FOOD AND BEVERAGE CONTROL

Introduction
To control the revenue of a unit, particular attention must be paid to the major factors
which can have an influence on the profitability. Therefore it is essential to control the main
factors which can affect the revenue of a business, such as the menu-beverage list, the total
volume of food and beverage sales, the sales mix, the average spend of customers in each
selling out-let at different times of the day, the number of covers served and the gross profit
margins.
It is important to note, particularly in commercial operations that somewhere in the
total control system there is a need for the accountability of what has been served to the
customer and the payment for what has been issued from the kitchen or the bar.
The payment for food and beverage may be made in many forms such as cash, foreign
currency, credit cards, cheques, travellers’ cheques, luncheon type vouchers and signed bills.
All staff handling cash should be adequately trained in the respective company’s
methods. It is a common practice for a cashier’s or waiter’s handbook/manual to be produced
so that an established procedure may be followed with the specific aim of ensuring that cash
security is efficiently carried out at all times.

Control is a process by which managers try to direct, regulate & restrain the action of the
employees & other resources in order to achieve the desired goals of the establishment, viz.
financial gains, sound working conditions, etc.

• The process adopted depends greatly on the nature of operation.

• The process needs evaluation of its effectiveness from time to time.

• The process adopted needs to be understood by the staff who implements it and also
its importance. Training needs.

Functions of control

1. Aids in ascertaining the receipts items for sale- in units and its price.

2. Reduces the chances to any pilferage and wastage.

3. Provides information to ascertain data for costing purposes which in turn helps to take
future actions – e.g. cost estimation for forthcoming year.

4. Helps in ascertaining the volume of sales.

Control in F&B Sales

• At any point of time knowing the performance of the outlet in terms of sales is very
important.

• A suitable control system is therefore essential.

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 • The type of control system to be adopted depends greatly on the type of operation
carried out by the outlet.

• A road-side kiosk shall not have the same control system as that of a fast food outlet
and again the control of fast food operation outlet shall not have the same as that of a
restaurant.

• In general the control of sale of food and drinks in a restaurant is done through a
document called “Kitchen Order ticket” (KOT) & “bar order ticket (BOT)
respectively.

Standard Yields

The yield of a recipe is the number of portions it will produce. Standard yields for high-cost
ingredients such as meat are determined by calculating the cost per cooked portion. For
example, a 5 kg roast might be purchased for $17 a kilogram. The cooked roast is to be
served in 250 g portions as part of a roast beef dinner. After trimming and cooking, the roast
will not weigh 5 kg, but significantly less. By running a yield test, the cost per portion and
unit weight, and the standard yield and yield percentage, can be determined.

Standard Recipe

 A recipe is a list of the ingredients and the quantities of those ingredients needed to
produce a particular item, along with a procedure or method to follow. A standard
recipe is the recipe that has been designated the correct one to use in a given
establishment.

 Standard recipes help to ensure that the quality of any item will be the same each time
the item is produced. They also help to establish consistency of taste, appearance, and
customer acceptance.

 The same ingredients are used in the correct proportions and the same procedure is
followed, the results should be nearly identical each time the standard recipe is used,
even if different people are doing the work. In addition, returning customers will be
more likely to receive items of identical quality.

 Standard recipes are also very important to food control. Without standard recipes,
costs cannot be controlled effectively. If a menu item is produced by different
methods, with different ingredients, and in different proportions each time it is made,
costs will be different each time any given quantity is produced

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Standard Portion Cost

 A standard portion cost can be calculated for every item on every menu, provided that
the ingredients, proportions, production methods, and portion sizes have been
standardized as previously discussed. In general, calculating standard portion cost
merely requires that one determine the cost of each ingredient used to produce a
quantity of a given menu item, add the costs of the individual ingredients to arrive at a
total, and then divide the total by the number of portions produced.

 Standard portion cost is defined as the dollar amount that a standard portion should
cost, given the standards and standard procedures for its production. The standard
portion cost for a given menu item can be viewed as a budget for the production of
one portion of that item. There are several reasons for determining standard portion
costs. The most obvious is that one should have a reasonably clear idea of the cost of
a menu item before establishing a menu sales price for that item

Standard portion cost = Purchase price per unit

Number of portions per unit

Food cost control

Food cost control is simply cost control as applied to an undertaking operating food facilities.
Food cost control is therefore cost control as applied in hotels, restaurants and similar
establishments. The object of food cost control is to ensure that costs are neither more or less
than they ought to be that they are in line with the financial and catering policies of the
establishment

Modes of payment

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 • Cash
• Credit Card
• Cheque – Banker’s & Travellers
• Letter of Credit
• Various vouchers- Travel agent’s Voucher/Lucky gift Voucher

 By signature (in-house guests)

1. A manual system: Which is commonly used in small and in exclusive type catering units.

Advantages
• More personalised.
• Enables charging of dishes which are not on the menu.
• Enables in easy discounting charges on certain occasions like “supplement checks”
for customer satisfaction .
• Simple in operation.
• Does not require any external source of energy- electricity, battery power etc. to run.
• Operation is not costly.
• Operation does not require much training & skill
Disadvantages
• High chance of errors.
• High chances of fraudulence.
• Time consuming.
• Labour oriented.
• Requires large inventory.
• Not suitable where the business volume is high or transaction is fast
• The data produced may be late for management to take any decision.

