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BEST WAY TO CALCULATE FOOD COST?

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psjohal

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whats do u guys think on whats the easiet way to calculate foodcost?
Right now we do everything freehand like all the toppings, cheese etc. so im having a difficult time trying to calculate the exact foodcost.

Also i heard theres a program called foodcostpro. Has anyone ever used it?
 
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There is a thread out there recently with some information at

http://www.pmq.com/tt/viewtopic.php?t=3894

If you are talking about anticipated food costs for a menu item, like for setting pricing, then free-handing the pizzas makes it nearly impossible to establish benchmarks. If you weigh/measure ingredients, then you can extend pricing out to unit costs and use your recipes to determine cost per serving. Cost per ounce of sauce, cheese, dough, toppings, plus box, plus ticket.

I hope some of that is what you were asking.
 
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You need to get a scale asap! You are throwing a lot of money away by free handing your toppings. Once you get used to the scale, it will only take you maybe 30 seconds more per pizza at the most. I started using a scale a little over a year ago. The scale has saved me over $1000 a month in just cheese alone! A lot of people on this forum will say that a scale slows them down and it’s too much of a hassle so it’s not worth it. I totally disagree. I can’t imagine giving up thousands of dollars a month just to save 30 seconds more per pie! I have a taylor pizza scale and it works flawlessly.
 
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In our high volume season 30 seconds per pie equals 90 hours of labor per month. We use a measuring cup and get most of the benefit without slowing down.
 
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Imagine all of the money you’re losing. You probably do 5-6x the volume I do then. So might be losing $60,000-$70,000 or more a year by not weighing your ingredients. You could pay someone minimum wage to just pre-weigh ingredients 5 hours a day, 7 days a week and it would cost you around $14,600 a year ($8/hr x 5 hours a day= $40 a day, $40 x 365 days in a year = $14,600 a year). You would still save $45,000 a year or more.

With the scenario that you described where you said the extra 30 seconds per pie equals 90 hours of labor per month, you’re still saving yourself money by weighing. If the employee makes around $8 a month x 90 hours, that would equal $720 a month. I would be willing to pay the extra $720 a month in labor to save $2,000-$3000 a month or more in supplies.

I don’t mean to argue with you. The pizza business is hard enough as it is. So if someone can save some money in any way, I hate to not see them take advantage of it.

Also, I gave a high estimate of 30 seconds per pie as a worst case scenario. Once my pizza makers got used to the scale, they had no problem. They were making their pies just as quick as if they were free handing them.
 
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Besides saving money it also provides the customer with a more consistent product.

Once your pizza guy puts a little more cheese or meats than he’s supposed to your customer will notice. Then the next time they order and your pizza guy portions it correctly, the customer is going to feel like he’s been cheated.

Another thing to look at too is that portions for multi topping pizzas are factoring in how those extra toppings effect the baking of the pizza.

:mrgreen:
 
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“I don’t mean to argue with you.”

What would you call it?

Our POS system tracks ideal usage by receipe/portion based on the actual items sold. When I feel things are slipping, we go to daily cheese count and comparison to ideal. In a bad week we could be high by 30 lbs. When you take out crew pies, tray spillage etc I really doubt weighing will save me anything.

Vegies simply do not add cost to anything. Meats is the other area. The vulnerable one is chicken. It is pretty easy to eyeball sausage and pepperoni (we used a sliced italian sausage).
 
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You are fooling yourself if you dont think it will save you money. I will come to your store for free and set you up your scales and all you have to pay me is 20% of what you save each month for 1 year. So all it will cost you is the price of some scales, and to sweeten the pot if you dont save money with the scales I will buy them off of you.
 
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psjohal:
do u use this scale
http://www.centralrestaurant.com/Digita … 10231.html

and do u put the whole pizza on there or do u measure each topping

thanks
Click to expand...
Yes that is the exact same scale that I use in my pizza shops. I do put the whole pizza on it.
 
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bodegahwy:
“I don’t mean to argue with you.”

What would you call it?
Click to expand...
What I meant was that I wasn’t trying to argue in a mean, fighting, way that is going to get you upset. I just wanted to point out that you could be saving a boat load of money by weighing your pizza toppings and that it doesn’t take as much time as you would think. I’m sorry if I upset you or came off as someone who is trying to pick a fight. That wasn’t my intentions.
 
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how much cheese do u usually put on a 12" pizza

do u have a chart or something showing u how much of each topping ur gonna put on each pizza, or how do u do it

thanks
 
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when i get my store up and running. Weightscale is the only way to go for me. I worked for Donatos as a manager for a few years back in the 90s and that is what they did.
Pizza sat on a scale. Hit the red button on front. put on toping, hit it agian put the next toping. etc etc, Prob took no time at all extra then when I worked at papas and used cups. The time it takes to fill the cup I have already got most of the toping on the weighted scale pizza.
The Donatos I worked at was doing 23k a week. The scales didnt slow us down at all.
 
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Hey Guys,

I am a big believer in scales because it creates consistency and consistency is one of the secrets to success.

Buying a scale is one of the most efficient ways to create consistency because humans are not machines and we do tend to lean toward overages with toppings and cheese.

Every time I catch my staff eyeballing it, they are off and I agree with some of replies about how over a years time, you can basically save hundreds to thousands of dollars.

Your thoughts are right about saving money with a scale and remember too that CONSISTENCY will drive business back!

Scales are awesome for us and once you get used them, you’ll never want to go back to eyeballing. Good luck :!:
 
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I agree with you 100%. It is impossible for the human eye to be 100% accurate. With all of the tests that I ran with my crew, the majority of the time they used around 2 oz. too much cheese when free handing. Those 2 extra ounces add up. The current price that I’m paying for cheese is $2.59 / lb. which = $0.16 / oz. = $0.32 extra on each pizza. If you are selling around 400 pizzas a week, you will be saving around $576 a month on cheese. Now add up all of your other toppings and you’re really saving alot. Now for those high volume places that do more than a hundred plus pizzas a day, they’ll see major savings. With the prices of supplies being so how these days, weighing ingredients with a scale might be some owners only chance for survival.
 
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