Setting the restaurant up

Food cost, variance, and what to order

What sold and what it cost in ingredients; the menu card at today's prices; what the recipes say should have left the store against what did; what is below reorder.

The Reports tab — the three numbers a kitchen is run by. Food cost is what a dish cost in ingredients against what it sold for, and the manual says it twice: for the period (what actually sold, earned and cost) and for the menu card (what every dish with a recipe would cost at today's prices, whether or not anybody ordered it). Variance is the theft detector: what the recipes say should have left the store for the dishes sold, against what the ledger shows actually left, priced.

The Reports tab: the period's numbers, what sold, the menu card, the variance and what to order.

Do this

From and
to — the period, by business date.
Channel for the menu card — dine-in, room service, takeaway, delivery — because a dish has a price per channel.
Run.
The period: sold, the ingredient cost of the costed dishes, the food-cost percentage on costed sales, and how many dishes sold without a recipe — those are greyed in the table and left out of the percentage, so a dish nobody has costed cannot make the kitchen look better than it is.
What sold, and what it cost — a row per size of dish, best sellers first.
The menu card — price, cost, margin and percentage for every costed dish, at the latest prices paid.
Variance — *should have used* (recipes × dishes sold), *actually left* (every movement out of the store: consumption, wastage, transfers, adjustments), the difference, and what it is worth. A positive variance is wastage, over-portioning or theft; a negative one is a recipe that overstates what the kitchen really uses.
To order — everything below its reorder level, with the shortfall.

More in Setting the restaurant up

Creating an outletAn outlet is one restaurant, bar or room service. It has its own menu, tables, tax and day. The menu: categories, dishes, sizes and pricesBuild the menu yourself. Changing a price is a price change, not a deployment. GST groups, and the restaurant rateTax comes from the group on the dish — and which group is right depends on the rooms. Tables and kitchen stationsTables are where an order sits. Stations are where a KOT prints. Taking a dish off tonight (86-ing)Mark an item unavailable and it disappears from ordering until you put it back. Different prices for dine-in, room service and deliveryOne dish can carry a price per channel, and a price that applies only at certain hours. The kitchen store: what is on the shelfEvery ingredient with what is on hand, what it is worth and what is running low; a movement or a count is one form; every item has its story. Units, places and ingredientsThe store measures in units that convert to a base; every ingredient is bought in one unit, kept in one place, and has a reorder level. Recipes: what a portion is made of and what it costsA recipe is per size of a dish, in grams, millilitres or pieces per portion, with wastage; it draws stock when the KOT fires and prices the dish against its menu price. Buying: suppliers, purchase orders and deliveriesA purchase order is a promise; the GRN is what moves stock. Short delivery leaves the order open; payables are by supplier.