Short video by Donald Burns explaining that many restaurant operators rely on simplistic metrics (purchases divided by sales) which hide true menu profitability; he advocates using food cost programs — from Excel to specialized software and integrated restaurant management or POS systems — to uncover hidden profits.
Too many operators live in the land of theory. They think that the purchases divided by sales tell you your food cost problem is that this process doesn't give you your performance metrics to measure what is really going on under the surface of your menu. And honestly, that's where the profits are hiding. You're going to need a food cost program. Now it could be as easy as an Excel spreadsheet, or you get a program like like Get Me or Get Filet. You could get a fully automated integrated restaurant management systems like Margins Edge or Marketman, and these systems usually integrate with most POS systems. Or you could just get an all in one point of sale system like the one by Toast that has a food costing software called Extra Chef that works right inside their system.
If your restaurant only works because you work 80 hours a week, it doesn't work.
