I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  If you were open, I hope sales were good; if you had the day off, I hope you rested up.  For now, it’s back to business…

Many restaurants are feeling the pressure as our economy cools.  With less spare change, it seems that many Americans are not so willing to spring for dinner in a restaurant.  There are ways, however, to cut your losses.  Portion control, while always an important part of running a restaurant, is especially important now.

In the dinner rush, it may be easier for your cooks and chefs to grab handful of ingredients instead of measuring them out.  When this happens, the profit margin on that particular plate may go up or down without you realizing it.  You might even lose customers for lack of consistently-sized meals.  One way to avoid this scenario is to portion the foods before they are needed.  Using a food scale also increases your accuracy.  If you portion food into individual food containers, you get the added benefit of a lower risk of cross-contamination.

While all the items on your menu are delicious, you know which ones are the most profitable for your business.  Training your staff to know these items may increase sales and your restaurant’s bottom line--and that would make for a very nice holiday season! 

More restaurant ideas like this one can be found in Serv-U’s restaurant resource pages.