HAT302 Food & Beverage Management: Cost Control Investigation Report

This report presents an investigation into cost control and financial management practices within a food and beverage operation, based on an interview with a Head Chef. The report analyzes the chef's insights on front-of-house and back-of-house cost control measures, including the implementation of Point of Sale (POS) systems, inventory management, portion control, menu pricing strategies, and waste management. It evaluates the effectiveness of these strategies in managing foodservice operations, highlighting the importance of automation, employee training, and continuous monitoring for successful cost control. The report also includes the interview transcript, providing detailed information about the chef's role and the specific methods employed at the restaurant to optimize financial performance. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering study tools and resources for students.

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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Analysis of the interview findings:............................................................................................3
Evaluation of the findings, and its effectiveness in managing foodservice operations:............4
Appendices:................................................................................................................................5
Interview:...............................................................................................................................5
References:.................................................................................................................................7

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Analysis of the interview findings:
The Chef of any restaurant or any kind of hotel is the most important, he is the life
line of the place and holds the place together. He prepares as well as oversees all the food
related operations in the kitchen. His task includes overseeing the procurement of all the
necessary raw materials, preparation of the food items, overseeing the cooking operations of
the other chefs and ensuring timely delivery of the different food items. Being the primary
architecture of the restaurant, he has a fair amount of idea about the different kinds of food
and their costs (Forbes.com, 2018). As they work in close liaison with the food & beverage
managers, he or she helps the beverage manager in various kinds of cost control operations.
This is one of the most important additional responsibilities of any chef, he or she must have
adequate knowledge about cost control of the various items. Unless the costs are efficiently
managed and controlled, the overall efficacy of the production of the restaurant would take a
hit (Khan, 2014). Only when the cost aspect is effectively controlled, the business would be
successful in its overall operations.
An interview was conducted of Mr Anthony Gomes, who is a reputed Chef from the country
of Bangladesh and he works as the ‘Head Chef’ in a restaurant named ‘Unas’. It is located
340 Victoria St, Darling Hurst NSW 2010 Sydney. He gave a detailed information about his
tasks, close liaison with the managers for controlling costs of both the front as well as the
back operations. He uses and has suggested a number of measures for controlling the costs.
The Point of Sale (POS) system has been introduced, which has replaced the traditional cash
registers. This computer based helps in ensuring a high level of cost control by maintaining
an open guest data checks instead of manual data check by assigning each customer a
separate check number based on the transaction number (Silver, 2012). Checks are no longer
to be issued at the beginning of each shift. It provides speed, effective inventory control,

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impeccable reporting of figures and other numbers, all these benefits help in controlling the
costs of the operations. Effective inventory control is one of the most important ways of
controlling costs (Kimes and Beard, 2013). Mr Gomes had also said that the right amount of
or portions of food are provided to the customers, neither under filling nor overfilling of
them. The Careful planning and execution takes place while taking and preparing orders, any
kind of unnecessary food items is avoided and are strictly controlled. During the process of
preparing the menus, just and fair prices are set in order to avoid unnecessary wastage and
cost increase.
The food procurement procedures are regularly updated about the consumption patterns of
the customers in order to reduce unimportant costs. The pricing of the different food items are
periodically reviewed and revised, reasonable amount of pricing are set in order to attract
more customers, this helps in reducing the back office costs. The menu is regularly revised
with an aim of taking into account the various kinds of updated prices of the various food
items (Ozdemir and Caliskan, 2014).
Waste management is also one of the most important aspects of Unas’s overall cost control
policies. A waste chart is prepared and is regularly updated and inspected by the supervisor.
It contains information regarding returned food, food burned in the kitchen, food made
incorrectly and other such waste items (Gortmaker et al., 2017). Effective storage devices are
also kept in order to ensure safety and freshness of all the food products.
Evaluation of the findings, and its effectiveness in managing foodservice
operations:
Through the analysis of the interview, certain important observations have been made
about the management of the food service operations. Through the interview, it was revealed
that the usage of POS is very significant from the business’s point of view (Davis, 2018). It is

