The Food Business 2020

The food service industry is ever evolving and changing as we head into 2020. Budgets are getting tighter with the rise in minimum wage and the cost of goods increasing.
Will the prices just go up? 
Will everyone in the industry just have to work harder?
I believe it will be a combination of adjusting prices, labor control, and managing food cost. 
     Prices will have to be increased as the cost of doing business increases.  That means as labor cost rises the cost to order products to do business will go up as well.  This in turn will be passed on to the consumer. Menus will be engineered to include a mix of more lower food cost items and less high food cost items to offset the increases. We will see a slow rise in prices every year to ease consumers into rising prices and reduce sticker shock. A example of sticker shock would be Mcdonalds raising the cost of a burger from $8.00 to $15.00 over night.  Instead they would do it gradually so people won't feel it as much.

     We have to run our labor as tight as possible while still providing customer service which  becomes more and more challenging. To much staff you lose money , to little staff , you provide poor customer service and you lose money.  So the challenge is to find the middle ground where you have the right amount of staff scheduled to provide good customer service and allow you to make money.  

As chefs and managers we also have to hire and train staff that can work multiple areas of the operation to get the most out of our employees.
      As an example in the kitchen on a slow day if you can work multiple stations you get the hours.  A person who isn't willing to learn multiple areas of the kitchen and only wants to work one station won't get hours when its slow.  Even when it is busy you may be able to have a person work two stations and save money by not having another person working. Another example is having a person prep in the morning for a few hours then go out and run a register or host when the food service operation opens up. Then there is no need for a morning prep person.
      Last but not least managing food cost which is one of the most important.  Chefs and managers will have to run their inventories as tight as possible by only ordering what is needed. They will have to minimize all waste and cross utilize products. Food will have to be ordered that can be utilized in multiple menu items to get the most out of the product.  Products will need to be purchased in bulk to get better prices.  Menus will have to be tweaked to make sure all menu items are selling which will allow you to go through the inventory and not waste product. 
     It is going to take skilled food service managers and chefs to mange the rising costs of doing business.  No the cost isn't just going to go up. Yes everyone in the industry will have to work a little harder with labor costs going up but it can be managed.
      

Over Worked Restaurant Managers

The fast pace, high  energy of the food service industry can beat down even the best of us.  Working without days off or 14 hour shifts constantly.  Which ever the case may be it has gotten even more difficult in the age of technology.  For some of us even when we are off we are not off with the constant connection our cell phones give us today.  You can receive emails and phone calls around the clock every time there is a problem or issue that arises.  So it seems even when some of us are off we never stop dealing with issues at work because we are always connected.
                   Always being connected can in some cases make it seem like you never get any rest.  You work 80 hours a week without a day off and when you get home you still have to deal with work.  This diminishes quality of life.  The one thing all of us with families strive to achieve is a good balance between work and home quality of life. 
                    It seems as though the people in upper management do not care about any ones quality of life as long as the restaurant or food service establishment is running properly.  They don't care if you work 200 hours as long as everything is running smooth. Upper management isn't going to step in and run a shift so you can have a day off either but you will be the first one they call when something is wrong after you just got off and your out to eat with your family. 
                    So in conclusion quality of life in the restaurant industry is diminishing the more we are connected and it always seems the bosses want more and more. 

Kitchen War Stories

One thing is for sure if you have worked in the food service industry long enough you have either heard one, seen one or have been apart of one. Kitchen war stories or accidents cost food service businesses large amounts of money every year and can even cause them to go belly up. This is why more and more safety precautions are but in place every year by food service companies. Some companies even go as far as to offer rewards for having no accidents for the year or month. Kitchens are very dangerous and the more fast paced they are the more dangerous they become. This is why there are tons of war stories out there. I will share a couple kitchen war stories with you then please fee free to share your stories in the comment section.

One time in a restaurant where I worked I guy strained the oil out of a fryer while it was hot.  Then he took the oil out back to the to oil dumpster to dump it.  Well the light was out and it was dark.  They just brought a new oil dumpster which had a lid and the old one did not.  The guy went to dump the oil like he did many times before but it was dark and the lid was closed so he poured the hot oil all down the front of him.  It scalded his feet arms and chest.

