What are the common challenges and pitfalls of managing food cost and menu mix in a multi-cuisine restaurant?

First of all we need to find the demand aa per market competition than we have consider menu items in the menu also matter the price ,food portions and most importantly the quality. we should collect the review data of food feedback on that basis we should revised the menu . Always try to put your special ✨️ one that are unique dishes and available only in your restaurant that makes the Guest Experience wow.

I learnt this from previous experience that calling these as profit leaders and loss leaders is an efficient & simplified way to identify the menu items. Also these four categories can be made into a 4 quadrant matrix , which enables ease of sighting as well.

Foundational COG is usually the culprit in Food Costing issues, when we buy our raw ingredients many of them have substantial waste in preparation which needs to be figured into the actual cost, the book of yields is a great tool for a basic food cost understanding, but to put it simply that brisket you bought at 5 79$ a pound lost 35-40% of it's weight in trim and rendered fat when you slow smoked it, that percentage needs to be considered and added into your food cost or you'll be giving away your profit. This is in every product you and your team prep, mind your pennies and your dollars will follow

Well , as much as I am not a huge fan of modifying existing menu items to cater to a dietary restriction , I used to find it frustrating. Instead what we ended up doing was create atleast one or two items in each section of the menu which could be possibly catered to for any dietary preferences or allergies and any kind of modification doesn't really alter the entire dish and flavour profile , its weird enough that , the above menu items become a crowd favourite .

Check food trends and create a small menu. Take note of the usual dietary restrictions and base your menu from there. Monitor the sales report and menu engineering as guide for creating menus. Staff familiarization is also key, they should know the products so they know how to upsell it even to those who don't have dietary restrictions but are open to try new type of food.

We have created a small menu for people with dietary restrictions, also staff understands it proprly and dish gets cooked properly and is explained to guest. Modifying at last minute is time consuming.

The challenge of dietary restrictions may be stressful and more effort. But I think to not accommodate these requests is a disservice to both your guests and yourself. Not only are you giving a paying customer a compromised experience - you will become known for not being an accommodating location. This may not affect your business overnight. But it will in time. The more you can be welcoming and accommodating to your guests, the more it pays off for you in the long run. As Bob Farrell says, “give em the pickle”. That is to say, that “pickle” is gonna cost more in bad publicity than the 30 cents you charge for it.

It's an interesting challenge that varies with the culture. If you have a large restaurant you can afford a large menu so it makes sense to build a percentage of the menu dietary. More importantly think about your concept rather than coming up with filler dishes to check boxes. You might start with your suppliers keeping in mind ingredients that are of the highest value based on price and labor. Then focus on the limits of your equipment and quality of staff. What's achievable from these standpoints and reevaluate this once you've tried it. It needs to be rigorously updated until you've pulled out some fundamental aspects to help build your restaurant's identity using creative boundaries for instant communication during high stress moments.

Food cost control is probably the most important if not pivotal skillset for a chef/restaurant owner. Of course there are multiple ways to do this and many of them are proven right by an array of chefs in the industry. The simplest way I believe in for controlling costs and improving labour's cost efficiency is going local and thinking sustainable while purchasing the products one does. The minute something is local, it's efficiency for being cheap is self implied. Eg. Local cuisine is also seasonality oriented. So when in winter, the produce is available at super low prices, these products generate waste, wether animal or vegetal, these wastes can be tranformed into something phenomenal to add an another tier to the main dish.

Doing benchmark testing for menu items can be a long and tedious process especially in multi unit and menus that have broad base products of various cuisines. But testing in house, receiving feedback on all parties involved, then testing in diffrent units first to see if it is appealing as an LTO first Making sure it is an interactive recipe with other ingredients helps to have menu items have appeal, cost effective and longevity on the menu.