Food Cost Training Guide

Diagnose, Take Action, Ex
with

FOOD

Training Guide Papa Murph

xecute and Follow Through
your

COST

hy’s Learning & Development

Anyone who has ever run a quick-service or full-service restaurant knows
staffing is often a demanding responsibility, most owners would say that
profitable store.

For many owners, they may have a basic understanding of food cost, but
on those issues, or they may lack the knowledge necessary to execute an
action because money is walking out the door or going in the garbage can
start to fixing this food cost opportunity.

These food cost materials have been designed to help owners and their t

 Diagnose root issues beh
 Take appropriate action
 Execute and follow throu
 Communicate and coach

Therefore, the brochures are organized into three separate categories:

s just how big of a factor food costs are to their ultimate success. While
controlling food costs is one of the most important keys to running a

t may not know how to properly diagnose the real issues, or take action
nd follow through with their plans. Often, there is a need for swift
n. Training, retraining, observing, coaching and counseling the team is a

teams be more successfully:

hind food cost.
based on those specific issues.
ugh with plans of action to reach food cost goals.
h team members about food cost.

1. Diagnose Food Cost
2. Take Action with Food Cost
3. Execute & Follow Through with Food Cost

WHO Papa Murphy’s Field Team a
is this for?
Material to help you, the Pap
WHAT navigate through the murky
is it? strategies for successful train
It will also guide you in your

WHERE In a quiet place where there
will this happen? your store reports and bring

WHEN Set aside time with each own
will this occur? the concepts and show that

WHY Controlling food cost is withi
is this necessary? properly diagnose the under
through with their plans. Ma
improve their food cost and

HOW Face-to-face, shoulder-to-sh
should this be taught? to set aside time to meet wit
Show, don’t tell, as much as
time.

Make FOOD COST a priority and it w

and their Owners/Managers.

pa Murphy’s Field Team, coach their Owners/Managers
waters of food cost. We’ve provided content, tips and
ning, and activities for practice and real-life application.
personal learnings and in your conversations with your team.

e are limited distractions. If you are not in your store, make copies of
them with you.

ner. Dedicate the time that owners need for them to fully understand
they are able to apply what they’ve learned.

in our ability and reach, yet many owners struggle with how to
rlying issues, take action on those issues, and execute and follow
any owners may not realize the immediate opportunities they have to
increase profitability for their store(s).

houlder. Take the opportunities you have when you are in each store
th the owner/manager and review the material, one section at a time.
you can, and don’t tackle it all at once. Spread out the material over

will become a priority for the stores as well.

After you’ve completed the training by yourself and are ready to share it

Complete the training on your own first.
Schedule specific time with your owner(s
Split up the delivery of content. You know
training while others may have a good ha
each store.
Establish a plan to teach the content in s
time, not all three together)
Find a quiet space with limited interrupti

Walk through each section one “fold” at
Demonstrate whenever possible, slow do
Be patient and positive.
As much as you can, SHOW rather than t
Provide examples and anecdotes whenev
a lot of this in action, but maybe they ha
the pitfalls you’ve witnessed.

t with your owners, think about how you can best present this material.

Be familiar with the content and exercises.
s). Make this a priority and they will take it seriously as well.
w your owners; some are new to food cost and may need more extensive
andle on it and will only need a refresher course. Offer what is appropriate for
small chunks; don’t try and deliver too much, too fast (i.e. one brochure at a
ions and distractions.

a time, showing only the content being discussed and nothing more.
own when necessary, and periodically check for understanding.

tell. Engage them with have hands-on learning whenever possible.
ver possible to help them make clearer connections to the material. You’ve seen
aven’t. They can learn from you, so share what you know and help them avoid

Par

On the front side of your brochure, you’ll find an overview of foo
be new to it, those who need clarification, or for those who just need a re
diagnose food cost, we need to know what it is, how it’s calculated, and w

When you get to this, discuss other items Being able to distingui
with your owners that impact their bottom Theoretical Food Cost
line. What strategies do they use to save in order to achieve the
money with supplies and smallwares for understanding the calc
example? Then lead the conversation to the cost. In order to achiev
methods they currently use to control food food cost variance mu
cost. theoretical food cost, b

 Talk about what works and what they  Ask your owners
struggle with. and what they sti
regards to calcula
 Ask them how they specifically fill in any gaps yo
communicate their food cost needs to
their teams.

 Discuss what goals they’ve recently set
and how their plan to reach their goals
is progressing.

rt I

od cost. We’ve outlined some food cost fundamentals for those who may
efresher course on concepts that directly impact food cost. In order to
what affects it.

ish between Actual and This section outlines how to combat errors
is extremely important in portioning, waste, and theft – all factors
e Profitability star, as is that directly impact Actual food cost.
culations behind food
ve this star, the Actual Although we’d like to think that theft
ust be within 1% of never occurs in our stores, it does,
based on net sales. sometimes intentionally, sometimes
unintentionally. We should be equipped to
what they understand deal with it if and when it does.
ill need clarification on in
ations and take time to  Review this troubleshooting list with
ou notice. your owners and discuss if these
things have ever happened, what
they did, and opportunities they have
to combat it better in the future.

