CHAPTER THREE

About The Portion Cost

Learning Objectives:
 Calculate the Cost per Portion for Recipes and Plate
Cards.
 Use Butcher Tests and Cooking Loss Tests to calculate

the Cost per Portion for menu items with shrinkage and
trim.
 Determine Q Factors and Spice Factors for menu items.
 Use the Menu Pricing Formula to perfect portion costs.
 Use the Triangle of Enlightenment to calculate food

cost percentages, determine sell prices, and compute

product costs.
About Portion Costing
 Portion cost is the basis for determining the selling price.

 Consequently, the result of an inaccurate portion cost

may be that the selling price is not set high enough to
cover the cost for that dish and its fair share of other
budgeted expenses.
Causes Of Inaccurate Portion Costs
1. No standardized recipes, or recipes exist, but they are
not used.
2. Poorly written standard recipes.
3. No standard portion size on recipe.
4. Inadequate equipment to portion correctly.
5. Lack of or improper equipment.
6. Not a management priority.
7. Supplier price increases.
8. Poor purchasing- lack of research of cost
 Portion Costing Options
 Four portion costing options are available to a
manager: Recipes, Plate Cost Cards, Butcher Test,
Cooking Lost Test. The complexity of the menu, staff
skill level, purchasing decision, and management
preference will determine how many will be employed.
Portion Costing Options
1. Recipes: Used for menu items multiple ingredients and
little or no shrinkage or trim. Menu items are portioned after
completing the recipe.

2. Plate Cost Cards: Used to cost one completed meal as it

is served to guest. This is best used for operations using
convenience items that are not prepared in the same way as a
recipe item is prepared.
3. Butcher Test: Used for costing menu items that have loss
because of trimming. These menu items may be portioned,
cooked, and served, or the item may be roasted and only
portioned after cooking.

4. Cooking Lost Test: Used for menu items that will

experience shrinkage and final trimming during the cooking
process. These items are only portioned after cooking. There
may be additional trimming.
 Recipes and Recipe Cost Card
 A Recipe Cost Card is a form used to calculate the cost of
one serving of a specific menu item using the approved
standardization recipe to produce it.

 If portion costs are not accurate, then menu selling prices are
probably nor adequate to cover expenses and produce profit.

 Products are ordered based on standard portion sizes and

controlled production.
 If ingredients are not measured accurately or food is
not portioned correctly, there is a risk of either running
out of a product or throwing out the product because its
not used.

 To keep costs current, its is critical update the recipe

cost cards frequently because prices from suppliers
change often.
 Recipe Costing Ground Rules
1. For a manager to cost accurately, recipe must agree with
purchasing unit.
2. When costing, always round up to the next penny.
3. Rounding should only be done at the end of an equation
rather than at every breakdown.
4. Ignore spices, herbs, and ingredients that are difficult to
cost out.
Recipe Cost Card Information
 In addition to ingredients and invoice costs, Recipe Cost
Card includes other information that is used to ultimately
find the Minimum Menu Price (MMP), or minimum
selling price for each item.
◦ Recipe name
◦ Date when priced
◦ Number of portions
◦ Portion size
◦ Type of recipe
◦ File code reference
◦ Cost per Portion
◦ Spice Factor percentage
◦ Q Factor ,if used.
◦ Standard food cost percentage
 The Cost Card Form
 The Cost Card is used specifically because it teaches
the concept of breaking down purchasing units into
recipe units. The format forces one to do several things:

1. Record invoice purchasing units.

2. Beak these percentages units down into a unit that
agrees with the recipe quantity.
Basic Cost Card Math
 It determine the cost of each ingredient needed to
produce a menu item.

 The basic mathematical formulas used to extend the cost

of the ingredients in a recipe are as follows:

1) QUANTITY * UNIT PRICE = EXTENTED PRICE

2) EXTENTED PRICE/ YIELD = COST PER…….
As Purchased, Edible Portion, Recipes,
and costing
 AP:As purchased. It’s the total amount of raw
product purchased from the supplier.

 EP: Edible Portion is used to describe the portion

of food as served to the guest.
◦ Failure to account for the EP cost of product affects:
 Portion costs.
 Selling prices.
 Purchasing quantities.
Costing for Plate Card
 Costper Portion: the raw food cost for one
standard serving.
 The Menu Pricing Formula
 Costing is not complete until every ingredient purchased is
accounted for in some part of the costing formula.

