Running a restaurant is exciting, but it also comes with challenges. One of the biggest struggles restaurant owners face is food cost control. If your food costs are too high, your profits shrink. If you cut costs the wrong way, your food quality suffers, and customers may not come back.
The good news is that with the right strategies, you can save money, reduce waste, and keep your customers happy.
In this blog, we’ll walk through 5 food cost control tips every restaurant should know. These tips are simple, practical, and proven to work.
Why Food Cost Control Matters?
Food is the heart of your restaurant. But food also makes up one of your biggest expenses. Studies show that food costs usually take 25–35% of a restaurant’s total sales. If you don’t manage it carefully, it can quickly eat into your profits.
Think of it this way:
- If you save $1 on food costs per plate, and you serve 500 plates a week, that’s $500 saved in just one week.
- In a year, that’s $26,000 saved without losing a single customer.
Here are the 5 Food Cost Control Tips Every Restaurant Should Know
1. Track and Monitor Food Costs Daily
You can’t control what you don’t measure. The first step in food cost control is tracking your food expenses every day.
Many restaurants only check food costs at the end of the month. By then, it’s too late—you’ve already lost money. Instead, smart restaurants watch food costs daily or weekly.
How to Do It:
- Calculate food cost percentage: Food Cost % = (Food Cost ÷ Food Sales) × 100
- Use POS (Point of Sale) reports: Track what you sell each day.
- Compare purchases with usage: If you bought 20 lbs. of chicken and only sold 10 lbs. worth of chicken dishes, where did the rest go?
- Spot trends early: If food costs are creeping up, you’ll see it right away and can fix it.
Example: A restaurant notices food costs jump 5% in one week. After checking, they found out the staff were giving extra-large portions. By fixing the portion size, they save thousands per month.
Takeaway: Daily monitoring prevents small leaks from becoming big losses.
2. Standardize Portion Sizes
Portion control is one of the simplest and most effective ways to manage food costs. If your staff serves inconsistent portions, your costs will always be out of control.
Why Portion Control Matters:
- Too much food → Waste and higher costs.
- Too little food → Customers feel cheated.
How to Control Portions:
- Use portion scoops, ladles, and scales: Don’t just “eyeball” it.
- Create recipe cards: List exact measurements for each dish.
- Train staff: Make sure cooks know the standard portion size.
- Do spot checks: Supervisors should watch plates to ensure consistency.
Example: A burger restaurant sets its beef patty size to 6 ounces. If cooks sometimes make patties 7 ounces, that’s 1 ounce wasted per burger. Over 1,000 burgers a month, that’s 62 lbs. of beef wasted hundreds of dollars gone.
Takeaway: Standard portions keep costs low and customers satisfied.
3. Reduce Food Waste
Food waste is money in the trash. Every onion peel, every burned steak, every plate of uneaten food means lost profit.
Types of Waste to Watch:
- Preparation waste: Trimmings, peels, over-cutting.
- Cooking mistakes: Burned food, wrong orders.
- Plate waste: Food customers leave uneaten.
- Spoilage: Food that goes bad before being used.
How to Reduce Waste:
- Use FIFO (First In, First Out): Older stock is used first.
- Do regular inventory checks: Don’t over-order perishable items.
- Repurpose leftovers: Example: yesterday’s roasted chicken can become today’s chicken soup.
- Watch portion sizes: If customers keep leaving food, maybe portions are too big.
- Train staff: Proper cutting, cooking, and storage techniques save money.
Example: A restaurant reduces its plate size by 1 inch. Customers still feel full, but plate waste drops by 20%. That change alone saves the restaurant thousands each year.
Takeaway: Less waste means lower costs and higher profits.
4. Negotiate with Suppliers
Your suppliers play a big role in your food costs. If you always accept the first price offered, you may be overpaying.
How to Negotiate Smartly:
- Compare prices: Check prices from 2–3 suppliers regularly.
- Buy in bulk: For high-use items, bigger orders mean discounts.
- Ask for seasonal deals: Fresh produce is cheaper in season.
- Build loyalty: Suppliers may give better prices to consistent, long-term customers.
- Pay on time: Reliable payment gives you leverage to request discounts.
Example: A café negotiates a long-term deal for coffee beans. Instead of paying $8 per pound, they lock in $7. Over 500 lbs. a year, that’s $500 saved.
Takeaway: Good supplier relationships = better prices and steady savings.
5. Design a Smart Menu
Your menu is more than a list of dishes—it’s a cost control tool. A well-designed menu can increase profits without raising prices.
Menu Strategies That Work:
- Focus on high-margin items: Promote dishes that cost little to make but sell at a higher price.
- Use menu engineering: Arrange your menu so profitable dishes stand out.
- Remove poor sellers: If a dish sells rarely, it may cause waste.
- Cross-use ingredients: Design dishes that share ingredients to reduce waste.
- Offer flexible portions: Small and large sizes cut waste and meet customer needs.
Example: A restaurant sees its pasta dishes bring in higher profits than steaks. By highlighting pasta on the menu, sales increase, food costs drop, and profits rise.
Takeaway: A smart menu brings in money while controlling costs.
Beyond the Basics: Extra Tips for Food Cost Control
While the 5 main tips above are the foundation, here are more ways to fine-tune your food cost strategy:
- Train staff on cost awareness: Teach employees that waste = lost profits.
- Watch energy costs too: Inefficient equipment can drive up utility bills.
- Check deliveries carefully: Reject poor-quality or spoiled items.
- Use technology: Inventory apps and POS systems make tracking easy.
- Review recipes often: Ingredient prices change—update recipes to match costs.
Food Cost Control Means Restaurant Success
Controlling food costs is not about cutting corners. When you watch your food costs carefully, you can:
- Save money while keeping your food tasty and fresh.
- Serve the right amount of food so customers are happy.
- Cut down on wasted food.
- Have more money to spend on your staff, equipment, or new ideas.
Restaurants that keep an eye on food costs don’t just get by—they grow and do better over time.
Final Thoughts
Running a restaurant takes a lot of work. You don’t have to do it alone. Food service experts can help you. They look at your menu, kitchen, and staff. Then they make a plan to save money, save time, and help your restaurant run smoothly.
If you’re ready to take control of your restaurant’s food costs and run a more efficient business, expert help is just a click away.
Visit Food Solution Consulting today to see how consulting can help your restaurant grow.