arguments against standard recipes
69 tips for better food and beverage profit
101 more tips for better food and beverage profit

NEWSLETTER SIGNUP

    How do you standardize recipes for reliability and consistency and how does it affect your bottom line.

    Standardization of your recipes looks after a few things; mainly the quality and quantity you will produce. In a word: consistency. Standardization goes a long way to maintaining the reliability your guests come to expect and frankly the reason they come back providing that you have a good product and service in the first place.

    Over time I have heard some interesting excuses for NOT following standardized recipes:

    • I don’t have time
    • I know what I’m doing in the kitchen
    • I did them years ago when we first opened
    • My recipes are secret and I don’t share them with anyone
    • I write them and no one follows them anyway

    These reasons are ridiculous and hint at deeper systemic problems in your establishment. Standardized recipes are cornerstones to providing consistent menu items at a prescribed cost, meaning that if you can control your costs, you can control your profit.

    What should happen and why: here are some tips!

    • Standard recipes mean standard costs and profit expectations on all menu items
    • Kitchen staff know what they are cooking and how much
    • Training staff is easier and more meaningful with standard recipes
    • Actual food usage and preparation make profit maximization achievable
    • Kitchen labor costs are more controllable
    • Purchasing can be planned
    • Budgets can be established and have meaning
    • Most importantly … easier to maximize profit!

    Given these few examples, it’s hard to understand why people still want to resist standardization of their menu items.