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Who is responsible for costing recipes in your establishment? One of the worst things a restaurant owner can do is hand this task over to their chef. A chef is usually not a business minded person and hates numbers! That's often why they became a chef! Chefs are very visual and need to be stimulated by different colours, textures, smells and tastes. Giving them the job of being responsible for making profit may not be their area of expertise. So, what can go wrong when a chef costs a menu? 1. Ingredient prices not up to date Going through invoices and pricelists is not the most pleasant job for anyone and definitely not one a chef enjoys. All ingredients fluctuate in price; some more than others. Ingredient costs should be regularly checked and updated to reflect this. Last month saw the biggest food price increase since 1989 when the GST rate increased. 2. Ingredient usable yields are not taken into account Most ingredients have a yield. For example, when you prepare a head of cauliflower you lose 40% due to the stalks. If you do not take this into account you could be 40% out with your costings. So often I speak to chefs who have spent weeks costing their recipes using excel and then wonder why they're still not making a profit. 3. Ingredient units different to suppliers A good example of this is flour. A baker may use a recipe containing cups, whereas a supplier would price this by the KG. To convert this, a cup of flour must be weighed and converted. 4. Costed ingredient weights different to actual You may have a costing for 100 gram steaks but if another chef is cutting them at 150 grams your costings would be 50% out. How much is your profit again? Imagine an application accessible 24/7 with up-to-date accurate ingredient costs and yields which stayed up-to-date. MyRecipes is exactly that! MyRecipes stores your recipes and menus securely online for later revision and additions meaning you always know the latest cost to produce each of your recipes. All ingredient yields and unit conversions are calculated automatically and quite frankly, there's no quicker or easier way to cost and price a menu! Join for a free trial today. "So, Gavin, who should be costing my menu", you ask? This clearly illustrates the difference between a larger hotel or restaurant and a smaller establishment. Larger establishments have the resources to employ an Executive Chef whose job it is to cost and price menus. Smaller establishments who do not have an Executive Chef need to consider how easy it is for their Head Chef to complete this chore. Next month learn about one of the biggest mistakes made when pricing a menu. Gavin Lovett is the founding Director of Menu du Jour, if you have any questions contact Menu du Jour any time on 0800 14 MENU (0800 14 6368 or email info@menu.co.nz Top of the Page ARE ALL BARTENDERS HONEST? Not all bartenders are dishonest. In fact, in our company’s 10 year history of helping bar owners cut down losses, we have been happy to find that most bartenders are the same as everyone else. That is, they are honorable and honest (especially when they are expected to be). Unfortunately however the average shrinkage in our business is over 20% so a proprietor cannot afford to be na￯ve. Here are five things to look for. If you find any of them in your bar it’s time to take a closer look at your bar staff: 1. Heavy use of “Open liquor” keys Many bars have a good P.O.S. system that has a reassigned key for each type of drink that the bar sells. Even these systems, however, often have an OPEN LIQUOR key that the bartender uses for special drink requests or items that don’t have a pre-assigned key. An Open Key is like giving a dishonest person the key to the safe. A dishonest bartender will often use this key extensively. That way, he can sell drinks to his friends for much cheaper than the price list. Some bartenders will also employ the age-old trick of charging customers full price but ringing in a discounted price. The open liquor key makes this very easy to accomplish and hard for the owner to be sure of. Even if you catch the bartender keying a drink at the wrong price the culprit will simply claim ignorance of the proper key to use and frankly you would struggle to legally prove otherwise. 2. You find Happy Hour drinks rung in during non-Happy Hour times This is another way for bartenders to charge your customers full price and ring in less. Using Happy Hour pricing is especially profitable. Consider the case where Pints of Beer are usually $8 but are half that during the 5pm – 6pm Happy Hour. If the bartender gets an order at 8pm, he can charge the customer $4 but ring in the drink at Happy Hour pricing. Your bartender then makes a clear profit of $4 per drink (probably more than you do). Start checking your Journal Tape to see if any Happy Hour drinks have been rung in at the wrong time. Similarly some staff will sell friends or customers they know drinks at Staff Rates if you have these. 3. Your cash is often over A well-run bar will always insist that the bartenders keep their tips separate from the cash. You will also ensure that the cash is counted by someone other than the bartender. Bartenders that are trying to scam the bar will usually hide their dishonest practice by putting receipts and tips into the register drawer. Then, at the end of their shift, they will remove the money that they scammed from the till. On a busy night, however, the bartender is usually never 100% sure how much he stole. Rather than risk the chance of a shortage, the dishonest bartender will underestimate his “take.” Thus, your cash count will often show significant overages, don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re on the winning side!! 4. You find out that the last staff member left your bar 3 hours after closing There is absolutely no reason for any of your staff to be at the bar more than 60 minutes after closing. Closing duties rarely, if ever, take longer. If you get reports that your staff are still at the bar later, you can usually assume the worst. After all, besides drinking, what else could they be doing at a bar three or four hours after closing? Needless to say, drinks are rarely, if ever, rung in after close. Read your reports from the alarm companies to see what time the alarm is being set at night. 