2. An automated system: This is commonly used in units with several outlets

Types of Restaurant Check in Automated System

• Pre-Checking system (NCR)

• Electronic Cash register
• Hand-held Order Pads
• POS Control system

Pre-Checking system (NCR)

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• A blank sales check

• Waiter’s machine number

• A machine that operates by insertion of sales check into the printing table to the side of the
machine and on use of the individual machine key number by the waiter which is assigned to
him

Pre-Checking System (NCR)

• How it works:
1. The waiter keys in his per-assigned machine number
which enables the machine to open.
2. A check in duplicate is inserted into the printing table.
Price Menu Item
3. There are pre-assigned keys
Quantity

Waiter Log-in No.

4. The duplicate check is

produced for bar or kitchen
to obtain beverage or food
Table No.

5. The top copy is referred to

as the sales check
Print

1. For each transaction the machine generates a reference number (as bill no. in manual
checking) on the sales check and the duplicate
2. The sales proceeds are recorded on a continuous audit tape that can be removed only by
authorised persons at the end of the meal period/day
3. Thereafter the machine is again cleared (set to zero). The total sale on the audit tape is then
compared with the actual cash received.

Advantages

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 1. Both the sales checks and food checks are generated simultaneously; lesser chances of
frauds/omissions
2. Analysis of total sales per waiter can be made on audit tape.
3. Each waiter acts as a cashier for the tables he has served; collecting cash and settling it with
his total sales performance at the end of the shift. Therefore, the need for cashier is avoided
4. The machine can only be operated once the waiter’s machine number is keyed in. So no
other person can generate a food or beverage check and obtain the same from the kitchen
or bar.

• A higher version of pre-check machine.

• The keyboard has

1. Coded keys corresponding to menu items.

2. Each menu having a price to it already pre-set in a control panel.

3. A waiter has to type in the quantity and the item code and the check in duplicate will be
generated.

4. The control panel is kept locked and only authorised persons can change the price or add or
delete menu items.

5. Possible to have a running count of each item recorded.

6. A sales analysis printout can be obtained on pressing a certain key

2. Electronic Cash Register

• High speed machines to record cash transactions in fast service and large volume of catering
operations

Bill made by ECR

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ECR- Advantages

1. Price customers’ checks through pre-sets or price look-ups.

2. Print checks, including the printing of previously entered items.

3. Have an additional special key so that the pre-set price can be changed during promotional
period. E.g. “happy hour in a bar.”

4. Produce sales analysis by type of product at any hour of transaction

5. Enable analysis of sales per waiter per hour or per shift period.
6. Analyse sales by method of payment- cash, cheque, type of credit card, etc.
7. Automatic calculations – taxes, service charge, cover charge, etc.
8. Provide limited stock control.
9. Provide waiter checking-in and checking out facility
10. Operator training can be provided without disrupting transaction operation or corruption of
information already in the ECR.
11. Restrict access to the ECR and the till drawer by the key or code for each operator.
12. The customer can view the price charged through “turret display”. This is advantageous in
self service counter and fast food outlet operations.
13. Eliminates the need for cashier. Each waiter becomes responsible for collecting the payment
and paying in the exact amount as recorded by the ECR at end of each shift.

ECR disadvantages

1. Suitability – type of operation

2. Cost – in comparing with other products.

3. Model- up-to date or old.

4. Training to be provided to operate.

5. ECR be linked with other ECRs as a part of network.

6. Maintenance – level/cost/frequency.

7. Safeguards – memory loss when power failure.

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 8. Restriction of access to commands, re-setting, disclosure of information to any other than
authorised persons.

9. Ability to function when near to any other powerful electrical equipment.

10. Ability to restrain entry of moisture/dust/foreign particles that can interfere with the
operation of the keys
3. Electronic Hand Held Order pads

1. Each waiter has a check pad in possession

2. Thus individual check-pad discloses the identity of the waiter using it.
3. Order is taken on check pad by pressing the keys
4. The check pads are wireless networked with kitchen & cashier
5. It has a send button which when pressed the order is transmitted both to kitchen &
cashier’s terminal

4. POS Control System

• A software which enables individual sales at an outlet be recorded, transmitted to various

sections, printed as “check” and accounted for and at the same time be processed as a
performance data of the outlet.

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 How POS Works

Processed data stored

for evaluation

Received at
processing unit

• The necessities for control are :

1. Analysis of the performance by the outlet.
2. Establishing & maintaining standards
3. Pricing.
4. Minimizing wastage
5. Minimizing pilferage & frauds.
6. Processing necessary information required for the management

• The system of Control exists in varied forms in every departments.

• All the sections under the Food & Beverage department are interrelated.
• For the control to be effective all these sections must be covered under control