Culinary Calculations: Simplified Math For Culinary .

CulinaryCalculationsSimplified Math forCulinary ProfessionalsTERRI JONESJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc.

CulinaryCalculations

CulinaryCalculationsSimplified Math forCulinary ProfessionalsTERRI JONESJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc.

䊊This book is printed on acid-free paper. Copyright 2004 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reservedPublished by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New JerseyPublished simultaneously in CanadaNo part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted inany form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, orotherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States CopyrightAct, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization throughpayment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.,222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4470, or on the webat www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to thePermissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030,(201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, e-mail: permcoordinator@wiley.com.Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their bestefforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to theaccuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any impliedwarranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be createdor extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategiescontained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professionalwhere appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or anyother commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, orother damages.For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, pleasecontact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outsidethe United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears inprint may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products,visit our web site at www.wiley.com.Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:Jones, Terri,Culinary calculations : simplified math for culinary professionals/ by Terri Jones.p. cm.ISBN 0-471-22626-2 (Cloth)1. Food service—Mathematics. I. Title.TX911.3.M33J56 2003647.95 01 51—dc21Printed in the United States of America10987654321

CONTENTSPREFACEChapter 1INTRODUCTION TO BASICMATHEMATICSVII1Chapter 2UNITS OF MEASURE39Chapter 3THE PURCHASING FUNCTION ANDITS RELATIONSHIP TO COST49Chapter 4FOOD-PRODUCT GROUPS69Chapter 5INVENTORY MANAGEMENT109Chapter 6PRODUCTION PLANNINGAND CONTROL121Chapter 7MENU PRICING139Chapter 8LABOR COST ANDCONTROL TECHNIQUES157SIMPLIFIED MATHEMATICSAND COMPUTERS IN FOOD SERVICE171Chapter 9

viContentsAppendix IUSING A CALCULATOR181Appendix IICOMMON ITEM YIELDS187Appendix IIICONVERSION TABLES189GLOSSARY195INDEX197

PREFACEPeople who run successful food service operations understand thatbasic mathematics is necessary to accurately arrive at a plate cost(cost per guest meal) and to price a menu. Mathematics for foodservice is relatively simple. Addition, subtraction, multiplication,and division are the basic mathematical functions that must be understood. A calculator can assist with the accuracy of the calculations as long as you understand the reason behind the math. A simple computer spreadsheet or a more complex inventory andpurchasing software package can also be used, but the underlyingmathematics are still necessary to understand the information thecomputer programs are calculating.Commercial food service operations are for-profit businesses.They are open to the public. Many commercial food service operations go out of business within the first five years of opening. Thereasons for their demise are many. Some of the more common reasons for failure are cash-flow issues relating to incorrect recipe costing or incorrect portion controls. These mistakes, which are fatal,are often caused by simple mistakes in basic mathematics.Take the example of the room chef at a busy hotel restaurant.One menu item was a wonderful fresh fruit salad priced at 4.95.When the Food and Beverage Cost Control Department added together the cost of all of the ingredients in one portion, the total costwas 4.85. 4.95 (menu price) 4.85 (plate cost) 0.10 (items gross profit)The gross profit on the item was only 0.10. For every fresh fruitsalad sold, money was lost. Once the information on the plate costwas told to the chef, he adjusted the recipe to decrease the portioncost. The food and beverage director never found out.