5. Your bartender carries a duffel bag One of the easiest scams is for the bartender to bring his own bottle to your bar. Then he can sell all the liquor he wants without ringing it up. The money will go in his pocket, but it won’t affect your pour cost or inventory counts in any way. The only problem for the bartender is how to get his bottle onto your bar. A bartender bringing in his own bottle will bring a change of clothes to work in an athletic or duffel bag (in which, of course, is hidden his personal liquor bottle). Be very wary of bartenders who try to bring their personal belongings behind your bar. At Bevinco, our business is plugging all these leaks. We account for every drop of liquor, wine, beer and even draught beer at your bar. By using our unique service, you will receive a report each week that details usage and sales brand by brand, both what is short but also what is over which in such an example as we have mentioned here would show.The fact is that you can hold your staff accountable for what they pour at your bar. Peter Nelson is the Managing Director of Bevinco New Zealand & Australia and can be contacted on 03 332 6560. Bevinco are an affiliate member of HANZ and have offices in Auckland, Waikato, Taranaki, Manawatu, Wellington and Christchurch Top of the Page LAW COMMISSION REPORT - 'ALCOHOL IN OUR LIVES' The Law Commission has produced a 279 page issues and discussion document titled “Alcohol in Our Lives”. The overall thrust of the suggestions is a tightening of the controls around the supply and sale of alcohol. Key ideas for consultation are: · Retention of the four types of licenses being on-licences, off-licences, club licences and special licences. · Making it easier for the Liquor Licensing Authority to refuse a licence on wider grounds than permitted at present. · Tightening up the definition of grocery store. · Allowing the Liquor Licensing Authority to impose any reasonable condition on a licence that it considers appropriate. · Giving the Liquor Licensing Authority enhanced powers and functions. · Enhancing the powers of District Licensing Agencies (DLA). · Allow each DLA to establish their own licensing fees. · Limit on-licence hours to 2am with an extension to 4am provided a one way door operates from 1am. · Close off-licences from 10pm - 8am. · Propose a split purchase age of 18 on licence and 20 off licence. · Increasing excise tax. · Introduce a minimum pricing regime for alcohol products. · Some tightening of advertising and liquor promotions. · Enhance police powers to close licensed premises. · Making drunkenness in a public place an infringement offence. · Reducing the blood alcohol content from .08 to .05. The process is now that this document is open to public consultation with the closing date being the last day of October and the Law Commission is then expected to provide a report and further recommendations to the Government in March next year. More information is available at www.talklaw.co.nz. HANZ will carefully consider all the options and make a considered response. In the meantime the initial public comment from HANZ has indicated concern that the majority of the measures focus on licensed premises rather than enhancing individual responsibility. Click here to see a Close Up Interview with Law Commissioner, Sir Geoffrey Palmer and CEO of HANZ Bruce Robertson on the Law Commission Report and its recommendations. Top of the Page BACK BENCHES - CHANNEL 7 Bruce Robertson was interviewed on Back Benches TV show which, funnily enough is filmed from the iconic Wellington Pub and Cafe Backbenchers. Bruce quickly touched on the alcohol realities and also voiced some concerns around other anomalies regarding the recently released Law Commission Report. You can view this episode of Back Benches, to watch Bruce’s interview fast forward to Chapter 3. Top of the Page TAB LOWERS OPERATOR RATES HANZ responded strongly to the TAB’s advice to 119 members that their commissions will be reduced and has written to the Chief Executive and Chairman of the New Zealand Racing Board awaiting their response. The Commerce Commission met with the Minister of Racing, assisted members to exercise their disputes resolution cause under their contracts and is considering a judicial review of the Racing Board actions. Top of the Page IMMIGRATION RESOURCE HANZ led consultation has been completed on development of a resource agreed to by the Immigration service and the Ministry of Social Development to provide a process for the renewal of temporary work permits. This has been updated on the HANZ website, please note you will need your member login to access the Immigration resource. Top of the Page HOSPITALITY SHOWCASE 2009 - PROSPERING IN A CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENT Hospitality Showcase 2009 is looming around the corner and we encourage you to register if you have not already as we have a very strong line up this year with two more speakers confirmed. Jonathan Coleman, Minister of Immigration and Associate Minister of Tourism, is coming and the DB Celebrity Luncheon speaker is sports broadcaster Miles Davis. The future shape of New Zealand's liquor laws is very much top of the agenda and the two key players will be there - Justice Minister Simon Power and Law Commission President Sir Geoffrey Palmer. Judith Tabron one of New Zealand's leading restauranteur's will deliver a key note speech "Cash Cuisine" optimising profit from food. This is a must attend in today's economic environment. Register now and have your say! Top of the Page HANZ AGM - BOARD NOMINATIONS Notice is hereby given of the 107th Annual General Meeting of the Hospitality Association of NZ, to be held on Wednesday 30 September 2009 at Bayview Wairakei Resort Taupo at 2pm. Conference business shall be to receive and consider the Annual Statement of Accounts and Auditor’s Report thereon, the Report of the President, the Election of Officers, and such other business of which notice is given. Election of Officers - HANZ Board of Management President Under Rule 10.6 (i) of the Rules of the Association, nominations for the elected officers for the ensuing year (i.e. President, Vice President, Treasurer and four (4) Member representatives) must be in writing and signed by the nominator, the seconder and the nominee. Nominations must be received by the Chief Executive 21 days prior to the date of the Annual General Meeting, i.e. no later than 5pm on Wednesday 9 September 2009. Click here to access the nomination form and job description. Under the Rules the positions referred to are the only elected positions, and those persons elected comprise the Board of Management (Rule 10.1). David Mercer and Warren Stewart hold office for two years under Rule 10.6 (ix), until the 2010 AGM. All other Board Members have indicated their availability for re-election. Top of the Page
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