Food Cost & Inventory
28 practical guides to help you make better decisions about food cost & inventory.
How to Handle Rising Coffee Prices at Your Restaurant
Green coffee is up sharply on tariffs and tight supply. How to recost your cup, reprice without losing regulars, and protect one of your best margins.
How Tariffs Affect Your Restaurant's Food Costs
Tariffs drove higher food costs for 68% of restaurant operators. Here's how to find your import exposure, swap what you can, and reprice what you can't.
How to Handle High Beef Prices at Your Restaurant
Beef is at record highs and the cattle herd is the smallest since the 1950s. Here's how to reprice, re-spec, and re-engineer your menu before beef eats your margin.
Yield Testing: Why Your Recipe Costs Are Wrong
If you cost recipes by purchase price, your numbers are wrong — trim and shrink mean you use more than you buy. Yield testing fixes it. Here's how to run one.
Understanding Theoretical vs. Actual Food Cost
Theoretical food cost is what dishes should cost; actual is what they really cost. The gap is money leaking out. Here's how to find it and close it.
Understanding Food Cost Variance Reports
A food cost variance report shows the gap between what you should have used and what you did. Here's how to read one and turn the variance into recovered margin.
Setting Up a Prep List That Reduces Waste
A prep list built from sales forecasts — not habit — is one of the simplest ways to cut waste. Here's how to build a par-based prep system your kitchen will follow.
Reducing Food Waste in Your Restaurant: 15 Proven Tactics
Food waste is money in the trash. These 15 proven tactics help restaurants cut waste, lower food cost, and protect margins — starting with a two-week waste log.
Portion Control: Tools and Techniques That Save Money
Portion control is the cheapest way to lower food cost without changing your menu. Here are the tools, techniques, and spec cards that keep every plate consistent.
Negotiating Better Prices With Your Vendors
You have more leverage with food vendors than you think. How to prepare, what to ask for, and the tactics that lower your invoice without souring the relationship.
Menu Engineering to Lower Food Cost
Menu engineering sorts your dishes by profit and popularity so you can promote the winners and fix the losers.
Inventory Management Software: What to Look For
The right inventory software cuts counting time and catches food cost leaks automatically. Here's the feature checklist and what actually matters for independents.
How to Track Waste With a Waste Log
A waste log turns invisible losses into a number you can act on. Here's how to set one up, what to record, and how to turn two weeks of data into lower food cost.
How to Set Par Levels for Inventory
Par levels tell you how much of each item to keep on hand so you never run out or over-order. Here's the formula, a worked example.
How to Reduce Your Produce Spoilage
Produce spoils faster than anything in your walk-in. Here's how to cut produce waste with tighter ordering, proper storage, and rotation that actually gets followed.
How to Prevent Kitchen Theft and Shrinkage
Kitchen theft and shrinkage quietly inflate food cost. The controls that catch and prevent it — receiving, inventory, POS — without policing your team.
How to Manage Seasonal Ingredient Costs
Seasonal price swings can wreck a fixed menu's margins. Here's how to plan around them with seasonal menus, smart substitutions, and forward buying.
How to Handle Rising Ingredient Prices
When ingredient prices spike, waiting to react costs you margin every day. Here are seven proven moves to protect your food cost without alienating guests.
How to Do a Weekly Inventory in Under an Hour
Weekly inventory is where food cost control lives — but only if it's fast enough to actually happen. Here's how to get a full count done in under an hour.
How to Do a Restaurant Inventory Count the Right Way
A restaurant inventory count is only useful if it's accurate and consistent. Here's the step-by-step process, the right frequency, and how to avoid costly errors.
How to Cost Out a Recipe Step by Step
Recipe costing tells you exactly what a dish costs to make so you can price it for profit. Here's the step-by-step method with a worked example.
How to Conduct a Food Cost Audit
A food cost audit finds exactly where your margin is leaking. Follow this step-by-step audit checklist to pinpoint waste, over-portioning, and pricing gaps.
How to Choose and Manage Food Suppliers
The right suppliers protect your food cost, quality, and consistency. How to vet vendors, structure your supplier mix, and manage the relationship long-term.
FIFO and Proper Food Storage Rotation
FIFO — first in, first out — is the storage rotation method that cuts spoilage and keeps you food-safe.
Calculating Cost per Ounce and per Serving
Cost per ounce and per serving is the building block of every recipe cost. Here's how to convert any purchase unit into a per-serving cost, with worked examples.
Bulk Buying: When It Saves and When It Wastes
Buying in bulk feels like saving money, but for perishables it often costs more in spoilage than it saves.
Building Vendor Relationships That Pay Off
A strong vendor relationship gets you better prices, first pick on short supply, and faster credits. Here's how to build partnerships that actually lower your costs.
How to Calculate Food Cost Percentage (With Formula & Examples)
The exact food cost percentage formula, three worked examples, the benchmarks by restaurant type, and a step-by-step plan to bring a high number down.