08.

04 ENFORCE PORTION CONTROL

Establishing Standards and Standard Procedures

The standards and standard procedures for production control are design to ensure that all
portions of any given item conform to management’s plans for that item and that, as far as
possible, each portion of any given item is identical to all other portions of the same item.
Portions of a given menu item should be identical to one another in four respects:

1) Ingredients
2) Proportions of ingredients
3) Production method
4) Quantity

To reach this goal, it is necessary to develop the following standards and standard procedures
procedure for each menu item:

1) Standard portion size

2) Standard recipe
3) Standard portion cost

Standard Portion Size

One of the most important standards that any foodservice operation must establish is the
standard portion size, defined as the quantity of any item that is to be served each time that
item is ordered. In effect, the standard portion size for any item is the fixed quantity of a given
menu item that management intends to give each customer in return for the fixed selling price
identified in the menu. it is possible and desirable for management to establish these fixed
quantities in very clear terms. Every item on a menu can be quantified in one of three ways: by
weight, by valume, or by count.

Weight
Weight, normally expressed in ounces (or grams, if the metric system is used) is frequently used
to measure portion sizes for a number of menu items. Meat and fish are two of the most
common.

Volume

Volume is used as the measure for portions of many menu items. Liquids (soups, juices, coffee
and milk to name a few) are commonly portioned by volume expressed as liquid ounces
(millimeters in the metric system).

Count

Count is also used by foodservice operators to identify portion size. Such items as bacon, link
sausage, eggs, chops, shrimp, and asparagus are portioned by count. Some foods are
purchased by count and this plays a major role in establishing portion size.

Standard Recipes.

Another important production standard is the recipe. A recipe is a list of the ingredients and the
quantities of those ingredients needed to produce a particular item, along with a procedure or
method to follow. A standard recipe is the recipe that has been designated the correct one to
use in a given establishment.

Standard recipes help to ensure that the quality of any item will be the same each time the item
is produced. They also help to establish consistency of taste, appearance, and customers
acceptance.

Standard Portion Cost

Standard portion cost is defined as the dollar amount that a standard portion should cost, given
the standards and standard procedures for its production. The standard portion cost for a given
menu item can be viewed as a budget for the production of one portion of that item.
08.05 CONDUCT YIELD TEST

Yield is defined as the amount of food (usually in term of weight, volume or quantity) a particular
recipe or formula would produce. It is one of the most important features of a recipe or formula.
Yield is probably the first item a cook would look at when selecting certain recipes for
preparation. Most recipes provide an approximate guide as to the number or amounts the recipe
would produce.

In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which case the amount of money expended
to acquire it is counted as cost. In this case, money is the input that is gone in order to acquire
the thing. This acquisition cost may be the sum of the cost of production as incurred by the
original producer, and further costs of transaction as incurred by the acquirer over and above
the price paid to the producer. Usually, the price also includes a mark-up for profit over the cost
of production.

1.MENU PLANNING
A well-planned menu takes care to utilize ingredient efficiently and in a way that avoids waste.
When writing a menu, consider the following guidelines for total utilization of foods.

1. Use all edible trim.

Unless you use only portion- controlled trim. You can either throw it away or call it a loss
or you can use it and make money on it.
Plan recipes that utilize these trimming and put them on the menu. For example:
 Use small meat scraps for soups, chopped meat, pates, creamed dishes,
croquettes.
 Use longer meat trimmings for soups, stews, braised items.
 Use bones for storks, soups.
 Use vegetable trimming for purees, soups, stews, stocks, filling for omelets and
crepes.
 Use day –old breads for stuffing, French toast, crouton, meat extender.

2. Don’t add an item to the menu unless you can use trimmings.
This is really the same as the preceding item, looking from the opposite angle. In other
words, don’t put rissole potatoes on your menu unless you also plan to serve an item
that uses the trimmings, such as whipped potatoes or croquettes.

