formulas for restaurant menu costing and how to incorporate overheads into a menu price?
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If you look through curriculum books from the major culinary colleges in the country, you'll find quite a few different ways to formulate menu prices. The most popular use budgeted cost percentages.\n\nBudgeted cost percentages use the food cost percentage you budget for your operation to achieve a retail price by dividing the recipe cost of the food item by the cost percentage. For example, if you are budgeting a 33% food cost, and the recipe cost of a menu item is $4, the retail price would be $12.\n\n$4 / 33% (.33) = $12\n\nThis is the most popular method for pricing menus. Though it is the most popular, this method is inherently flawed. The biggest problem with the method is that it totally ignores the rest of the numbers in your restaurant, your rent, insurance, labor, chemicals, etc. The formula assumes that if you achieve this budgeted food cost, your restaurant will make money. This doesn't work because different items contribute a different amount of gross profit to the bottom line. A $6 hamburger, for example, contributes $4 in gross profit while a $12 entree contributes $8 in gross profit. While the budgeted food cost percentage can be achieved by selling either item, the entree item will contribute twice the amount of gross profit to the bottom line, meaning it pays more bills and leaves more for profit.\n\nThe most effective way to price for profit is through gross profit dollar pricing. This method determines how much each person in your restaurant costs you to serve by using numbers from your actual P&L, then dividing them by customer counts to determine a needed gross profit per person to pay all your expenses and leave money for profit. The gross profit dollar pricing method uses this number to formulate menu item prices that factor in all the costs of doing business, not just the food cost.\n\nThe first step to any pricing program is to create detailed recipes for every item. If you haven't done this yet, get started. It's also important to have a system to keep recipe prices updated, so you can track your average gross profit per item sold to make sure it stays high enough to cover your bills and profit.\n\nI have spreadsheets available to track all this information and more. My download store is not open yet, but if you'd like more information about the process of pricing with gross profit dollars, or anything else, feel free to contact me through my website.\n\nBrandon O'Dell\nO'Dell Consulting\nhttp://www.bodellconsulting.com
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So they can calculate exactly how to cut the cheese....lol\n\nSorry...couldn't resist!  :)\n\nA chef often has to use large quantities of various ingredients to feed groups of approximate size. In other words, he, or she has to know the flavors and scents of various foods and spices very well in order to know in what approximate proportions must be used for various sized batches.\n\nWith this info he, or she can then use those proportions to make a batch of filling for a certain pie filling to make say 10 pies one night but then change it to accommodate a busy day where 45 pies might be needed.\n\nAlso, weights might be necessary to calculate....say for ordering so many slabs of beef, crates of chicken and so on.\n\nThe chef has to know the volume of their coolers so they know not to over-fill them with foods so they won't strain their motors and thus spoil all the food.\n\nThey also may need to be able to calculate a budget so they can place orders for enough common foods but also some specialty items to spice up the menu a bit. This has to be balanced so the income exceeds what's spent in food stuffs as well as labor costs of making each dish.\n\nThe math is simple and probably on a spreadsheet to make things faster and repeatable but the information has to be there to be used, and it has to be used properly, or the restaurant won't succeed.\n\nHope this helps.
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is this something you want to do yourself? if so i would try the Kraft foods website, i know they have lots of free recipes \nor one of those wedding websites like www.knot.com\n\nif you want to host the reception try calling the hotels in your area they should be able to e mail or fax menus with prices to you.
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You should hire a construction consultant, general contractor, someone who has done bars/restaurants before.  It always costs more than you planned.  Be prepared!
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A general rule of thumb for restaurants are\n33% for food cost\n33% for labour (inculding yours)\n33% Gross Profit which you will pay your fixed\nexpenses such as rent, insurance, etc.\nRemember these figures are just guides and they\nmay vary a point one way or the other.
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I would love to do it for free, but i dont have the time. I gotta eat! Whats your budget?
