Food cost has crept from 28% to 36%

Recipes were costed once, years ago. Since then purchase prices have risen and selling prices have not — or only by "a few euros" across the board. Nobody knows which dish still carries margin today and which one eats it.

Cost every dish from scratch, with current purchase prices and real portions. Then rebuild the menu: put the high-margin sellers up front, remove or re-price the margin killers. That is a week of work, not a strategy project.

The same dish weighs noticeably different depending on the cook and the time of day. There is no recipe card with quantities, or it sits in a drawer. Food cost fluctuates with the staff rota.

Fix recipes in writing with grammages and yields, use portioning aids, and train new cooks on them. Not as a control exercise from the chef, but so the kitchen delivers the same result with any team on shift.

Ordering follows instinct and habit, suppliers have not been compared for years, stock levels and spoilage are not recorded. What gets thrown away never appears as a number anywhere.

Set an ordering rhythm and minimum stock levels, record spoilage and write-offs consistently, and tender the three largest product groups once a year. Food cost often drops simply because someone is finally looking.

Food cost is derived monthly from accounting and stocktaking, and never split by outlet. By the time the number exists the month is over — and the cause can no longer be traced.

Calculate food cost weekly, split by kitchen, bar, breakfast and banqueting. Only when the number is fast and granular enough can the kitchen react at all.