3. Plan production to avoid leftovers.

The best way to use leftovers is not to create them in the first place. Handling food twice-
once as a fresh item and once as a leftover-is more expensive and time-consuming than
handling it once, and it almost always result in loss of quality. Limited menus-that is, with
fewer selection-decreases the likelihood of leftovers.
 4. Plan ahead for use of leftovers.
Careful planning of production can keep leftovers to a minimum. But some leftovers are
almost inevitable, and it’s better for your costs to use them than to throw them out.
Whenever you put an item on the menu that could become a leftovers, you should have
a recipe ready that will use it. This is better than being surprised with leftovers you don’t
know what to do with. For example, if you served roast chicken for dinner one day, you
might plan on chicken salad for a luncheon special the next day. Remember to handle all
leftovers according to proper sanitary procedures.

5. Avoid minimum-use perishable ingredients.

Minimum-use ingredients are those that are used in one or two items on your menu. For
example, an operation might serve chicken breast topped with sautéed mushrooms but
not use mushroom in any other item. When the ingredients is perishable, the result is a
high percentage of spoilage or waste.
This situation can be remedied in any of three ways.
 Change the recipe to eliminate the minimum-use ingredient.
 Eliminate the item from the menu.
 Add other items to the menu using the ingredients.
Be careful not to unbalance the menu, however, by using an ingredient in too
many dishes. Try to avoid both extremes.

2.PURCHASING
Par stock is the inventory of goods an operation must have on hand to continue
operating between deliveries. It is important to maintain a proper par stock to avoid running out
of essential items. On the other hand, it is costly to maintain a larger inventory than necessary.
This is partly because part of your operating cash is tied up in unused inventory. Second, ex-
cessive inventory of perishable items can lead to spoilage and thus to loss.
Accurate forecasting of future business, based on careful study of past business, is key
to managing inventory and establishing par stock. Carefully write specification for each item
purchased so the item is described accurately. Compare price and quality offered by several
vendors in order to get the best quality for the best price. Order from up-to-date quotes and
price lists.

3.RECEIVING
Pay careful attention to receiving procedures:

 Schedule receipts so an employee can devote full attention to checking the shipment
without being rushed. Try to schedule deliveries so they don’t arrive at the same time. If
the employee receiving the goods has kitchen duties as well, schedule deliveries during
off hours so he or she has adequate time to check the shipments.
 Check the delivery immediately, while the driver is there. Don’t allow the driver to unload
the shipment and depart, leaving the order on the loading dock.
 Compare the delivery invoice to the order forms to make sure the right goods are
delivered.
 Compare the delivery invoice to the actual goods received to make sure you have
received everything you are paying for. Keep a scale at the receiving entrance so items
can be checked for proper weight.
Check the delivery for quality:
 Check the temperature of refrigerated goods.
 Check the temperature of frozen goods, and check for sign of thawing and refreezing.
  Check all perishables for freshness.
 Check all containers and packaging for damage
 Immediately transfer all goods to proper storage.

4.PORTION CONTROL
Portion control is the measurement of portion to ensure the correct amount of an item is
served. In order for portion control to be carried out, cooks and service personnel must be
aware of proper portion sizes. These are usually indicated on the house recipes and on the
working menu used in the kitchen and service areas.

a) Portion control in preparation.

Portion control actually begins with the measuring of ingredients. If this is not done
correctly, then the yield of the recipe will be thrown off.
When portion are determined by count – 1 hamburger patty, 2 tomato slices, 1 wedge of
pie – then the units must be measured or cut according to instructions : 4 ounces meat
per patty; 1/4 – inch slices of “5 x 6” tomatoes; 8 equal wedges per pie.
b) Portion control in plating and service
Portioning for service may be done by the cook, as in a short-order restaurant, or by the
service personal, as in a cafeteria. The following tools and techniques are used.
1. Count.
Examples: 1 slice of ham per order ; 5 shrimp per order. This is a accurate if cutting
and other prep work have been done correctly.
2. Weight.
Example: 4 ounces of slice ham per order. A portion scale must be at the serving
station for this method of portion control.
3. Volume.
Ladles, scoops, and kitchen spoons come in standard volume sizes and are used for
portioning. The exact size of the ladle or scoop needed for a portion must be
determined in advance and indicated on service on service instructions.
4. Even division.
Example: cutting a pie into 8 equal wedges; cutting a pan of lasagna 4 x 6 to make
24 equal portions.
5. Standard fill.
Standard-size dishes, cups, or glasses are filled to a given level, as judged by eye.
Example: a glass of orange juice. This is actually a form of volume measure.