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Something to do with COSTING. Try this,
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Setup expense categories budget, i.e. rent, electricity, food etc and after you subtract all of these expenses , you might end up with extra fund . Use that fund and call it others expenses or saving. You will use this category to cover non routine expenses or that you never through of such as car fixing. One important is to stick to your budget and never exceeding each.   \n\nExample \nSalary:           1000\nRent   200\nFood  175\n<<<\n<<<\n  ___\nTotal Expenses           955\nTotal Saving   45\n\nCall that 45 – Other Expenses
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try this site\n\nhttp://www.futureaccountant.com/process-costing/study-notes/
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Although you have 2 variables, 1 of them has a constraint - i.e. there is not an unlimited # of items per hour that can be boxed.\n\nIn your example, it's now costing you $1.80 per item. If, for example, the maximum (or optimum) # of items that could be boxed per hour was 100, then that cost is $0.18 per item. Paying $1.62 per box would be the break even point.\n\nTo analyze this further, you need to keep one of the variables constant and then look at the effect of the other variable.
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I estimate the meal was $20.65     Suz estimated cost was closest to her actual cost.   This is what I came up with (approximate figures) Suz-actual $4.36 paid $3.52      Annie- actual $ 6.50 $ paid $7.50   Cynthia- actual $6.76 Paid $8.80.
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Salaries, multiple shifts\nInsurance, payroll taxes, inventory costs, rent, utilities, supplies for cooking, serving, printing costs for menus, signage, advertising, funishings (tables, chairs), internet access, computer hardware/software, tax preparation, cash register, spoiled food, bank account fees, local permits, sales tax permits, federal/state/local taxes
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Price\nProduct\nPlace\nPromotion
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CReate a basic weekly report on a spreadsheet - four times for the month.  Use Excell, and use a new worksheet for each month.  Fill in the following totals:\n\n\nTotal $ Salaries Earned.\nTotal$  Costs Paid (including salaries).\nRevnue $ billed this week.\nRevenue $ Collected this week.\nList any issues or concerns in the week in point form in the last column.\n\nThese are simple metric which will give you straightforward insights into your business.  Sometimes the Salaries earned will be higher than the Revenue collected - which is ok (now and then) as long as costs paid is less than Revenue collected.  If you keep these records consistently over a period they'll give you good value.
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I recommend checking out the SBA, Entrepreneur, The Start Up Journal & Nolo. All 4 are great informational resources for the new/small business owner. I posted links for you in the source box.\n\nAssociations may be a good avenue to explore as well. These organizations will address many of the thoughts, questions and concerns you'll inevitably have as well as many you haven't anticipated yet. See the source box for some relevant links. \n\nResearch, research, research – this cannot be stressed enough. Read as much as you can about the industry. Here are some book titles that are relevant:\n\n* The Restaurant Business Start-up Guide by Paul Daniels\n* Restaurants That Work: Case Studies of the Best in the Industry by Martin E. Dorf\n* Restaurant Financial Basics by Raymond S. Schmidgall \n* Opening a Restaurant or Other Food Business Starter Kit: How to Prepare a Restaurant Business Plan and Feasibility Study by Sharon Fullen \n* Upstart Guide Owning & Managing a Restaurant by Roy S. Alonzo \n* The Restaurant Managers Handbook: How to Set Up, Operate, and Manage a Financially Successful Food Service Operation by Douglas Robert Brown\n\nThere are plenty of free informational resources out there. Check the source box for links to articles.\n\nHope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!
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My recommendation would be for you would be to obtain a part time position as a bookkeeper so that you can learn about the economics of the restaurant business.  I spent years moonlighting as one and learned all the various costs involved, as well as understanding how products are sourced, what compliance issues there are, and the cost and profit structure.  I did not learn much about the operations but that was only limited to my not inquiring about it.  You can learn as much as you want in that capacity and there are plenty of restaurants looking for part time bookkeepers.  Good luck!
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Ok This what you do. Micorsoft Excel Can do it for you perfectly well. All you need is to simplify the fomular inwhich you want to use in making your calculations so that everytime you type in a number you will get the totals without craking your head too much. \n\nExcel is what you need. \n\nThanks