What are the biggest causes of high food cost?
Most high food cost comes from over-ordering, poor inventory accuracy, portion inconsistency, waste/spoilage, untracked comps, and vendor price changes that aren't addressed.
How to Control Food Cost in a Restaurant
Overview
When restaurant owners say they want to "control food cost," they're usually not talking about buying cheaper ingredients or shrinking portion sizes until guests complain. Real food cost control is about building a system that keeps your cost percentage predictable - week after week - without sacrificing quality, consistency, or speed. If your food cost is jumping around, it's rarely because one thing went wrong. It's usually death by a thousand cuts - over-ordering that turns into spoilage, untrained portioning that creeps bigger over time, inconsistent prep that ruins yields, vendor price changes that go unnoticed, and small receiving mistakes that quietly stack up.
The tricky part is that food cost problems often hide in plain sight. Your sales can look strong while your margins quietly erode. You might "feel" like you're busy, but still end the week with too much product in the walk-in. Or your team might be moving fast, but using handfuls and eyeballs instead of scales and specs. The result is the same - you're paying more per plate than you planned, and the menu can't cover it.
Calculate Actual Food Cost Correctly
You can't control food cost if you're measuring it inconsistently - or measuring the wrong thing. A lot of owners rely on gut feel ("we're busy, so costs should be fine") or they only check food cost at month-end, when it's too late to fix the week-by-week leaks. The first step is getting a clean, repeatable way to calculate actual food cost and separating it from what you wish it was.
At a basic level, your food cost comes from Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) - the value of the food you actually used during a period. The most common (and most useful) formula is -
Beginning Inventory + Purchases - Ending Inventory = COGS
Then you convert that into a percentage so you can compare week to week -
Food Cost % = COGS / Food Sales
What makes this tricky in real restaurants is everything that can distort the numbers if you don't account for it the same way every time. For example, if you receive vendor credits, rebates, or returns, decide how you'll record them and stick to it. If you transfer product between stores, track transfers out and transfers in so one location isn't "missing" inventory while the other looks artificially cheap. If you run promos, comps, staff meals, or catering, make sure sales are categorized correctly - because mismatched sales categories can make your food cost percentage look worse (or better) than reality.
It also helps to understand the difference between ideal (theoretical) food cost and actual food cost. Ideal food cost is what your food should cost based on recipe portions and sales mix. Actual food cost is what your books show after waste, portion creep, spoilage, theft, and operational mistakes. The gap between ideal and actual is where your opportunity lives. If you calculate accurately every week, you don't just get a number - you get an early warning system that tells you when to investigate purchasing, portioning, or waste before it becomes a month-long problem.
Build a Repeatable Inventory System
Inventory is where food cost control becomes real. If you only count once a month, you're basically driving by looking in the rearview mirror - by the time you see the problem, you've already paid for it. A repeatable inventory system gives you timely, trustworthy numbers so you can spot spikes, investigate quickly, and correct course before small issues turn into big losses.
Start by choosing an inventory rhythm that matches how your restaurant runs. For most operators, a strong approach is weekly counts for key items (your highest-dollar and highest-volume products) plus a monthly full inventory. Weekly key-item counts take far less time than a full count but still tell you what you need to know - are proteins, cheeses, oils, and top prep items staying in line with sales? If those items are off, your food cost is off.
Next, make the count easy to execute. Build count sheets (or a digital list) that follow your kitchen's physical layout- dry storage first, then walk-in, then freezer, then bar/desserts - whatever matches your flow. List items in the exact order they appear on shelves. This reduces missed items and prevents the "we counted it twice" problem. Standardize units and pack sizes (case, lb, each, gallon) so different people don't count the same product differently. If one person counts chicken by "cases" and another counts by "pieces," your numbers will never stabilize.
Assign ownership and rules. Decide who counts, who verifies, and when counting happens (often after close on the last day of the week, or before open on a slower morning). Train counters to be consistent- count unopened cases the same way, estimate partials using the same method, and avoid rounding because it feels faster. Even small rounding habits can swing your food cost percentage.
Finally, use inventory to generate action - not just a report. Compare this week's on-hand levels to par, check key-item usage against sales, and flag unusual variances. When something looks off, don't chase everything. Investigate the likely causes - receiving errors, portion creep, spoilage, over-prep, missed transfers, or a mis-rung item. Inventory doesn't have to be perfect to be powerful - it just has to be consistent enough to reveal where your food cost is leaking.