Table standard measurements.

Dry measurements Liquid measurements

¼ teaspoon 1.25 gm ¼ teaspoon 1.25 ml
½ teaspoon 2.5 gm ½ teaspoon 2.50 ml
1 teaspoon 5.0 gm 1 teaspoon 5 ml
1 dessertspoon 10 gm 1 dessertspoon 10 ml
1 tablespoon 15 gm 1 tablespoon 15 ml
1 cup flour 125 gm 1 cup 250 ml
1 cup sugar 200 gm 1 litre 1000 ml
1 cup icing sugar 125 gm
1 cup breadcrumbs 50 gm
1 cup coconut 75 gm
1 cup grated cheese 100 gm
1 cup dried fruit 150 gm

Imperial / metric conversions commonly found in cooked books

Imperial Approximate equivalent Exact equivalent
¼ oz 5g 7.0 g
½ oz 10 g 14.1 g
1 oz 25 g 28.3 g
2 oz 50 g 5.6 g
3 oz 75 g 84.9 g
4 oz 100 g 113.2 g
5 oz 125 g 141.5 g
6 oz 150 g 169.8 g
7 oz 175 g 198.1 g
8 oz 200 g 227.0 g
9 oz 225 g 255.3 g
10 oz 250 g 283.0 g
11 oz 275 g 311.3 g
12 oz 300 g 340.0 g
13 oz 325 g 368.3 g
14 oz 350 g 396.6 g
15 oz 375 g 424.0 g
16 oz 400 g 454.0 g
2 lb 1 kg 908.0 g

5.MEASURING AND OTHER COOKING PROCEDURES

Measurement is an indispensable part of goods kitchen procedures. Think of
measurement as part of your basic cooking procedures, not as something separate. All cooking
procedures, including measuring, combine to help control food costs, because proper cooking
procedures help avoid waste due to improperly prepared foods. For example, lack of attention at
the grill station often result in meats returned by the customer for being overcooked. Having to
discard and replace badly cooked foods greatly increases food cost.

Food cost calculations

Food-service operation are businesses. This means someone in the operation must
worry about budgets, cost accounting, bills, and profits. Usually this is the job of the manager,
while the cook takes care of food production.

Food cost percentages

An individual operation’s food cost percentage is percentage is usually determined by
the budget. The chef is interested in this figure because it tells him or her whether the menu
prices and the cost for each item are in line.

The food cost percentage of a menu item equals the raw food cost or portion cost divided by the
menu price:

Percentage = food cost

Menu price
You can use this figure in two ways:
 1. If you know the menu price and want to see what your food cost should be in order to be
within the budget, multiply the menu price by the percentage:

Food cost = menu price x percentage

2. If you know the food cost and want to determine what the menu price should be at a
particular percentage, divide the cost by the percentage:

Menu price = food cost

Percentage

Yields
Recipe yields are expressed in several ways. For example :


As a total quantity. (A soup recipe that makes 3 qt ; a pot roast recipe that makes 5 lb
meat.)
 As a total number of portion. (A recipe for eggs benedict that makes 12 portion; a recipe
for grilled breast of duck that makes 4 portions.)
 As a total number of portion of a specified size. (A recipe for beef stew that makes 8
portion of 6 oz each ; a recipe for individual chocolate soufflés that makes 6 soufflés, 4
oz each.)
Most recipe conversions require changing the total quantity or the total number of portion. The
math for doing both of these is the same. As long as the portion size stays the same, you use
either the total quantity or the total number of portions as the yield when you make your
calculations.

INTRODUCTION

In general, labor cost is defined as any cost that is paid to the employee in the form of salary,
wages and other employee’s benefits. In order to control labor costs you must know the basic
process of calculating it. All of the techniques that you will be dealing with in this unit calculate
labor cost on daily, weekly and monthly basic.

When calculating labor costs, data especially the working hours and rate of payment per hour
become very important.

