F&B MANAGEMENT: You can't manage what you can't see
by Bill Schwartz
September 26, 2012
Bad things don’t happen as frequently in broad daylight as they do
in the dark.
Unfortunately, food and
beverage departments have a number of places where it’s simply too dark to see
what’s going on. Trash cans, drains, bottoms of containers and closed boxes are
just a few of these places. Developing methods for “seeing” what happens in
these places leads to improved food and beverage cost control.
• Trash Patrol—“Many
years ago when I was working room service in a Las Vegas casino, the F&B
Director walked into the kitchen and dumped a full trash receptacle onto the
floor,” relates Tim Hicks, director of food and beverage for Augustine Casino
in California. “At the time, I thought to myself, this guy is a total idiot. We
were extremely busy and the trash made a tremendous mess. The contents were
thoroughly searched and there were several items he found that were discarded.
Among the trash was silverware, individually wrapped condiments, an oil cruet
as well as an unpaid guest check.” Hicks now makes it a habit to occasionally
check the trash to “see” what’s there, and uses that knowledge to take the
appropriate steps.
• Profits Down the
Drain?—Once something goes down the drain, the only people likely to see it
work at the water treatment plant. And those folks aren’t the least bit
interested in identifying the stuff they see. On the other hand, it is amazing
how much can be learned about waste if it were only possible to identify what
went down the drain. For example, one hotel client was showing a huge variance
in egg usage each month. After implementing waste sheets, the kitchen manager
discovered that the staff was dumping out a batch of egg wash every night. The
end result was a loss of over 1,000 eggs per month! .
Armed with information
about what’s going down the drain, managers can determine whether to reduce
batch sizes, change production schedules, or take other actions to solve the
problem.
• Keep Your Head
Down and Chop, Chop, Chop—The prep area is another major source of excess
waste. Prep waste typically ends up in a trash can or down the drain. Either
way, it is hard to see the trim, and therefore hard to manage it.
One successful approach
is to utilize clear Lexan bins in the prep areas. Instead of discarding trim in
a trash can or down the drain, prep staff can be directed to place all trim in
the Lexan bins. When managers make their rounds, they can examine the bins to
“see” if any excess trim has occurred. Only after the bins have been checked
can they be emptied into the trash.
• Let Them Cut Meat—Huge
amounts of money can be lost cutting meat and fish. Both skill and speed play a
role here, and while most managers assume their meat cutters are skilled, they
may not have a good way to monitor that. Cutting charts are a great way to
“see” exactly what’s happening when meat or fish is butchered. These charts are
used to indicate the starting weight, number of portions of each type of cut,
and final yield percentage. The actual numbers are compared against carefully
developed standards to determine the performance of the meat cutters. If yields
are lower than they should be, and the problem is not product-related, improved
training or supervision may be necessary.
• Allowing Others to
See—Studies have shown that adults don’t learn as well with their ears as
they do with their eyes. Posting instructions, educational materials, recipes,
cooking procedures, storage techniques and other useful information can help
the staff see what management wants them to know.
For example, posting
trim guidelines in prep areas improves the odds that prep staff will avoid costly
mistakes. Posting storage and food preservation guidelines on coolers can help
reduce spoilage due to improper storage. Too many kitchens rely on hands-on
instruction as the primary tool for kitchen staff training. Labeling shelves in
storage areas can improve kitchen efficiency and help avoid over-ordering when
staff can’t find what they are looking for.
When it comes to
reducing waste, theft, over-prep and other losses, the immortal words “Let
There Be Light!” can have new meaning. Perhaps that banner should be posted
over the manager’s desk.
Bill Schwartz
bill@foodtrak.com
is
CEO of System Concepts, Inc. (SCI). Based in Scottsdale, Ariz., SCI specializes
in helping clients control F&B costs, and is the developer of the FOOD-TRAK
Food and Beverage Procurement and Inventory Control System. Bill can be reached
at bills@foodtrak.com.
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