Once more in the same restaurant a guy was making pizza dough from scratch in a big mixer with a dough hook.  Well the dough stuck to the side a little and it was only on speed one. So he thought he could put his hand in the mixer to scrape the dough off the sides.  Well he wasn't fast enough the dough hook took his arm and snapped it like a twig.

Managers vs Employees

In my food service experience I find that a lot of times establishments can become a battle of managers vs employees.  I believe it usually comes from changes in management.  When you have a management staff who is relaxed on some of the rules, then you change over the management staff and try to lay down the law so to speak the employees tend to rebel.  Sometimes this happens when one manager leaves and a new one is brought in to fill the position.  The battle can also arise when there is an inconsistency in counseling employees. 
     I find that the younger staff members tend to test management more often than older staff members.  The younger employees are there to make a few dollars and don't really have much responsibility.  Where as the older staff members are trying to support families or to make a living.  A lot of the younger staff tend to have the attitude of i don't care I'll just get another job.  These are the staff members that will try to tell you what they will and will not do.  The flip side of this is with the older staff who have been with the company for a long time and think they know better than management because they may have been there longer.
     Some of these types of employees can be counseled and become very productive good employees.  While others are like poison to the rest of the staff and get others to follow them creating a bad environment.  These types of people challenge management at every turn until they quit or get fired.  Some of them will straighten out after counseling just long enough until you have to start the counseling process over again.  This makes them very difficult to get rid off unless they do something that gives you cause for immediate termination.
    The best thing to avoid the managers vs employees situation is that management needs to be consistent  and all on the same page.  Management also has to treat the employees with respect as well

      

The Holiday Season Is Here

The holiday season is here which is one of the busiest times of the year for restaurants and food service establishments. Many of us like to open those holiday cook books to prepare are own holiday treats for family and  friends.  However many companies will be planning holiday parties for their staff and many other private holiday parties will be planned as well.
      This is one of the busiest times of  the year.  Not only are food service establishments preparing for holiday parties they also have to contend with the day to day business as well.  More people are out and about this time of the year shopping as well as dining.
      This is a good time of the year to be working in the food service industry.  There are plenty of extra hours prepping and planning for the holiday events. There is also a lot of money to be made by restaurants and food service establishments.
       These events can be small office parties to large and extravagant events where it seems like money is no object.  Some companies will bring in interior decorators, live bands, snow machines, and spare no expense on food.  Events can take anywhere from a month to a week to plan.
       This can also be the funnest time of the year.  We get to step away from the day to day food production and create the food for these events.  It may be creating the delectable holiday desserts or putting together a beautiful holiday show piece or creating the mouth watering foods to impress our guests.  This is a time when we get to test or sharpen our skills.  

Food Cost

Food cost is is the percentage of total restaurant sales spent on food. It is calculated by using  this formula.  Beginning Inventory  +  Purchases - Ending Inventory  divided by Food Sales.
         Food cost control is a constant on going battle in every food service establishment.  Many things come into play when talking about food cost.  The biggest ones are waste and theft.  Employees will rob you blind if you don't stay focused.  The server that gives out extras in hopes to get a bigger tip, the dishwasher that takes out the trash with a hidden case of food only to be retrieved later or a cook who carries a backpack everyday.  These are just a few.  The other big one is waste caused by over ordering, not rotating properly, over portioning, improper food handling or prepping. 
        Another big factor in food cost is knowing the cost of the food how to cost out a plate  and where to get it at the best price.  Last but not least you have to count accurate inventories. 
         Food cost is one of the toughest costs to control in the food service industry.  Your team will need constant coaching and mentoring so that everyone can do their part to keep the food cost inline.  Also reward your team when they do well to get repeat behavior.  Post the monthly food cost so everyone can see it and let your team know what the goals are. In the end Food cost will most likely always be a challenge with the ever changing economy and the many variables that affect it.
         

Recommended Culinary Books

Here are a few books I used along the way and in my career. These books will give you insight into the culinary life from Kitchen Confidential to the history of our cuisine and the rest will teach the techniques of professional cooking and baking.