Labor cost calculation could be divided into four categories depending upon the type of
employees you are dealing with, namely:

i. Full time employee

ii. Temporary employees
iii. Part time employee
iv. Contract employee
All of the four categories which will be discussed in this unit, require you, as a manager to break
down your employees into various payroll positions not only for scheduling purposes but more
importantly for convenience in computing their scheduling purpose bur more importantly for
convenience in computing their payrolls. Previous data regarding to sales and number of covers
served are also equally important. They enable you to produce schedules which are not only
reflective of the actual work load but more importantly your sales figure.

1. HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

The purpose of human resource planning is to ensure that a certain desired number of
persons with the correct skills will be available at some specified time in the future. Recruitment
that is done without proper human resource planning is ad hoc and the organization may end up
with unnecessary and excess manning levels.

1.1 Forecasting Demand for Human Resources

To determine human resource requirements the human resource department must
forecast the demand for human resources. There are two aspects to this, that is, long
term and short term.

In Malaysia, most organizations have no choice when it comes to short term forecasting
because it is unavoidable if the organization were to function and achieve its objectives.
The unfortunate thing is that although many organizations may understand the necessity
for long term planning of their human resources needs, very few actually do.

i) Long Term Forecasting of Human Resource Requirements

Long term human resource planning is an extension of the organization of the firm’s
strategic plans. Though forecasts of human resource requirements over five years are mere
projections which may not be accurate, long term forecasting of two to five years is necessary to
ensure that the company’s objectives are achieved.

Knowledge of the organization’s long term corporate plans are essential so that plans
can be made for the organization’s future needs for human resources. For example, if the
organization’s strategic plans see it becoming a major volume and price leader in the market,
this would mean an aggressive expansion plan to take full advantage of economies of scale and
this would mean that there will be a great demand for human resources. The human resource
department should therefore start planning actions to meet the future demand.

Human resource planners should also be aware that advances in technology have
definite effects on the demand for jobs in terms of nature and mixture of jobs available. For
example, advances in computer technology have resulted in a decrease in the number of
bookkeepers and an increase in the number of computer programs. New machines will result in
higher productivity, which would mean that there will be a decrease in demand for certain jobs.
Similarly, the use of robots may result in the loss of certain manual jobs.

ii) Short Term Forecasting of Human Resource Requirements

Even though many organizations in Malaysia have not started the practice of long term
planning, there is still a need for short term planning as the human resource department will
require some lead time to provide the needed work force in the short run.
 In a manufacturing organization, for example, the sales forecasts for the coming year
must be translated into a production program, master schedule and department schedules. The
problem begins with determining sales quotas and projecting sales accurately. Once the sales
forecast and budget are determined, then production schedules can be ascertained. Finally the
human resource requirement s needed to produce the required amounts are worked out.
Various techniques and models can be used to make these projections.

iii) Resources Supply Forecasting

Although it is generally said that determining the available supply of human resources is
easier than trying to project the demand, there are nevertheless certain complexities involved. In
projecting future supply of human resources, the first step is to take into account the current
inventory. Human resource records should be summarized in a systematic manner and stored
in such a way as to allow for easy retrieval of information so that the special skills or
proficiencies available in various jobs and departments within the organization are known. For
example, in a large organization of 5000 people, can anyone find out very quickly whether there
are any Spanish speaking engineers available, and if so how many are there.

Projections of future human resource needs are usually made on the basis of past
experience. Technology improvements, however, will increase the productivity levels of the work
force and there is therefore a need to study productivity trends to determine changes in
productivity levels. If this is not done, an expected higher demand for workers based solely on
past experience may result in a surplus of supply because of increased productivity.

Turnover refers to the number of employees who leave the organization for some reason or
other. If, for example, we have 1000 employees at the beginning of the month, we cannot
expect the number to be 1000 at the end of the month. There may be retirements, deaths,
resignations, or dismissals. Retirements may be predictable, but other turnover must be
determined by looking at past trends to obtain an average turnover rate per month. Turnover will
result in a temporary shortage of supply of employees because it will usually take some time
until a replacement is found. The turnover rate is computed as follows:

Number of employees who leave:

Turnover Rate =_____________________________ X 100
Average number of employees

Absenteeism occurs when a person fails to comes to work when properly scheduled to work. It
is usually measured as a percentage of scheduled time lost and is computed as follows:

Number of man-days lost :

____________________________________________X 100
(average number of person) X (number of workdays)

The effect of absenteeism is that it reduces the number of personnel actually available for work.
If, for example, the absenteeism rate among our 1000 employees is 2 percent this means that
on the average only 980 people are present and ready to work.

