Cuisine at home Forums
Interesting Food Cost Ideas... - Printable Version

+- Cuisine at home Forums (https://www.forums.cuisineathome.com)
+-- Thread: Interesting Food Cost Ideas... (/showthread.php?tid=56757)



Interesting Food Cost Ideas... - firechef - 05-08-2008

Here is some interesting information on restaurant food prices and menu changes...I am volunteering with Share Our Strength with menu development and testing and I am sure many of these issues will be coming up in our work as well...


New dishes offset restaurant food costs

By Stevenson Jacobs
Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK — Struggling with soaring food costs and cash-strapped customers, restaurants across the country are swapping expensive ingredients for cheaper fare and adding new dishes that won't break their bottom line.

Call it a menu makeover: Steakhouses are adding buffalo meat alongside filet mignon, pizza joints are trying new cheese products and seafood spots are replacing pricier entrees with humbler dishes like catfish.

The changes come as record oil prices and surging global demand for staples like rice, fish, poultry and wheat have pushed wholesale food prices up almost 8 percent in the past year, the biggest hike in three decades, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Food commodities prices have mostly come down from record highs reached earlier this year, but wholesale flour prices have still doubled in the past year, while egg prices have shot up 70 percent and cheese 25 percent.

"This is definitely an unprecedented period of wholesale food inflation. Operators must focus on cost, and one way is using different ingredients," said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research at the 380,000-member National Restaurant Association.

The organization recently surveyed restaurant operators and found surging food costs ranked as their No. 2 concern after the economy. A year ago, labor was their second biggest worry.

At Ben Benson's Steakhouse in midtown Manhattan, wholesale costs of prime beef have shot up 50 percent in the past year, forcing the 36-year-old establishment to raise the price of its signature 18-ounce sirloin steak from $40 to $46.

"The cost of beef is staggering," said owner Ben Benson, who has added new menu items such as buffalo, boar and elk to help offset the increases. "They sell very well. It's not a big percentage but they cost us a little bit less and we sell it for almost the same, so it hedges a little bit."
reconfiguring dishes

Bigger chains are seeing benefits of swapping ingredients, too.

Chuck E. Cheese restaurants recently began using a "reformulated" pizza cheese at its 490 locations, helping the company cut costs and turn in positive first-quarter earnings. Richard Frank, CEO of parent company CEC Entertainment Inc., said the high-moisture mozzarella blend gives customers a "cheesier product" that spreads better and allows the chain to use less cheese on some pizzas.

"It's not a product we targeted because of cost ... but it has helped us offset some of the cost pressure from cheese," Frank said, adding that customers haven't voiced any complaints about the change.

"We thought it had an enhanced taste," Frank said. "When you start to change your food products, you have to make darn sure what you're doing makes sense for your guests."

Sysco Corp., the largest food distributor in North America, is helping customers cope with high food prices, for example, by suggesting less expensive meat cuts, butter blends and other cost-saving substitutions.

"You can go from a filet mignon to a cut of meat that when prepared properly tastes just as good or better but has a smaller price point," Sysco spokesman Mark Palmer said.

Industry professionals insist they're not sacrificing quality for cost when they substitute ingredients or menu items.

Clark Wolf, a New York-based restaurant consultant who has advised high-end clients how ways to save money on ingredients, said the idea is to "reconfigure dishes that have an end result of being appealing food that we can afford to sell."

"What you don't want to do in an uncertain economy is make people think they're getting ripped off," Wolf said.

So far, the changes haven't seemed to faze consumers. Although rising food costs, record oil prices and falling home values have hit Americans hard, they still spend an estimated half their food budget at restaurants because of convenience and time pressures.

"Even though cash is tight, consumers are pretty reticent to back off on their restaurant habit," the National Restaurant Association's Riehle said.
swapping food items

Rising world food prices aren't the only factors hurting restaurants. At Captain Joey Patti's seafood restaurant in Pensacola, Fla., scarcity of the popular grouper fish have sent prices skyrocketing.

"We took it off the menu as an everyday item because the cost was outrageous. Now we're selling catfish and mullet instead," said Josie Patti Merritt, co-owner of the 20-year-old family-run business. Wholesale food cost represent roughly half of Merritt's business expenses, forcing to scale back her employees' hours to get by.

"My accountant told me I need to get my food costs to around 35 percent. I told him good luck," she said.

For other restaurants, swapping food items simply isn't an option.

Marc Roth, owner of Roth's Westside Steakhouse on Manhattan's Upper West Side, said he looked into buying cheaper cuts of beef but couldn't find anything to his satisfaction.

"I was looking at different cuts, organic meats, you name it and I never felt it could keep the consistency. It was a tough call but I had to make it," Roth said.

Jack Johnson, owner of Dr. of Barbecue restaurant in Springfield, Ill., said pork prices have shot up by a third in the last year, but that he can't replace pork because it's his most popular item. As a result, a pulled-pork sandwich that cost $4.95 last year costs $5.45 today.

To avoid future price increases, he's considering acquiring a big walk-in freezer and stocking it with a year's worth of pork. "But that's a gamble because if the bottom falls out of the meat market you'd be stuck with a ton of expensive cuts," Jackson said.

Still, given that other restaurants are facing even more cost pressure for eggs, cheese and bread, Jackson considers himself lucky.

"At least I'm not in the pizza business," he said.