Pars, Order Guides, and Vendor Discipline
Most food cost problems start before you ever cook a single item - at the order. If purchasing is inconsistent, the walk-in becomes a graveyard of "good intentions" - extra cases bought "just in case," ingredients that don't match sales trends, and expensive items that sit long enough to spoil. To control food cost, you need purchasing to run on a system, not on memory or mood.
Start with par levels. Par is the amount of product you should have on hand to cover expected demand, plus a small buffer for normal variability. A practical way to set pars is to use your recent sales history (last 4-8 weeks), your menu mix, and your vendor lead times. For each key item, estimate average weekly usage, then decide how many days of coverage you want. Add a safety stock amount that makes sense for your concept - too little safety stock causes 86's and emergency orders; too much creates spoilage and cash tied up on shelves. Par should change with seasonality, promotions, and daypart shifts, so review it regularly instead of treating it like a one-time setup.
Next, build an order guide tied directly to those pars. An order guide is a standardized list of what you buy, from whom, in what pack size, and in what order cadence (daily, 2x/week, weekly). It removes guesswork and prevents "random adds" that inflate costs. Done right, your order becomes a simple math problem. Par - On Hand + Pending Deliveries = Order Quantity. This is how you reduce over-ordering without feeling like you're taking risks.
Then tighten vendor discipline. That doesn't mean switching vendors constantly - it means tracking pricing and quality consistently. Set approved products and substitutions so your team isn't swapping brands (and costs) without realizing it. Watch for quiet price creep, especially on proteins, dairy, and frying oil. Also, treat receiving as part of purchasing control. When deliveries arrive, verify quantity, quality, and invoice accuracy at the back door. If you don't catch short shipments, damaged product, or wrong items immediately, you often end up paying for it anyway.
Recipes, Training, and Line Tools
If purchasing is where food cost control starts, portion control is where it's won or lost every shift. You can negotiate vendor pricing, set perfect pars, and run clean inventory - but if the line is free-pouring, free-handing, and "hooking it up," your food cost will drift upward no matter how busy you are. Portion creep is usually unintentional - a little extra protein on the grill, a heavier scoop of cheese, a bigger ladle of sauce, a generous side that varies by who's working. But across hundreds of plates, those little extras become real dollars.
The foundation is recipe cards (spec sheets) for every menu item - even the simple ones. Each recipe should include exact portions by weight or volume, build order, approved substitutions, and plating notes. When possible, add a reference photo so the standard is visual, not just written. A recipe card isn't about micromanaging; it's about ensuring every plate costs what you priced it to cost, and every guest gets the same experience.
Then give the team the right tools on the line. Scales aren't just for prep - they're for portioning expensive items- proteins, cheese, deli meats, seafood, and premium toppings. Use portion scoops, ladles, spoodles, slicers, and standardized pans so the "default" portion is automatic. Pre-portion items during prep when it makes sense (burger patties, proteins for bowls, cheese packs, sauce cups) so service stays fast and consistent. The more you rely on eyeballing, the more your food cost depends on who's working that day.
Training matters too, but it has to be practical. Teach the "why" in operator terms - "If we add one extra ounce of chicken per bowl, we lose X dollars per week." People respond when they understand the impact. Coach for consistency, not punishment. Do quick checks during slower moments - spot weigh a portion, review a plate build, and correct gently in the moment. Make portioning part of your opening shift checks, not something you only talk about after the numbers come back ugly.
Finally, protect portion control from chaos. When the kitchen gets slammed, standards are the first thing to slip. That's why your system needs to be easy to follow under pressure - clear specs, tools within arm's reach, and prep that supports speed. Portion control doesn't have to feel restrictive - when done right, it actually reduces stress, because everyone knows exactly what "right" looks like.
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Reduce Waste, Spoilage, and Theft
Even with solid purchasing and tight portion control, food cost can still climb if product is getting thrown away, going bad, or walking out the door. The good news is you don't need a complicated program to fix this - you need a few consistent habits that make waste visible and prevent it from repeating.