Another aspect of human resource supply forecasting is the fact that some jobs serve as
sources of supply for other jobs. If, for example, we anticipate a need for three new branch
managers five years from now, we should at present have more than three executives who have
the potential to be branch managers assuming that the average developmental time for branch
managers is five years. We will actually need more than three potential candidates because
some time, we should also bear in mind that promoting the executives will mean that we will
have a short supply of executives.

Labor cost control

Most food and beverage managers are well aware of the need to control labor costs. To put the
issue in perspective, consider the following :-

 The food service industry is labor incentive.

Even an increased emphasis on convenience food usage in many properties has not eliminated
the need for a large staff. Employees are needed to produce, serve and clean up in food and
beverage operations and many employees occupy entry-level positions, where problems of
turnover, accidents, absenteeism, tardiness and morale are most prevalent.

 Direct labor costs are increasing. Minimum wage scales increase periodically.
 Increases in labor cost are frequently not balanced by increase in productivity.

Labor cost control is a process used by managers to direct, regulate and restrain employees’
action in order to obtain desired levels of cost. To the inexperienced, labor cost control is
sometimes mistakenly taken to suggest the mere reduction of payroll costs to their irreducible
minimum. This can be achieved by employing a bare minimum number of people paid the
minimum legal wage. But there is much more to labor cost control than just minimizing dollar
wage, a fact sometimes ignored by owners and managers who take the short-term view of
operations, thinking only of immediate profits and not taking into account the long term effects of
their policies and actions.

 Short-term policies geared strictly to minimizing immediate costs may have undesirable
long-term effects, including decreased dollar sales, increased operating coasts and even
business failure (eg. Hiring a full staff of employees at minimum wage may minimize
immediate labor costs but lead to poor-quality product, high labor turnover, customer
dissatisfaction, decreasing sales volume, and a host of other long-term problems.
The Purpose of Labor Cost Control

The primary purpose of labor cost control is to maximize the efficiency of the labor force in a
manner consistent with the established standards of quality and service. Similarly, a sufficient
number of servers should ensure that all customers are served as quickly as possible while
standards of service are maintained, but at no time should there be more than a sufficient
number to serve the customers then in the restaurant.

Control Process

Establish standards and standard procedures for operation.

Train all individuals to follow established standards and standard procedures

Monitor performance and compare actual performance with established standards

Take appropriate action to correct deviations from standards

09.04 MONITOR STAFFING GUIDE

Staffing guides are developed, department by department. These staffing guides will indicate
the staffing levels required for various levels of business volume. These staffing guides could be
compiled in terms of monthly volume, but they are probably more useful if prepared on a weekly
volume or even on a daily volume basis, in situations where staff levels can be adjusted daily in
accordance with anticipated volume. In developing the guides, management must consider both
minimum and maximum and maximum volume levels. The minimum level identifies the
minimum number of employees necessary to maintain a smooth operation. The maximum level
is the point beyond which no additional staffing is allowed.

FORECASTING

The next step in labor cost control is forecasting work-load units for each department. These
forecasts are developed from records of past events, adjusted for current factors. Although for
budgeting purpose many establishments forecast in months, for current factors. Although for
budgeting purpose many establishments forecast in months, for staffing these budgeted figures
should be broken down on a weekly basis prior to each week of actual operations in this way,
the figures can be adjusted to reflect current conditions and recent trends that can affect volume
of business. In a hotel, the weekly rooms occupancy forecast serves not only as the basis for
staffing in the rooms department but also as a basis for staffing food and beverage outlets that
derive much of their business from the occupancy of guest room.

SHORT ANSWER

1. WHAT A DEFINITION OF COST?

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2. EXPLANATION OF GUIDELINES FOR TOTAL UTITIZATION OF FOODS PLANNING?

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3. WHAT A DEFINITION OF PAR STOCK?

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