Hitting a Home Run in Labor Control

How do you make money in the restaurant business? The reality is it’s the small things that add up, such as reducing the cost of cheese by a nickel a pound, or reducing the number of garbage pickups a month by one. But every so often, with the bases loaded, you bring up your cleanup hitter to clear the bases with one big swing, known in baseball as the “grand slam.” If that cleanup hitter is a system, then with that one system you’ll reap huge savings. How do you go about choosing the system that is your cleanup hitter? It’s the one batter who can hit a restaurant profits grand slam for almost any restaurant. You simply need to know how to send him in.

Start with the Right EquipmentUsing the right equipment or tools is how you control your labor expenses. And controlling them starts with instituting a labor budget and labor budgeting system. First, you need to know your target labor costs. That starts with knowing what your prime cost - the sum of your total cost of goods…