Start with a waste log that's quick enough to use during a real shift. Keep it simple - item, quantity, reason, and who recorded it. The point isn't to shame anyone - it's to reveal patterns. Common categories that help owners take action include overproduction, spoilage, mistakes/remakes, quality rejects, and customer returns. When you review the log weekly, look for the "same thing, same reason" happening again and again. That's a process problem, not a people problem. If you're consistently wasting a prep item, your batch size is too big, your par is wrong, or your holding standards aren't clear.
Next, tighten FIFO and labeling so your walk-in stops behaving like a black hole. FIFO only works when it's built into the physical setup - older product in front, newer behind, with clear date labels. Use date dots or labels with prep date and discard date, and don't let "mystery containers" survive a manager walk-through. A simple rule that helps- if it's not labeled, it's not usable. That sounds strict, but it prevents exactly the kind of slow spoilage that quietly drains margin.
Storage standards matter more than most owners realize. Create a basic cooler map (what goes where), use consistent container types and lids, and avoid stacking open product in ways that cause cross-contamination or faster spoilage. For high-cost items, consider "first used" zones - designated shelves or bins that must be pulled from before opening anything new. Small layout choices reduce waste without requiring extra labor.
Finally, address shrink and theft with spot controls instead of paranoia. You don't need to accuse people; you need controls that make losses harder. Count a short list of key items weekly (proteins, cheese, fryer oil), track unusually high usage, and audit high-risk areas like to-go packaging, premium add-ons, and bar ingredients if relevant. Also check receiving - product that never gets properly checked can "disappear" before it ever becomes inventory.
Engineer the Menu to Protect Margins
A lot of owners try to control food cost purely through operations - ordering tighter, portioning better, wasting less. That's essential, but it's only half the picture. Your menu can either support food cost control or fight it every day. If the menu has several items with thin margins, volatile ingredients, or inconsistent builds, you'll feel like you're "doing everything right" and still not hitting your target.
The first step is recipe costing at the item level. Every menu item should have a basic cost built from real ingredient prices and real portions. Include the parts people forget - oil absorption, sauces, garnishes, sides, and "free" add-ons. Once you can see what each plate actually costs, you can identify problems quickly - especially items that use high-cost ingredients (proteins, cheese, seafood, premium toppings) without a price that supports them. This is also where you catch portion creep- the recipe says 6 oz, but the plate is consistently 7-8 oz in practice. Your costing is only as accurate as your execution.
Next, sort items into simple buckets so decisions are obvious -
1. High margin + high sales. protect these and keep execution tight.
2. High margin + low sales. consider better placement, photos, staff recommendations, or limited-time promos.
3. Low margin + high sales. your "silent killer" - fix portioning, adjust the build, negotiate ingredients, or raise price carefully.
4. Low margin + low sales- candidates for removal, simplification, or a rework.
When an item needs help, you have multiple levers that don't require a dramatic change. You can adjust portion size slightly (especially on expensive components), swap a garnish, change a side to something lower cost, redesign the build to reduce trim loss, or improve yields through prep methods. Sometimes the best fix is operational - pre-portioning proteins, switching to a standard scoop, or using a slicing guide so the sandwich build stays consistent.
Pricing is part of menu engineering too, but it should be strategic. Instead of blanket increases, focus on items where (1) demand is strong, (2) your cost increased, or (3) the item anchors a category and can support a modest bump. Also watch modifiers. Unpriced add-ons and "can you throw on extra..." requests are food cost leaks disguised as hospitality. If an add-on has a cost, it needs a price and a button.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How can menu engineering help control food cost?
Recipe costing shows which items are low margin. You can fix them by adjusting portions, builds, sides, yields, or pricing - so the menu supports profitability.
How do I improve inventory accuracy quickly?
Improve inventory accuracy by standardizing count sheets, organizing storage, counting on a fixed schedule, and verifying key items. Using inventory technology speeds counts, reduces human error, enforces consistent units, and highlights variances instantly, letting managers correct problems before food cost drifts.
How do I set par levels to control food cost?
Use recent sales/usage history and vendor lead times to estimate how much you need for the coming period, then add a small safety stock. Review and adjust pars as demand changes.
How often should I calculate food cost?
Weekly is ideal for most restaurants because it's frequent enough to catch problems early. Monthly-only reviews usually reveal issues too late to fix quickly.
