April 2014

Purchase Order Workflows to Lower Hotel Purchasing Costs

Posted by: Stuart Amoriell | President, Seva Procurement on Apr 28, 2014 at 7:32 pm |
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This week's hospitality best practice focus highlights the use of Purchase Order Workflows to exert control over the purchasing process by ensuring that corporate standards and budgetary guidelines are being consistently maintained.  Additionally, there are a number of secondary benefits that your organization will achieve by embracing this best practice, as outlined below.  Read More »

Food Cost Best Practices: The Importance of Generating Theoretical Food Costs

Posted by: Seva Procurement on Apr 24, 2014 at 6:00 pm |
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Almost every restaurant and food service operator in the country shares a similar monthly routine—the completion of a product inventory and the subsequent generation of a food cost percentage.  This process not only enables the creation of a restaurant profit and loss statement that illustrates the financial health of the business, but can also uncover emerging operational performance issues.    Read More »

Food Cost Control in Economic Down Turns

Posted by: Seva Procurement on Apr 24, 2014 at 5:58 pm |
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Open any newspaper and it is quickly apparent that we are being bombarded with signs of an economy in peril. While these predictions have sometimes become self-fulfilling prophecies as publicized economic fears have fueled consumer behavior, there are certainly economic signals that indicate a struggling economy.  Read More »

Product Usage Variance in Food Cost Management

Posted by: Seva Procurement on Apr 24, 2014 at 5:57 pm |
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Generating periodic food cost percentages is likely a common routine for most food service operators.  While establishing these costs is highly valuable, the mere act of calculating food cost figures does nothing to lower costs, unless the underlying causes of food cost variances are identified and eliminated.  The difficulty with doing so is that identifying these variances is not always an ea  Read More »

Product Specification Development

Posted by: seva Procurement on Apr 24, 2014 at 5:56 pm |
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Too often, the terms “food purchasing” and “food procurement” are used interchangeably within our industry. There is, in fact, more than a semantic difference between these two terms within the context of the food service industry.  Read More »

Strategic Relationships in Supplier Management

Posted by: Seva Procurement on Apr 24, 2014 at 5:55 pm |
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Often times we have found that food service operators believe that procurement strategy should be based on conflict and competition rather than partnership.  In other words, some operators believe that getting the best price means nothing but hard negotiating and keeping a supplier’s proverbial feet to the flames.  In reality, negotiation is only one piece of creating a larger, more successful   Read More »

Restaurant Storage Best Practices & Food Cost Control

Posted by: Seva Procurement on Apr 24, 2014 at 5:55 pm |
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Proper product storage procedures are critical in controlling food service costs, as well as managing restaurant product quality and consistency.  While not the most interesting of food cost control topics, any restaurant cost control efforts that fail to include proper storage procedures will fall short of their mark.  To better understand both the importance and details of correct food servic  Read More »

Restaurant Line Check Template & Best Practices

Posted by: Seva Procurement on Apr 24, 2014 at 5:54 pm |
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For those that have followed the food cost control articles previously published by Seva Procurement, you are probably aware that we attempt to cover a wide range of related topics.  We often run in to operators that are surprised that our articles don’t focus entirely on purchasing management as the key to food cost control, since this is the core focus of Seva Procurement.  We strongly believ  Read More »

Food Service Distributor Prime Agreement Negotiation Considerations

Posted by: Seva Procurement on Apr 24, 2014 at 5:53 pm |
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When it comes to food and beverage procurement strategy, it is highly recommended that a restaurant, hotel or food service operation consider establishing a distributor prime agreement to manage their food service distribution costs.  The typical distributor prime agreement will require eighty percent of purchases to be made from the prime vendor, along with other contractual considerations tha  Read More »

Restaurant Inventory Management | Food Cost Control

Posted by: Seva Procurement on Apr 24, 2014 at 5:52 pm |
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Countless times, Seva Procurement has been engaged by food service operations of all sizes to help uncover the reasons behind apparent food cost control and profitability issues.  When we begin to investigate potential causes, however, it often becomes quickly apparent that the primary problem is not with restaurant cost control practices, but rather with the restaurant inventory data and food   Read More »

The Raucous About Food Service Rebates | Better Food Cost Control Alternatives

Posted by: Seva Procurement on Apr 24, 2014 at 5:51 pm |
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The past year has seen the emergence of many new food service distribution trends.  Among these trends is the growing desire by restaurant owners and operators to gain access to the available pool of food service manufacturer rebates, along with the corresponding rise in food service buying groups.  Unfortunately, this rising trend has often resulted in little more than frustration by all parti  Read More »

Accident Prevention – Protect Employees and Profitability

Posted by: Seva Procurement on Apr 24, 2014 at 5:50 pm |
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In this age of increased competition, reduced family budgets, slashed business travel and rising product costs; some operators may be tempted to think that they can’t afford to implement an employee accident prevention program.  In fact, just the opposite is true.  Read More »

Cost Control & Budgeting Best Practices

Posted by: Seva Procurement on Apr 24, 2014 at 5:48 pm |
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If you have been in food service or hospitality management for a while, you have probably come across the cliché about managing a shift like a duck swims in water.  The adage goes something like this: from above, a duck seems to effortlessly glide along the water, but if you look below the surface, you will see the duck feverishly paddling his little legs to navigate about.  The lesson of the m  Read More »

Hotel & Food Cost Control: Purchasing Considerations

Posted by: Seva Procurement on Apr 24, 2014 at 5:46 pm |
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When it comes to food and beverage purchasing management, Seva Procurement has often found both hotel and restaurant operators unfamiliar with how to construct the best purchasing programs for their operation.  As purchasing management is a critical component of food cost control and overall hotel or restaurant profitability, these operators fail to maximize their potential food service or hote  Read More »

The Mechanics of Menu Engineering

Posted by: Seva Procurement on Apr 24, 2014 at 5:45 pm |
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Several of our previous restaurant cost control articles have been dedicated to the topic of recipe cost and menu development.  This article will continue on that trend by examining the principles of menu engineering and how they can help improve restaurant profitability and food cost control.  Today’s concept of menu engineering is a product of Michigan State University’s School of Hospitality  Read More »

Lowering Food Cost Through Key Item Analysis

Posted by: Seva Procurement on Apr 24, 2014 at 5:40 pm |
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Restaurant cost control contains volumes of work relating to the food service cost control trifecta: food, labor and alcohol costs.  Read More »

Standard Accounting versus Cost Accounting

Posted by: Seva Procurement on Apr 24, 2014 at 5:37 pm |
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There is a critical difference between financial accounting and financial management/cost accounting, though this distinction is not always fully realized by some restaurant operators and managers.  Read More »