Restaurant Kitchen Guides
Practical guides on food cost, food waste, inventory and running a kitchen team, with worked examples and free calculators.
Food Cost & Variance
Food Cost Percentage: Formula, What's a Good %, and How to Lower It
Food cost percentage explained: the formula with a worked example, what a good food cost percentage is by restaurant typ...
How to Negotiate With Restaurant Suppliers: Tips and Contract Terms
Negotiate with restaurant suppliers by comparing quotes on usable cost, trading volume and on-time payment for better te...
Theoretical vs Actual Food Cost: How to Find the Variance
Theoretical vs actual food cost explained: how to calculate each, the variance formula with worked examples, what causes...
Culinary Math Practice Problems (With Answers)
15 culinary math practice problems with worked answers: yield percentage, AP and EP, edible portion cost, food cost %, m...
Restaurant Shrinkage: What It Is and How to Measure It
Restaurant shrinkage explained: where inventory disappears (receiving, storage, prep, the bar, comps, theft, paperwork),...
Comps vs Voids: The Difference and How to Track Them
Comps vs voids in a restaurant: what each one is, how they affect sales and food cost, reason codes to use, approval rul...
How to Track Inventory Theft in a Restaurant, Cafe or Bar
Track inventory theft by comparing what you sold with what you used: variance by item, bar bottle counts, logged waste a...
How to Price a Menu: Food Cost Formula, Strategy & Menu Engineering
Price a menu by costing each dish from usable (EP) weight, dividing by a target food cost of about 28-35%, then adjustin...
Restaurant Profitability Analysis: Key Metrics, Formulas & Example
How to track restaurant profitability: prime cost, food and labor cost %, net margin, break-even, and RevPASH, with form...
Food Waste & Spoilage
How to Reduce Food Waste in Restaurants: Causes, Formula, Solutions
Cut restaurant food waste by tracking it, fixing over-ordering with FIFO and par levels, right-sizing portions, and repu...
FIFO Food Storage: Meaning, Labels & Step-by-Step Procedure
FIFO (first in, first out) explained: labeling, shelf rotation, and daily checks. A step-by-step FIFO food storage proce...
How to Do a Food Waste Audit in a Restaurant
How to run a restaurant food waste audit: what you need, how to weigh and log waste for one to two weeks, the categories...
Restaurant Demand Forecasting: How to Forecast Sales, Covers and Prep
How to forecast restaurant demand: the data to use, methods from moving averages to menu forecasting, a worked spreadshe...
Inventory & Receiving
Kitchen Ops & Team
Restaurant Staff Meeting Agenda: Topics, Template and How to Run It
Restaurant staff meeting agenda template with time boxes, 30 topics for kitchen and front-of-house teams, and how to run...
How to Reduce Restaurant Staff Turnover: 6 Proven Retention Strategies
Cut restaurant employee turnover: what it really costs, why staff leave, and 6 retention strategies, from fair schedulin...
How to Train Restaurant Staff: 2-Week Plan and Checklist
Train restaurant staff with a 2-week plan for new servers and line cooks, a training checklist, and one key metric to tr...
Cafe Shift Scheduling: How to Build a Coffee Shop Employee Schedule
Build a coffee shop employee schedule from 15-minute sales data: opening, peak and closing shifts, a sample weekly cafe ...
How to Manage Cafe Peak Hours: Speed and Quality in the Morning Rush
How coffee shops keep speed and quality in the morning rush: find peak hours from transaction data, staff baristas to de...
How to Handle Slow Periods in a Restaurant: Sales and Downtime Ideas
Handle slow periods by pinpointing the weak shifts, filling them with targeted offers and events, staffing lean, and usi...
Seasonal Menu Planning: 8-Week Timeline, Ideas and Costing
Plan a seasonal menu in about 8 weeks: pick in-season ingredients, cost dishes from real yields, forecast demand, and ro...
Restaurant Competitor Analysis: Step-by-Step Guide With Free Example
How to conduct a restaurant competitor analysis: identify direct and indirect competitors, mystery-shop, compare menus a...
How to Scale a Restaurant Business: A Step-by-Step Expansion Plan
How to scale a restaurant business: prove profits, document systems, build managers, and model a second location's costs...