reading this chapter, you should be able to: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. c02.indd 39 Define control and provide examples of its significance in food and beverage management. Pinpoint responsibility for control in food and beverage operations. Cite eight control techniques used in food and beverage operations. Describe the steps involved in preparing an operating budget. List the four steps in the control process. Prepare a budget given fixed and variable costs for a restaurant. Explain why the cost–benefit ratio is significant when making control decisions. 7/25/08 9:50:41 AM 40 CHAPTER 2 THE CONTROL PROCESS INTRODUCTION A considerable part of the previous chapter on costs and sales was devoted to explaining the meaning of those terms as they relate to the food and beverage industry. This chapter will define control, discuss the relationship of control to costs and sales, and outline how a manager institutes control in an enterprise. Later chapters will go into the specific procedures used to institute control in various phases of food and beverage operations; this chapter addresses control and the control process in general terms. CONTROL In general, control means exercising governing power over events and situations such that an outcome can be achieved or prevented. In our personal lives, we can normally exercise governing power over our actions, and thus control, to achieve or prevent various outcomes. For example, we leave our homes for work or school each day early enough so that we arrive at a specific time. We drink alcoholic beverages to achieve a desired glow, but we must limit the amount we drink if we do not want to get drunk or sick. Many people give up smoking cigarettes to prevent the possibility of getting lung cancer. Governments, employers, and parents frequently exercise governing power. In the process, our freedom to act becomes more limited. For example, legislatures enact laws that limit our freedom when driving on the roads—a speed limit of 65 miles per hour on the interstate highway, stopping at a red light, and so on. These laws intend to make driving safer so that accidents can be prevented and others are not harmed. Parents make rules for their children in an attempt to control their behavior. Managers of businesses make work rules and establish procedures of various kinds for their employees. In each of these situations, there are consequences if we choose not to follow the laws, regulations, procedures, and rules that are established. If we do not arrive at school on time, there is the possibility of a penalty for being late for class. If we drive faster than the established speed limit, there is the possibility of a speeding ticket and eventual loss of driving privileges. Exercising control generally means that there is some human involvement. Humans either take some form of action or prevent others from taking an action in order to achieve an outcome. It is important to point out c02.indd 40 7/25/08 9:50:44 AM CONTROL 41 that in the food and beverage industry, control really means controlling people rather than things. Consider the following: Food does not disappear by itself, without help. Excess quantities of liquor do not get into drinks unless put there by bartenders. Employees’ wage calculations are not based on the wrong numbers of hours unless someone gives the wrong information to the paymaster. Food is not consumed by rodents unless human beings make that food accessible. Customers seldom leave without paying unless staff members make that possible. In every one of these instances, the problem is the result of human action or lack of it. If a business is to operate profitably and reach its financial goals, people’s actions must be managed, or, in some cases, limited. “People” may include more than simply the personnel of the food and beverage operation; they may include customers of the establishment and, in some cases, intruders who seek to steal the resources of the establishment— obviously, without the knowledge and consent of management. Thus, installing locks on both the front and back doors is one of the most basic control measures one can use to prevent intruders from entering and stealing food, beverages, equipment, and cash when the operation is closed. Locating the cashier near the front door helps prevent customers from leaving without paying their food and beverage charges. Instituting various sanitation procedures may serve effectively to control infestation by insects and rodents. Obviously, loss of food as a result of nonhuman invaders surely constitutes unwarranted additional cost to any restaurant. The time clock for employees is an example of a simple control device. This serves many purposes, one of which is to prepare accurate payroll records so that labor costs will be correct. Another good example is the bartender’s use of a measuring device to ensure that each drink will contain the correct amount of a particular alcoholic ingredient. In the food and beverage business, control is a process used by managers to direct, regulate, and restrain the actions of people so that the established goals of an enterprise may be achieved. Probably the most common goal for all private enterprises is financial success—a particular profit or return on investment. Other goals may include operating the best restaurant in the city, having a low labor turnover (dedicated employees who stay with the restaurant for many years), or promoting better health by providing nutritional information on the menu. To achieve these goals, management must set up subgoals compatible with its primary goals. These tend to be more specific and usually more immediate in nature. For example, to achieve the goal of operating the best c02.indd 41 7/25/08 9:50:45 AM 42 CHAPTER 2 THE CONT...
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