 MINIMUM MENU PRICE FORMULA=

◦ COST PER PORTION + Q FACTOR = COST PER DISH (CPD)
◦ COST PER DISH X 1.SF% = TRUE COST PER DISH (TCPD)
◦ TRUE COST PER DISH/ STANDARD FOOD COST %=
MINIMUM MENU PRICE (MMP)
What is a Spice Factor?
 TheSpice Factor is a percentage that is added to
every menu item to account for things such as
spices, herbs, garnishes and waste.

 It’s
tacked on to the portion cost of every menu
item without regard to what the item is.
 What does it cover?
1. Spice, herbs, and seasonings used in quantities that are
difficult to cost out.
2. Garnish cost.
3. Waste- every operation allows a certain amount of waste.
This waste is considered the cost of doing business. It is
the product left in a can or jar or small amounts of food
that is spilled or dripped.
4. Very expensive ingredients. Rather than cost very
expensive ingredients into a recipe, the cost can be
placed in this category and spread over all items sold.
5. The more ingredients placed in this category, the higher
the percentage will be.
 How Its Determined?
 You can determine the Spice Factor using these easy steps:

1. Identify from recipes and inventory lists which products

belong to this category.
2. Determine the cost of purchasing these items over a period
of time.
3. Determine the total food purchased for the same period of
time.

SPICE FACTOR% = COST OF SPICE FACTOR ITEMS/TOTAL FOOD PURCHASED

 The Q Factor
 The Q Factor is defined as the cost per portion of the
surrounding items included in a meal.
 It is used to address the portion cost of side dishes offered

with an entrée.
 The Q Factor is used specifically with the semi-a-la-carte

menu pricing format commonly used in most

restaurants.
How to remember when to use the Q Factor?
 Rename the Q Factor Smashed Potato Factor to
remember to only add the Q factor to entrée
items offered with the semi-a-la-carte pricing
structure.
 Minimum Menu Price
 This is a starting point to determine actual menu
prices.
 Using the food cost percentage to determine sell

prices is a very common menu pricing method.

 Butcher Tests and Cooking Loss Tests
 With the availability of high quality convenience
items and changing skill levels in back of the
house, the need to butcher meat and fish in-house
has decreased significantly. However
 Butcher Tests are still used to:

◦ Analyze product yield

◦ Calculate waste percentages
◦ Calculate portion costs
◦ Compare supplier costs
 Butcher Test determines what is actually servable after
trimming.
 Cooking Loss Test measure what is servable after the

cooking process has taken place.

 Butcher Tests and Yield Analysis to determine accurate

portion costs, its is first necessary to do a yield analysis of

the item.
 The first method used for doing a yield analysis is Butcher

Test.
 Usingthe Butcher Test, it is possible to make
several determinations:
◦ The final amount of usable raw product.
◦ The cost of the product (both in portion cost and pound
cost)
◦ Yield percentage

 For this point, the product can be either:

1. Portioned, cooked and served to the guest
2. Cooked, then portioned only after cooking process is
completed.
 How to use a Butcher Test?

 The Butcher Test can be used for any food product that
can be measured for a set quality standard and quality
yield.

 Butcher Test are also appropriate to use in operations that

clean and cut their own fish, but the primary usage is for
meat products.
 What is removed (un-servable) does have value if
it is used in some other product. The value of that
trimmed piece must also be taken into
consideration in either of two ways when
computing the actual product cost:
◦ Trimmed parts that end up in the trash because there is
no other use for them are charged to the portion cost of
the menu item being prepared.
◦ Trimmed parts that end up as something else are not
charged to the portion cost of the item being prepared.
 Yield Percentages
 The yield percentage is determined by dividing the
part by the whole EP/AP.
 The part is the weight of the specific item trimmed.
 The whole is the weight of the entire item as

purchased.
 The yield percentage tells how much of the whole

product is left to sell to a guest as the menu item and

thus generate dining room sales.
 The difference(100% - YIELD %) is called the waste

percentage
YIELD CONCEPTS
 The YIELD % is determined by:
Part/Whole
• The PART is the weight of the specific item trimmed.
• The WHOLE is the weight of the entire item as purchased.
• The YIELD % tells how much of the whole is left to sell.
• The WASTE % tells how much of the whole is not

saleable.
 The Cost per Portion Is Too High!
 A high portion cost will calculate out to a high selling
price
 Here are some options, but always, care must be taken.

1. Study the recipe or plate card for product substitutions or new

products that decrease the portion cost but not significantly
change the item.
2. Decrease the portion size.
3. Rearrange the plate presentation with new sides (portion and
size), while decreasing the portion size.
4. Purchase a lower quality product.
5. Confer with employees.