Restaurant Industry Economy and Down Sizing

The economy is still trying to recover. Family restaurants, carry outs, and fast food are all doing well because people still have to eat.  Some food service companies are downsizing and changing their operations.  Contract food service operations downsize their operations to meet the clients needs in this economy by cutting service,  changing menus to lower or raise prices and downsizing staff.  Restaurants downsize and change their menus to get rid of high food cost items.  They also change operations to to reduce labor intensive things so that they need less staff to run their operations.
       Higher end restaurants and food service operations may have to downsize to or restructure.  Most people can't afford to eat fine dining in this economy but people still have special occasions to celebrate or occasionally want to treat themselves to a nice meal.  This keeps the higher end food service operations in business.
        The cost of everything is on the rise.  The rising cost of gas costs consumers more to get to and from work. It costs more to ship a truck load of food to a restaurant thus the rising cost of food.  That cost is then transferred to the consumer.  Another factor is natural disaster which destroys crops thus driving up costs which is then passed along to the consumer so that these restaurants and food service companies can turn a profit.
        The economy greatly impacts everything not just food service and as with everything you have to change with the times.  Those restaurant and food service operations that can't make the changes will most likely go out of business or struggle to stay in business.

       

        

Deciding to Go to Culinary School

Deciding to go to culinary school or not is a big decision. A lot of people decide to go to culinary school for the wrong reasons. They think it will be easy, they like to watch cooking shows, eat and cook. They really don't have any direction but know they need a degree in something to make it.
It is not all glitz and glamor as seen on TV. When deciding to go to culinary school make sure it is something you really want to do or you will end up with a culinary degree that you won't use because when you see the real culinary world you will probably work in the industry for a few years then get out when you decide its not what its all cracked up to be.
This just makes it hard for those who really love the food service industry to get the positions they want because the industry is flooded. The restaurant/ food service industry is flooded with people who have degrees who only stay in industry for a few years get tired and get out. Or those people who just work in industry because it pays the bills but really have no drive or determination.
It is hard for employers to weed out these types of people so the people who really have the drive and determination to work in the restaurant/ food service industry have trouble getting their desired position..
When selecting a culinary school be sure to look at the programs offered because some schools may be cheaper but only offer 2year associates degree programs when you may want the 4 year bachelors degree program or masters program.
Also look at the classes offered can you do duel majors like cooking/ baking or is it limited to just one or the other. Are the business classes offered because you can be the best chef but if you can't work the numbers you won't go very far.
Another thing to consider is studying in another country offered. I believe the culinary school I went to Baltimore International College is the only culinary school in the U.S that offers this but I could be wrong.
These are just a few of what I believe to be the major factors in deciding to go to culinary school.

Restaurant Food

What happened to restaurant food? Everything is owned by big corporations and turned in to restaurant chains. They are killing off independent restaurants where real food is created. I almost hate eating out, I'd rather cook myself. Everywhere you go u see the same things on the menus just slightly different no creativity. Why is this you might ask. Well this is because the big corporate chefs have to design menus that are easy enough that a average cook can prepare. They basically have to dumb things down. They have to make the products come out the same in hundreds of restaurants across the country. They have to make it so a $10 an hour cook is able to successfully prepare the food on the menu. You might say well just find a good independent restaurant with a real chef and eat there. Well they are few and far between with these corporate giants and their millions of dollars. The corporations are squashing small restaurants because the independent doesn't have the resources to run ads on TV every day or pay the high rent for good locations. Also quiet often independent restaurants biggest problem is the cost per meal. By this I mean to have chefs creating the menu and selling very nice food costs a lot so you will pay more. Unless it is a independent restaurant that is selling basic food prepared in a skillful manner. But I guess it is easy for these big corporate chains to fool the vast majority when it comes to food.

Burn't out restaurant workers

The restaurant industry is a fast paced non stop industry that is always changing. It never stops. Not even for holidays or weekends, but we all know this. It is those of us who work in the restaurant industry any where from 40 to 80 hours a week who know all to well how easy it is to get burn't out. The long hours in front of hot stoves or on the floor dealing with customers can sometimes be grueling, but we love it. It is very hard to get weekends off or holidays for that matter unless u work in contract foodservice. Sometimes the daily grind in this business can beat us down to the point where we want to just throw our hands up. Thats when you have to take that extra day off when u can to get a breather and take some of that pressure off. Exspecially for restaurant managers. Sometimes we wait to long to get that breather in trying to make it to our vaccation time when we can get refreshed. It never stops and new problems arise everyday in the restaurant industry so we have to get those extra days off when we can so we can keep doing what we love.

