Reducing Kitchen Prep Costs

Preparation responsibilities vary from chopping vegetables and boiling noodles to smashing poultry and plating sweets. Menus that need a lot of prep work will increase your labor costs, especially in the kitchen. Purchasing food that requires less kitchen prep time is one method to reduce labor costs (and your payroll). To stay profitable, restaurants must strike a balance between prep time and labor costs while maintaining a reasonable food cost.

We’ve compiled a list of  some menu items that can save labor time without compromising the integrity of your menu:

Dressings and sauces

Salad dressings and sauces including BBQ sauce, honey mustard, and marinara are reasonably priced and help to keep food costs down.

Fried appetizers

Items like chicken wings, onion rings, French fries, and other fried food can usually be purchased frozen and still taste great. An excellent strategy to ensure quality dishes while keeping labor and food prices in check is to balance minimal prep menu items with more labor-demanding food prep. Encourage and train your kitchen workers to cross-use items to save money and prevent food waste in the kitchen, which affects overall food costs.

Pastas

Ravioli, gnocchi, and tortellini quickly and cheaply spruce up basic pasta recipes. While homemade pasta has a good ring to it, it can be extremely labor intensive, quickly increasing your food costs.

Desserts

There are many delicious-looking and tasting desserts that rival or outperform homemade desserts.

A good food cost is critical to your entire restaurant budget; minor savings in the kitchen can add up to larger savings over time. And, of course, whether you prepare the food in-house or buy it from a supplier, it must look nice, taste good, and be presented by friendly people in a welcoming environment.