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used in curtailing unnecessary costs, by increasing the automation of the checking and
reporting procedures. It is also used for the purpose of estimating the number of expected
guests, based on past as well as current trends. Although, it is a highly automatic process, the
employees of the business must be assured that their jobs are not in danger, due to increased
automation of jobs (Kotas, 2014). Effective inventory control is also another aspect, which
was discovered in the interview, for its successful implementation, the managers must take an
active part, which would set a good example on all the new and young employees of the
restaurant. Right amount of inventories must always be maintained in order to ensure an
uninterrupted flow of production and service (Whyte, 2017). For this efficient employees
must be recruited and trained, who can provide diligent services in this regard. For ensuring
the right portions of food, the servers and the food runners provide round the clock overview
to the Chefs and Mr Gomes has emphasised on the importance of this information as it helps
in reducing a significant amount of costs.
Appendices:
Interview:
Which kind of hospitality entity is Una’s?
Una’s is a prominent food and beverage centre. It primarily comprises of a restaurant
and a venue for organising various kinds of social parties and events such as wedding parties
and any other kinds of social functions. Una has a good amount of reputation in providing top
notch quality food for these functions.
Please tell us elaborately about job role at Una’s?
I am the Head Chef at Una’s. I primarily manage back of the house also keep a close
liaison with all the servers and waiters through my assistant chefs regarding the front house
operations. My job consists of creating new dishes and menus, interviewing and firing

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employees, monitoring and controlling stock levels, implementation of health and safety
measures and the creation of the work roster of the kitchen. I also work closely with the
manager suggesting ways of cost reduction and other matters relating to the restaurant
How do you sustain cost control at the front of the house?
Together with the help of the manager, the POS system has been introduced by me.
Important boards and signs have been installed to inform the customers about the hazards of
wasting food. It has been specifically instructed by me to all the servers, waiters and the
food runners to provide food in the right proportion, avoiding wastage of any kind. These are
the most widely used of curtailing costs in the front section.
How is the cost controlled at the back of the house?
I specifically keep track of the inventory performances and the stock levels. This has
been possible with the help of the POS systems. The menus are regularly revised by me
keeping track of the new prices of the products and reasonable rates are set for cutting costs
and attracting more customers. Effective waste management measures are also initiated by
me and a track of wastes are kept for the purpose of reducing wastages and controlling costs .
Effective food storage devices have also been installed and are kept at optimum conditions
under my constant supervision.
Which financial control methods do you regularly prefer in daily business operation?
According to me keeping track of all the incomes and expense is the most important
fiscal operation for any restaurant service. As a result of which I prefer to use the cash flow
statement and the income statement for keeping track of all the cash inflows and outflows as

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well the incomes and the expenses of the business. All these financial statements and reports
are periodically reviewed and compared in order to assess the financial health of the
company. In addition to this, a bio metric system has also been installed, which helps in
keeping track of the employee’s whereabouts. This helps in preparing the attendance and
payroll reports.
References:
Davis, B., Lockwood, A., Alcott, P. and Pantelidis, I.S., 2018. Food and beverage
management. Routledge.
Davis, B., Lockwood, A., Alcott, P. and Pantelidis, I.S., 2018. Food and beverage
management. Routledge.
Dopson, L.R. and Hayes, D.K., 2015. Food and beverage cost control. John Wiley & Sons.
Forbes.com. (2018). [online] Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianaltman/2016/10/06/the-unexpected-best-way-to-increase-
restaurant-profits/#d31d1473100d [Accessed 5 Jun. 2018].
Forbes.com. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/2007/08/07/restaurant-
fundamentals-entrepreneur-ent-manage-cx_mf_0806runarestaurant.html#6f5189e86749
[Accessed 5 Jun. 2018].
Gortmaker, S.L., Wang, Y.C., Long, M.W., Giles, C.M., Ward, Z.J., Barrett, J.L., Kenney,
E.L., Sonneville, K.R., Afzal, A.S., Resch, S.C. and Cradock, A.L., 2015. Three interventions
that reduce childhood obesity are projected to save more than they cost to implement. Health
Affairs, 34(11), pp.1932-1939.

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Khan, M.A., 2014. Restaurant franchising: Concepts, regulations and practices. Apple
Academic Press.
Kimes, S.E. and Beard, J., 2013. The future of restaurant revenue management. Journal of
Revenue and Pricing Management, 12(5), pp.464-469.
Kotas, R., 2014. Management accounting for hotels and restaurants. Routledge.
Ozdemir, B. and Caliskan, O., 2014. A review of literature on restaurant menus: Specifying
the managerial issues. International Journal of gastronomy and food science, 2(1), pp.3-13
Silver, A., 2012. System and method for managing restaurant customer data elements. U.S.
Patent 8,224,700.