My other website

If you like this site then please visit my other site
computer-cleaners . This site has nothing to do with the restaurant industry but it may help you if you are having computer issues dealing with adware, spyware and viruses.

Managing staff in the restaurant industry

Ah the biggest head ache of all managing people. I've only been at the management level for about two years now and I've gained a good bit of hands on experience to go along with my bachlors degree in culinary management. I've learned that managers who do not utilize the bigest tool we have to control our staff are the managers who have the most problems managing their staff. The tool I'm refering to is documentation. From the very begining of my management training I was always told if they don't want to listen document them and then the word will get out among staff. Then everyone will start to fall in place. Another tool we have to control staff is to take money away from them. We do this by sending them home a few times until they correct the behavior. The idea behind this is that when they see their shrinking pay check and aren't making any money they will do what is necessary so they don't get send home.
One of the biggest problems I have found when managing staff is when upper management dosn't back you up. This is when you try to take corrective action against a employee and the upper management over turns your action. This can cause trouble if it happends a lot because then the employee will not listen to you and will always go over your head to get the decision they want or think they will get. Now don't get me wrong if you make a wrong management decision then upper management should step in and over turn it. All in all upper management should back you most of the time so the employee will see you do have authority.
To sum it all up though I beleave managing people is pretty much the same across the board wether you work in the restaurant industry or any other industry.

Contract Food Service

It has been a year since my last post and I've decided to start posting again. Since then I've gotten out of the restaurant seen and moved on to contract food service which is a little different then working in a restaurant. The company I work for which I'm not going to mention has contracts for various establishments. Everything from government facilities to resorts and law firms. I am now a night chef/manager for the cafeteria I work in at a law firm.
In the restaurant world as a manager you are drilled about labor and food cost to no end but in the contract food service world depending on how the contract is set up things like food cost are not worried about to the extreme as they would be in a restaurant. It is still important but food cost will be generaly higher. For instance where I work we are subsidized and the client pays for all the food and we handle it for them so while we watch food cost it is not a priority unless the client wants to focus on it.
As for everything else we just have to answer to the client much the way a restaurant would answer to corporate. Labor is always a big focus exspecially in these times. As for the rest of the head aches in managing staff it is pretty much the same across the board. Other differences is that the customers are the same people everyday when accounts are not public like the law firm. Things that effect a restaurants business don't effect a private contract food service account. For instance schools being closed could mean a busy day in a restaurant where as at the law firm it could mean nothing or that we would do less business because people have to get their kids.
All in all contract food service is a different world compared to the restaurant world. A restaurant goes under when it dosn't do any business and in contract food service you go under when you lose contracts. Either way you go it is still a tough job and the stresses are about the same so you gotta love it. In my experience both sides of the coin are fun wether you work in a restaurant or in contract food service.

Restaurants Fighting to keep Managers

The restaurant business is flooded with opportunity and it is hard to keep managers as well as staff. The turn over rate is probably higher than any other type of business. I have been with my current restaurant company for almost two years and I have been transfered to five different restaurants all because of managers quiting or getting fired.
I find that most low end restaurants can not compete in terms of pay scale with the higher end restaurants. So most people like myself get hired into low end restaurants just for management experience for a year or two then move on.
I just got hired for $9,000 more on the year then what I make now at my curent position so of course I will be moving on. There are tons of restaurants all over so this increases the amount of opportunity and makes it that much harder to keep managers.
This is why most of the time when you hear someone say "when they first opened they were good now they are terrible." is true because there probably were three or four sets of different managers to come through which makes it harder to be consistent.

The slowest time of the year

Its after the holidays and everything is slowing down. The restaurant industry slows to a crawl. This dosn't mean we don't have to work as hard. In fact being in a management position we have to work harder.
Now we have to cut labor and run with a skeleton crew so if we get busy we get screwed in a sense. This means we have to run around and make the restaurant run with the least amount of staff as possible.
If tables don't get cleaned quick enough I have to clean tables. If the food isn't getting cooked fast enough I have to cook and if tables aren't getting waited on fast enough I have to assist the servers.
Everyone has to work a little bit harder when we get busy due to labor cuts but the busy periods only last a couple hours this time of year and we mostly remain slow.

