Just curious, we have good food cost on our pizzas but some of the non pizza items the food cost is not at the same level. Salads, subs, and especially wings all have particularly poor food cost. Is it somewhat standard for the accessory items to have higher food costs and its just something to deal with in order to get the main money making pizza sales or is this something that I should work more closely to lower costs on.
My food cost is 33%.
I dont know my food cost on salads. I charge $10 for a Greek 8X8 packed container.
I took the wings off the menu Jan 2021. But about 4 months ago I was looking around in US Foods and found 10lb precooked wings for $30 #9067218 (about 70 wings). I thought I would try them for the heck of it. They are the best I have ever eaten. I run them trough the oven twice and sell 8 for $12 which keeps me at 33% food cost. These particular wings are blanched in oil then oven baked, so when you run through the oven they have a fried effect.
BTW when I took the wings off the menu, It didnt effect my sales, after a few months people stopped asking for them.
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-Chicken tenders 15% food cost the past months…this is where the majority of my money is made.
-Chicken Wings (fresh) 15% we only sell 5 cases (200lbs) a week, Tenders are infinitely more popular here
-Subs: Hot subs (steak and cheese, cheeseburger)~35% food cost
Cold subs (italian, turkey, ham and cheese)~28% food cost. I hate subs…just was told my sub rolls are increasing April 1st.
-Salads: 20% food cost…another money maker for us. Insanely popular for us
-Fried Food (fries, onion rings, mozzarella sticks)~30% food cost
What is the brand and type of wing? I’ve been trying to find some new oven baked wings
Its US Foods house brand Patuxent Farms. #9067218. They are not breaded. Just the kind you would get at the chains a decade ago.
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what size are you subs and what would the portions be on say your italian?
we do a 12" sub
| Italian | |
|---|---|
| bun + cheese +box | 2.20 |
| salami | 0.80 |
| ham | 0.71 |
| onons | 0.09 |
| lettuce | 0.31 |
| tomatoes | 0.19 |
| italian packet | 0.34 |
| total | 4.64 |
| sells for | 9.99 |
| food cost | 46.47% |
I messed up not keeping up fast enough with food cost increases despite doing them twice a year so its a bit my bad but I am curious how yours looks?
heres my chef salad which is terrible fc also
| Chef | |
|---|---|
| lettuce | 0.72 |
| tomatoes | 0.29 |
| black olives | 0.40 |
| onions | 0.12 |
| turkey | 0.86 |
| ham | 1.07 |
| cheddar | 0.56 |
| dressing | 0.68 |
| clamshell | 0.66 |
| total | 5.35 |
| sells for | 9.99 |
| food cost | 53.60% |
thing is this is also about what other places here are selling these for.
Im sorry I just reread my post and my numbers are off.
Im around 25-30% Food Cost on salads
Subs are about 35-45%
Italian sub:
Sub roll: .68 cents (12” piantedosi)
Cheese: .35 cents (provolone)
Cooked Salami, Ham, Genoa
Average $3.50lb…$1.53 (7ounces)
Mayo .45 cents
Veggies .35 cents
Wrapping paper and foil .05 cents
I sell for $9.99
34% food cost
Im in the same boat as you, every place around me sells for this price.
And with media making videos like rise of the $12 salad it makes everyone think they are overpriced.
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My salad cost breakdown on a
Grilled Chicken Greek (most popular for us)
Container .25 cents (dart 8x8 clear hinged)
Lettuce mix .50 cents (chopped lettuce and fresh spinach )
Other veggies .75 cents
Dressing .25 cents (House dressing) 3.25oz
Pita bread .30 cents
Chicken .50 cents (6 ounces)
Feta .52 cents (3 ounces)
I sell for $12. Food cost 25%
Your chicken cost is very cheap, how do you get it that low? My brand is from a company called Bellisimo and my chicken is about $5.50 a lb, it would cost me a bit over $2 to do the 6 ounces like your salad has.
It’s because we use fresh raw tenders. Right now I am paying $50 for a 40 pound case of jumbo fresh tenders. We marinate and cook them ourselves.
I am enjoying very low prices right now. About six months ago I was paying $140 per case.
We go through over 25 cases per week of fresh tenders. It’s about 1000 lbs a week
If you want to try buy a case of raw tenders, marinate them in Italian dressing, salt, pepper garlic. And then bake some off in your oven.
Then, when ordered run them halfway through the oven and put them on the salad.
A place around me does mega business and that’s what they do
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Dang. $50 is cheap! We go through about 10 cases a week of jumbo tenders and we are at $85 per case. What food distributor is this with?
Watched that(long) video. I was at Wendy’s the other day and some of the combos are $11. So if someone buys a $12 salad and gets a complimentary glass of water they are in the same price rance as a burger combo. Plus, they are actually eating healthily and will be consuming far less calories but be just as full.
We sell salads and they are $8.50 for a meal sized portion. Food cost is on the higher end for those, although it had come down a bit since produce has dropped.
We took our salads to $11.99 about a year ago. Before the pandemic they were 7.99/8.99. Seems like we’re selling even more these days
December is this what you do? Do you do this for every order?
All of my distributors have it for around $50.
I just checked for next weeks pricing and it went up to $55.
But $85 it seems high with the chicken forecast being what it is
What we do is every morning we pre-cook about 10-30 pounds of grilled chicken for the first lunch rush, on the flat top then give it the char taste on the char grill.
Chop it up in nice slices and then reheat it on the flat grill to order. Doing it in this process actually makes a better grilled chicken. If you cook grilled chicken to order, it’s very mushy.
We are way too busy to cook grilled chicken to order
If I didn’t have a grill, I would do it in the oven like I mentioned that other place does
Then, as the day goes on, we cook more chicken to be ahead of the rushes
Have you tried the oven? Do you think pre cooking it on a lower temp on the grill keeps more moisture in it vs baking in the oven?
I actually tried the oven today just bc I was curious. I was actually very impressed. The chicken was perfectly firm and had great taste bc of our marinade.
I know the customers would not blink an eye if a place served that chicken on their salads. When the customer adds their dressing and takes a bite of the chicken, dressing and lettuce they would love it no question.
I think using tenders over breast is what makes a big difference.
If anything I would err on the side of making more dry definitely not juicy
Nobody wants moist juicy chicken on their salad. Thats what salad dressing is for