How To Determine Your Pizza Restaurant Food Costs:
Food Cost
Food cost refers to the menu price of a certain dish in comparison to the cost of the food used to prepare that same dish. In other words, how much you pay for food will determine how much you need to charge for it. Generally, food cost should be around 30-35%. This means that if you pay $1.00 for something, you need to charge minimum of $3.34. It may seem like you are charging a lot more than necessary, but keep in mind that you aren't just paying for the food itself; you are paying someone to prepare the food, serve the food, and clean up after the food. Everything in your restaurant, from payroll to the electric bill needs to be covered by the food you serve.
Portion Control
One reason that chain restaurants are so successful is that they have a firm handle on portion control. The cooks in those restaurants know exactly how much of each ingredient to put in every dish. For example, pepperoni pizza may have a portion control of 24 pieces of pepperoni on a 10” pizza. Therefore, every 10” pepperoni pizza that goes out of that kitchen will have 24 pieces of pepperoni on it, no more, no less. This is portion control.
In order to practice portion control in your own kitchen, everything should be measured out. Pepperoni, sausage, beef and anything else you pay for should all be weighed, while shredded cheese can be stored in portion control cups and a measuring spoon can dish out the sauce. Once you feel comfortable cooking your menu- even though not recommended, you can eyeball the serving amounts (sort of like Rachael Ray) but in the early stages of your restaurant, err on the side of caution and measure everything out.
Menu Creation
Keep it simple! Decide on your target market, for example in a bowling alley you will have a lot of adult clients who may be somewhat health conscious about what they eat, so perhaps a variety of vegetable toppings in addition to the traditional pepperoni and sausage may not be a bad idea.
In an amusement center, you may cater mainly to teenagers who only have nightmares about vegetables. So maybe just pepperoni and cheese would be the way to start? The key to creating an inviting, cost effective and efficient menu is to see:
- The cost of the ingredients- DO NOT cut corners here. Everyone can taste and see the quality of a good product. If you can’t afford quality steak, don’t offer a steak topping on your pizza.
- The preparation work involved- Visualize what steps are ACTUALY needed in order to have the ingredients ready for serving. E.g. offering onions as a topping means getting someone to peel and slice onions. If business gets huge this means a need for additional equipment or having to get a poor soul to slice onions 8 hrs/ day.
- The equipment involved and the space needed. Keep it simple. Read our equipment guide! Frequently one or two quality pieces of equipment can take care of the majority of your menu items.
- The cooking process- Again visualize what is actually involved from the moment the pizza is ordered to the time it is ready to be handed over the counter.
Who will be taking orders? Who will be applying the toppings and preparing the pizzas? Who will be getting the pizzas out, cutting and boxing them? A walk around your kitchen with a pad and drawing a pattern of how the orders will flow and minimizing the steps needed are the best and easiest way to approach this.
Of course the easiest way is to give us a quick ring and talk to someone who has done this a million times!