Happy Holidays

Its the holiday season and the shopping rush is on. Whats this mean for the restaurant industry? It means most every restaurant is getting hit with holiday partys and loads of customers coming in from long days of shopping. A money making season.
It means employee call offs so they can attend holiday partys. It means gift card sales and pie sales. It means working on xmas eve when most people have off. So if you go out to eat this holiday season just remember were getting the rush just like the retail stores.

Customers (food stupid) no offense

The hidden secrets of most chain restaurants is pre made food. Why you may ask? Its easy, uniform and quicker to prepare. Its the belief that most employees don't have enough experience to make the product in house and it would take to much training to teach them. It is also the belief that the customer can't tell the difference and its true. Most people wouldn't know the difference between products made in house and pre fabricated unless your a foodservice professional.
Take for instance simple fried food items like poppers, mozzerella sticks, mac and cheese balls. These items have been served in tons of restaurants but could you tell the difference if they told you it was homemade?
An even bigger question is does it matter? Well it does to me because if your going to serve me pre fabricated food I should just stay home take it out of the box and make it myself. To most people it probably dosn't because they can't tell the difference anyway or they don't have the time to cook for themselves so they don't care.
I'll leave you with this thought. If your going to pay the prices in a high end restaurant to have a nice meal shouldn't it be homemade?

Management and staff turnover

If your a regular customer of a particular restaurant then you've probably seen a lot of new faces on a regular basis because the staff changes all the time. You may ask why does this happen? The only answer I have is that restaurant work his hard. This is probably the main reason most people encounter bad dining experiences. People simply don't want to work these days.
Most restaurants are always hiring because people quit just as fast as they are hired. This creates a constant on going training of employees. Employees are rushed through training when restaurants are short staffed and this causes a negative effect on the customers. Then when you finally get them trained they quit and the whole process starts all over agian. In my experiences you have to go through ten or so new hires to get one that will work hard and stay for at least a year or more.
Another issue is management turnover. There is always another restaurant out there looking to hire managers and make them a better offer. This causes management teams to constantly change in restaurants. This creates a negative/positive effect on the staff and customers because with new management comes change which can be good or bad. The problem with this is that management teams can change as fast as the rest of the staff.
In my own experience the company I work for I have been with a little over a year and I have worked in four different locations because of turnover. The restaurant industry has the highest turnover rate out of all other industrys. This is just anothe reason why a resturant that gives great service one week may give really bad service the next.

Long wait to be seated and Long wait for food

Have you ever been to a restaurant and waited thirty minutes or more to be seated and then once you were seated it took another thirty minutes to get your food? Of course you have almost everyone who has ever dined out has. As a restaurant manager you always hear "We only ordered ............ how long dose it take to make" or "We ordered ...... it doesn't take that long to make it." What most people fail to realize when a restaurant is packed is that their order isn't the only order being made in the kitchen. It also depends on what is ordered to determine how fast it comes out. If you order a steak well done that is 1.5 inches thick your looking at a minimum of 15 to 18 minutes before it is done cooking then by the time the server delivers it your total wait time could be 20 minutes. It also depends on how many orders are in front of your order. For instance if there are 10 orders in front of your order it depends how efficient the cooks are on starting the checks as they come in. If they get behind on starting checks or have to run to get to much product this slows the whole process down. A good cook will start all the items on checks that take the longest to cook then the cook will focus on the first few checks to sell them in a timely fashion. Then once the check is sold it is up to the server to deliver the food as fast as possible. The biggest problem arises when you are short kitchen staff and the orders are coming in faster than you can start them and sell them. This is what causes the 30 to 45 minute wait for food in most instances. Another cause which is a big one is incompetent kitchen staff. One more cause of this which happens alot is running out of cooking space which is when your fryers are full, the grills are full, and you have no more cooking area to start incoming orders. So you can see there are alot more factors involved as to why your order is taking so long. This is probably why most people who work in the restaurant industry are more understanding when they go out to eat and their order is taking a long time.