How Can I Use Recipe Costing, Incentives to Boost Profits and Productivity?

MRM’s “Ask the Expert” features advice from Consolidated Concepts Inc.

Please send questions for this column to Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine Executive Editor Barbara Castiglia at bcastiglia@modernrestaurantmanagement.com.

Q: It's a well-known fact among restaurant professionals that the foodservice industry runs on razor-thin margins.  Therefore, how can I use recipe costing and server incentives to boost profits and productivity?

A: Throughout the foodservice supply chain, profits are made on incremental markups.  Amidst rising costs of labor, real estate, licensing and other operating expenses, it has become increasingly important for restaurants to stay focused on their margins via a heightened awareness of margin-adjacent factors such as recipe costs, staff retention and table-side selling of the operation's most profitable items.

Recipe costing is a complex moving target that can be very tricky to accurately calculate on an ongoing basis.  Many…