viiiPrefaceThe other day, I was having lunch with a woman who had recently taken over a small deli inside of a busy salon. After twomonths in operation, it occurred to her that she was losing money.In a panic, she decided to lower her menu prices. I asked her whyshe made that decision. She said it seemed like a good idea at thetime. “Do you want to lose more money?” I asked. “If you are already losing money and you sell your products for less, you will endup losing more money.” 5.95 (old menu price) 5.45 (new menu price) 0.50 (increased loss per sale)A sandwich sold for 5.95. The new menu price is 5.45. The difference is 0.50. Now each time she sells a sandwich, her loss is increased by 0.50.As the conversation progressed, the woman confessed that shehad no idea what her food cost was per item. She had no idea if anyof the menu items could produce a profit. She works full-time, soshe hired employees to operate the business for her. She had no system of tracking sales. She had no idea if her employees were honest. How long do you think she can remain in business while losingmoney daily?Noncommercial food service operations are nonprofit orcontrolled-profit operations. They are restricted to a certain population group. For example, the cafeteria at your school is only openand available to students and teachers at the school. Operating in anonprofit environment means that costs must equal revenues. Inthis environment, accurate meal costs and menu prices are just ascritical as they are in a for-profit business.A number of years ago, the State of Arizona figured out the total cost to feed its prison population for one year. Unfortunately forthe state budget, the cost per meal was off by 0.10. Ten cents is nota lot of money, and most of us are not going to be concerned with 0.10. However, prisoners eat 3 meals a day, 365 days a year. Tenmillion meals were served to the 9,133 prisoners that year. A 0.10error became a million-dollar cost overrun.9,133 (prisoners) 3 (meals per day) 27,399 (meals served per day)27,399 (meals served per day) 365 (days in one year) 10,000,635 (total meals served annually)10,000,000 (meals served annually, rounded) 0.10 (10 cents) 1,000,000.00

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe State of Arizona had to find an additional 1,000,000 that yearto feed its prison population. That meant other state programs hadto be cut or state tax rates needed to be raised.These examples bring to light just how important basic mathematics are for successful food service operations. Accurate platecost is critical regardless of the type of operation, the marketit serves, or the profit motive. This text will assist you in learninghow to use simple mathematics to run a successful food serviceoperation.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSSpecial thanks to my family for all of their support. Thanks to theculinary faculty and staff at CCSN for all of their help.Thanks go to the reviewers of the manuscript for their valuableinput. They are: G. Michael Harris, Bethune-Cookman College, Vijay S. Joshi, Virginia Intermont College, Nancy J. Osborne, AlaskaVocational Technical Center, Reuel J. Smith, Austin CommunityCollegeFinally, JoAnna Turtletaub, Karen Liquornik, Mary Kay Yearin,and Julie Kerr of John Wiley & Sons supported me from concept topublication. Thank you!ix

Chapter 1INTRODUCTION TO BASICMATHEMATICSBASIC MATHEMATICS 101: WHOLE NUMBERSMathematical concepts are necessary to accurately determine a costper portion or plate cost. As we adjust our way of thinking aboutmathematics, we can begin to utilize it as a tool to ensure that we canrun a successful food service operation. Correct mathematical calculations are the key to success. Let’s review those basic mathematical calculations using a midscale food service operation. A midscalefood service operation is a restaurant that serves three meal periods:breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It has affordable menu prices. Themenu prices, or the average guest check, range from 5.00 to 10.00.AdditionA basic mathematical operation is addition. The symbol is . Addition is the combining of two or more numbers to arrive at a sum.For example, a midscale restaurant serves three meal periods. If 80customers are served breakfast, 120 are served lunch, and 150 areserved dinner, how many customers have we served today?Breakfast:Lunch:Dinner:Total customers served:80120 150350

2Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION TO BASIC MATHEMATICSSubtractionSubtraction is another basic mathematical operation. The symbol is . Subtraction is the taking away or deduction of one number fromanother. Let’s suppose that when we reviewed the number of mealsserved at our midscale restaurant, we found an error. We servedonly 70 customers at breakfast, not 80. When we adjust our customer count, we subtract:Original count:Updated count:Difference:80 7010Now we can adjust our total customer count for the day by 10:Total customers served originally:Adjustment for miscount:Updated customer count:350 10340MultiplicationMultiplication is the mathematical operation that adds a number toitself a certain number of times to arrive at a product. It abbreviatesthe process of repeated addition. The symbol for multiplication is . For example, the 70 customers who ate breakfast had a choiceof two entree items. One entree item uses two eggs and one usesthree eggs. If 30 customers ordered the two-egg entree and 40 customers ordered the three-egg entree, how many eggs did we use?30 customers 2 eggs 60 eggs40 customers 3 eggs 120 eggsTo arrive at the total eggs used we add:Total eggs used:60 eggs 120 eggs180 eggsDivisionDivision is the mathematical operation that is the process of findingout how many of one number is contained in another. The answer iscalled a quotient. There are several symbols that represent division.They are , /, yx or ) . Let’s continue with the number of eggs weused during breakfast. We multiplied to figure out the total numberof eggs we used for each entree item. Then we added the number ofeggs used for each entree to arrive at the total used for breakfast.