Re: Interesting Food Cost Ideas... - Lorraine - 05-08-2008

" Sysco Corp., the largest food distributor in North America, is helping customers cope with high food prices, for example, by suggesting less expensive meat cuts, butter blends and other cost-saving substitutions."

Some may knock Sysco, but they really do work with their clients to help them.

I've been reading a lot about this lately. Something as simple as a cheese tray used to be a fairly reasonable thing to offer. Now, between the cost of the cheeses and the increased price in quality breads, it's certainly not something you'll be dangling in front of a prospective customer as a freebie.

The different cuts of meat is interesting. I understand that if you have a ribeye on the menu you can't sub it without changing the name, but for catering gigs, I think that's where you can be innovative.

Interesting read, Thanks!


Re: Interesting Food Cost Ideas... - Harborwitch - 05-08-2008

This was in the paper today. It's rather scary. We've always been so complacent about our food supply - and now things are really getting crazy. Bob ran down to get some buns for burgers the other day - 2.00 for 4 cr@ppy quality buns - not even sold in a package of 8.

Have to say I wish some of those "other" meats were available with prices that would make it worthwhile for those of us who don't have wholesale suppliers. I shop for beef in the "clearance bin" at the grocery store a lot more than I used to.

I know we utilize the farmers' markets more and more for veggies and fruits. But meat and dairy are more difficult.

Of course for us Bob's gasoline bill is the killer. He has to buy a tank of gas every other day - and only gets his mileage reimbursement every two weeks. It's killing us!


Re: Interesting Food Cost Ideas... - firechef - 05-08-2008

I understand the gas thing Sharon...I am filling up like that as well and do not get a reimbursement at all. I just have to travel that far to have a job. I am waiting to hear on a couple of things closer to home but am not holding my breath.

The costs of everything is getting higher and fuel prices are the blame they say but OPEC says there is NOT a supply issue...makes you wonder. False inflation...or would "artificial inflation" be the term? It has got to get better. Our not too distant generations survived the "Great Depression" and then World War II so I am in hopes that we can pull together through what ever it is we are going to end up going through...


Re: Interesting Food Cost Ideas... - Gourmet_Mom - 05-08-2008

Well, between having a garden, giving up my beloved gas guzzling car, and working on putting in a chicken coup (my mother's day present which arrived today), we are trying to beat the rising prices. I don't know how restro owners are making it. It looks like it's going to get worse before it gets better.

I'll be interested to see how all this affects the tourist industry around here. We are getting into "the season". Hopefully our area will make it through...between loosing long distant tourists, we should pick up more local who can't afford long distant travel. I figure the tourist population will change quite a bit.

On another note, I don't even know if we're even going to bother fixing the boat, well, maybe the Hobie. Two summers ago, we'd easily go through 100 dollars worth of gas every weekend. It would be twice that now. HO HUM!


Re: Interesting Food Cost Ideas... - firechef - 05-08-2008

Even lawn care is going up...I just got a "new" mower that actually is rated better on fuel use than the one I used the last couple of years. At $3.59 9/10 a gallon I try to save where ever I can.

I read an article in Food Arts magazine a year or so back that talked about premier steak dinners going for over $50.00 a plate in the "fancy" restaurants by 2010. That is only a little more than 18 months away...


Re: Interesting Food Cost Ideas... - iBcookin - 05-09-2008

You are right about the lawnmowing, LJ. We were just talking about that as we mowed the first time here this week. By the time we get done we have gone through a five gallon tank of gas - $20. There have been times in the past when we have mowed 2-3 times a week, but not this year!

Bruce is actually talking about moving the fence and expanding the pasture for the cows.


Re: Interesting Food Cost Ideas... - cjs - 05-09-2008

" butter blends and other cost-saving substitutions." - there is a scary component to this, using blends and substitutions can include ingredients that a lot of people are allergic to.


Re: Interesting Food Cost Ideas... - labradors - 05-09-2008

Quote:

" butter blends and other cost-saving substitutions." - there is a scary component to this, using blends and substitutions can include ingredients that a lot of people are allergic to.




For that matter, real (non-blended, non-substituted) butter, milk, and cheese have a lot of people who are allergic or lactose intolerant, as well. Since the thrust of the article is regarding restaurant use, not home use, it would seem two things should be kept in mind.

First, since they need to address such issues anyway, restaurants must either provide guests with options or make it clear that they do not offer such options, so the guests may know if it is a place they should avoid.

Second, and most important, is personal responsibility (a.k.a. caveat emptor). Just as parents of peanut-allergic children must be ever vigilant of whether or not foods have been prepared with or fried in peanut oil, anyone else with food allergies has the personal responsibility to find out if something they wish to order may contain their allergen.


Re: Interesting Food Cost Ideas... - Harborwitch - 05-09-2008

Sadly peanut oil is getting freakin' expensive! All we cook in is peanut or olive oil. I just don't like the taste of canola or the politics of it. Now and then we'll get veg. oil if a recipe calls for it.

Laurie (with MS) has given up her raw food diet and gone to a low fat diet. She gifted me with 3 frozen 1 lb tubs of raw butter. Hmmmmmmm.

When I was working at the marina we noticed that people came to their boats less frequently when the gas prices went up. For many of them it was just a long drive to get to the boat. Those that did come tended to be sailboaters or just sit on their boat in the marina. Sad!