I am in desperate need of some advice. I purchased my store in Ohio back in April from a lady that I worked for back in college before I joined the Marine Corps. I purchased it really cheap because she had no records of what her food cost or employee costs were. I am still in the Marine Corps and I am stationed in Hawaii. I have my sister in-law acting as owner until I move back. She has managed other Padrone’s before. I am having a issue with the employees going back to what the old owner had them doing when my sister in-law isnt around. For instance, I portion all toppings out that go on the pizza by weight or by scoop. The old owner had them put on whatever amount looks good. On paper my food cost should be around 32.5% but we are doing 45-55%. The easy solution would be to fire those employees but finding quality employees is difficult in my stores area. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Quality employees who don’t follow directions and COST you 20% of sales? That’s not quality, its theft.
I have a sign that says “Weighing Toppings is not an Option it is a Condition of Employment” I have only had to act on it once. I have cameras in the kitchen and the staff know I view them remotely.
Sweet Jeebus 45-55% food cost?! Might as well not even be open! You’re losing money! Finding employees may be difficult but she needs to try and make it happen. Go rogue and see if there are any good employees at other pizza places or restaurants around town looking to make the jump to management and see where that goes. Most good employees already have jobs so sometimes it’s best to be proactive.
Semper Fi my brother…you are the O.I.C., not the employees…cameras are a solution, but your sister in law has to be the enforcer until you return. Absentee ownership will be a challenge & your sister in law may not be the best mgr in your absence…a daily inventory or even a shift inventory can pinpont in a hurry who the culprits are…just start with cheese, doughballs & boxes…you may need a scapegoat as well…so be it…offering her or the staff a weekly bonus might shape them up that much quicker…
Area Auditor, 3rd MAW, IGB, El Toro, CA
I installed cameras when I first bought the store and that is how I see them not using the proper portions. They know I can see them but most of them do not care if they have a job or not. I have done almost a 70% employee change over since I purchased the store.
Check on shelf/walkin storage “shrinkage” when she is not around also. Product/supplies walking out the back door could be an issue also.
based on your last bit of info, you’re sister in law is not doing the job expected…
But do they know you’re watching? When you see them not portioning, do you call up the store and ask to talk to that employee? “Hey, Joe. I was just watching the camera and I see you not using the scales…” No need to yell, just make it so it’s just easier to portion than to get caught and get the lecture.
You can add some carrot to your stick, too - tell them you’re willing to “share the savings.” Have you sister-in-law frame a $10 bill above the pizza line and tell the staff next time you catch someone portioning correctly you’ll reward them with that bill. Then call up, heap on some praise and give that reward to the first person you see doing it right. Post a $20 and repeat, follow up with a $50 and then, holy cow, a $100! “I hope I get caught and win the $100,” says Joe as he weighs the cheese.
I would even mention the real life cost differences they are causing. I think they think it’s no big deal and that you are just penny pinching and being cheap. They don’t realize that this all adds up to big dollars. When I explained the difference to my staff, I saw a marked improvement. Now, it’s always possible that they just don’t care and in that case, it’s better to let them walk. You say it’s hard to find good help. If they are blatantly and knowingly costing you money, they aren’t good help anyway.
trying to balance your numbers by portion control is probably not the problem imho, someone voiding tickets or doing cash transactions can take a lot of your profit, i say go to whoever is handling the money, check out what is going out with the trash also. Are people abusing the time clock ? Are you over staffed ? A combination of these things can add up to alot of money. I was stationed at Camp Smith 3 1/2 years. When you have one bad apple they tend to bring in their friends and family. Hang in there these times will pass,semper fi,the last person you suspect is often the one.
Your numbers suggest that johnmorrison is on to something. You are certainly entitled to your employees respect in demanding that standards for toppings be followed. But your very small gross profit figures lead both John and me to encourage you to look into all the other variables. Someone (or two, or three) is taking you to the cleaners … and your sister-in-law, although well intentioned, is likely not experienced enough to know where and how to search for the “leakage”. Get a search dog (that’s someone who knows how to find the problems) to identify the problems, and then act with an iron fist … if it’s theft, fire the thief and although you don’t want to do it in front of everyone else, also don’t hide the fact that they were fired or why they were fired (without calling them thieves out loud).
I would say you have issues other than the portioning. If you are running a food cost of 45-55% You also have some straight up theft happening in multiple ways. My prime is usually at or under where you are running just for food cost (we are not using sub-par ingredients.)
Couple of questions. Do yo have a waste sheet? Do you check the voids & or comps in the POS? When was the last time you ran an inventory & tracked the number of turns in that inventory?
One of the quickest ways we got our food cost under control was controlling the amount of inventory on our shelves. I found that many of my “bad” employees were not evil, they just did not understand. As long as they had product to use they would have heavy hands and use it all. When we ran tight weekly inventory and ordered only what we needed our waste went down significantly. On average we completely turn our inventory 1.5-2 times a week.
Its theft, plain and simple. They’re making and selling food without ringing it up.
I would have to agree with everyone else here because even if they arent following your portion control it still would not justify such a jump in food cost. Do an inventory everyday maybe they are all in on it or maybe its just one specific person. I tell all my pizza cooks no ticket no pizza or they are out the door. Is it really worth their job?
What everyone else is saying. It’s theft. Not portioning would not skyrocket your food cost.
If you have a pos , check the void report. Count boxes at the beginning of the day and at the end.
Sounds like stuff is going out the door and the money in your helps pockets.
Your not around and won’t do anything about it. Find your thief, fire him or her and make an example.
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