The gap between theoretical food cost and actual food cost is where the recoverable dollars live. Here's how to find them.
Theoretical food cost is what your food cost should be based on recipes, menu mix, and ingredient prices. Actual food cost is what you actually paid. The gap between them — typically 1.5-5% in multi-unit operations — represents controllable variance.
Some variance is expected: spoilage, comp meals, employee meals, and normal waste. But when the gap exceeds 2%, there's recoverable money in it.
The first step is knowing your theoretical food cost accurately — which requires current ingredient prices, correct recipe yields, and actual menu mix data. Many operators discover their theoretical cost is wrong because recipes haven't been costed in months.
The second step is decomposing the variance into its component causes. "Food cost is 3 points over theoretical" isn't actionable. "1.2 points is portioning on chicken, 0.8 points is vendor pricing on produce, 0.6 points is untracked waste, and 0.4 points is comp meals" — that's actionable.
Marty analyzes your food cost data and breaks the variance into specific, actionable components. Each finding comes with the dollar amount, the root cause, and the action to take.
The Morning Deposit doesn't say "food cost is high." It says "$1,240 in recoverable food cost variance this week at Location 5" — and tells you exactly where it's coming from.
Free 48-hour analysis on 3-5 of your locations. Works with Toast, Square, Clover, Aloha, and every other major POS.
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