Balancing high food quality and strict budgets is a challenge. How can you ensure both are met effectively?

Smart sourcing helps you control your costs, fosters strong, transparent relationships with suppliers, ensuring the ingredients you purchase are ethically produced and of the quality/standards you demand to put the final product on the plate.

Il faut également se mettre à la place du client. Personnellement, aller au restaurant est quelque chose que je fais par plaisir, et non pas pour répondre à un besoin primaire de me nourrir. Dès lors, je préfère payer un peu plus cher, si j'ai comme proposition des produits d'exception. C'est la valeur perçue. Le bon prix est celui que vous voulez bien mettre et que le client accepte de payer. Si vous mettez des ingrédients de mauvaise qualité à un prix élevé, on vous traitera de voleur. A l'inverse, si vous proposez d'excellents produits à un prix bas, vous ne serez pas rentable et votre business ne sera pas pérenne dans le temps. Mon conseil : veillez à avoir des produits de qualité ! Pour la nourriture, les boissons et les vins !

Smart sourcing it sounds ideal and phenomenal but if you ignore what your guests are looking for, then you might want to consider what you are doing with your offerings. It takes a lot more than just marketing your sourcing. Are they willing to pay for?

Build strong relationships with suppliers and negotiate bulk purchase deals. Regular suppliers might offer discounts for long-term contracts.

Community relations; if you have an established supplier, make sure you know them by name. Keep it business personal, but go that extra mile to ensure them that you’re their customer; Christmas card to their office, personal touches on thank you letters/cards. You appreciate them and they will show you their appreciation.

Menu engineering is a great tool, but is only one third of the equation. You will need to add menu psychology and placement and consequently train your team to build the right approach and story telling so the guests can experience your menu and food concepts. Either wise you may have a wonderful tool but it won’t take you far…

Plan menus around seasonal and locally available ingredients to minimize costs while ensuring freshness and quality. Use high-quality ingredients in key areas where they will make the most noticeable difference. For example, prioritize fresh produce in salads or premium cuts of meat for signature dishes.

A customer is always going to go for the “special” bargain. So if you got fish for below market price, extend that bargain to you customer base, you could almost do better business off of your specials board than your menu. Also if you would not want to pay the cost of a product, do your research and you’ll see there similar products for a better price. Do bite the cost on the front side. Keep track of your wasted product/sold product to see if it’s profitable or not

Reduce food waste by using trimmings and leftovers creatively. For example, vegetable scraps can be used for stocks, and leftover bread for croutons or bread pudding. Leverage technology for menu planning, inventory management, and cost tracking. Software can help identify cost-saving opportunities and streamline operations.

Cross utilization of products, most importantly scraps that can be saved and used for other items or ran as specials! Elimination of single use items is huge also!

D'où l'importance également de faire des fiches techniques même pour préparer les plats ! ça vous aidera à mieux piloter votre entreprise et à faire vos calculs sur le prix et les coûts afin de pouvoir optimiser vos marges !

Leverage technology for menu planning, inventory management, and cost tracking. Software can help identify cost-saving opportunities and streamline operations.

Staff training is a must. Evolving your team from the start is crucial to success your business. How efficient may be to hire someone who has been successful in a Japanese restaurant and his favourite cuisine is Japanese food if your business concept is Mexican? Think about it.

Train kitchen staff in cost-effective cooking techniques, portion control, and minimizing waste. Efficient kitchen operations can significantly reduce costs.

Et faites de vos équipes également des vendeurs et des ambassadeurs de votre établissement ! Montrez leur qu'ils ont le soutien de la direction, des managers, des RH afin qu'ils soient épanouis et en adéquations avec vos valeurs et votre vision !

"Balancing high food quality and strict budgets is a challenge". Not per sé. If your F&B margin is established on your P&L at a strict 55%, it´s a piece of cake. Because strict doesn´t mean "tight" or "low"