On the back, you’ll find exercises for the owners to complete. This gives th

Even though the topic of cash shortages does This is a great way to
not directly fall under Food Cost, it is often of food cost calculatio
found as an underlying issue when owners calculation, yet show
dig deeper into what’s negatively impacting portioning over time.
their profitability. Therefore, it’s important to
review this with owners.  Encourage them
teams during pr
 Discuss with owners if these issues have
ever occurred in their store(s) and if so,
what they did to reduce the chances of
those things ever happening again.

 Review strategies you may have for
combatting cash shortages as well, so
they can learn from your experiences.

hem the owner(s) an opportunity to practice diagnosing food cost.

o show owners the basics  Have owners take the next step by
on. It’s a fairly simple looking at this practice Top Twenty
ws the severity of over- report.
.
 After they fill out the top 5 opportunities
m to share this with their and possible causes, discuss their
re-shift huddles. answers with them.

Look to see that they have incorporated
the content from the front side and
applied it here. If they don’t, prompt
them to review the information and
elaborate on their answers more.

Part

In the first section of the front side, you’ll find a handful of strate
diagnose it. This includes taking proper inventory and applying best pract

It is imperative that this content is covered one item at a time. These ti
Walk through the store with the owner and ask them SHOW you how t
to how they tell you they complete these items. Have them demonstra
demonstrate for them and have them practice. This may take some tim
Take notes of possible opportunities that may help them become more
learning, so offer up ideas and encourage them to take risks.
Tackle one bullet at a time with them; don’t move on until you feel con
These best practices have been adopted by store owners who consiste

t2

egies to improve food cost, now that you have explained how to
tices.

ips will result in the most bang for your buck:
they take inventory. Don’t settle for a casual conversation, listening
ate it. If they struggle at any time, step in and offer suggestions,
me, but it is worth it.
e efficient and coach them on ways to improve. This is a time for
nfident that the owner is ready to progress.
ently maintain 5 Star food cost. They work!

Part II also offers 3 useful activities.
1. We recommend that owners complete these one at a time.
2. After each exercise, prompt them to stop and reflect on what the
3. Urge them to reflect on their current habits and how those are e
4. Walk through each situation with them as though these reports r
5. To take it a step further, have them print out an actual report tha

an action plan.

To successfully facilitate this section, ask questions like:
“Why do you think that?”
“How did you come up with that”
“Explain what you’d do if…”

When you ask open ended questions and let them talk it out while you s
approaching issues. They will hopefully begin to question if their curren
approaches.

ey know and what they still have questions about.
either helping or hurting.
reflected their store.
at represents their current trends. Ask similar questions and discuss

“What happened when you tried this before?”
“What’s another possible way to…?”
“What challenges do you foresee?”
simply listen, you can often lead them to discover new ways of
nt methods are effective and if they should consider trying new

Par

On the front, we’ve introduced ideas to succesfully execute a
fall short. They may diagnose the issue and even make a plan of action
our owners to fall victim to that, and this information may help!

You can set and track goals all day long, but if the team isn’t involved,
It is important to review with owners what they should and shouldn’t
blurred leadership roles, but too little information may result in diseng
Team members can impact food cost like nobody else, so encourage o
get their team on board. Part III’s content provides ways to involve tea
These ideas don’t take much time, don’t cost a lot, and are effective.

rt 3

and follow-through on any plan. This step is where many people
n, but then neglect to follow through to the end. We don’t want

, chances of reaching those goals are slim to none.
share with their teams. Too much information may create
gagement.
owners to be aware of everything and anything they can do to
ams in reaching food cost goals.

On the backside of Part III, it’s time to practice and put it all together from

Discussing myths and truths is a great Owners can
activity for owners/managers to do poster board
with their team. What teams think is facilitate this
true versus what is really true are often They should
different. provide all o

This activity can easily be done in a pre- Fluffy not Stuffy is a program
shift huddle (one myth per huddle for Murphy’s uses to help reduce
example). If huddles are not standard cost. Educating and motivatin
practice in a particular store, members to portion correctly
encourage them to incorporate it into yet often overlooked.
their routine as a beneficial
communication between manager and This activity only takes about
the team. minutes from start to finish a
a lasting impact on people be

• It’s a visual reminder of wa
• It shows them how they ca

and positively impact prof

m disgnosis to execution.

use a big sheet of paper, Owners will now put their knowledge to
d, or white board to the test. Have them print out their own
s activity with their team. reports and complete a GAMES plan for
d wait for the team to their top 3 opportunities.
of the answers.
Encourage them to go into more detail
Papa than they think is necessary. The
e food deeper they dive, the better off they
ng team will be and they will build better habits.
y is critical, Again, ask open ended questions and
challenge them to think past their
10 normal routines.
and leaves
ecause:

aste.
an directly
fitability.

Controlling Food Cost is like anything else. Wh

It’s no secret that there will always be things out of our control, but food
partners, our dreams, and the Brand to do whatever we have the power

Use the laminated sheets we’ve included
to help diagnose, take action, and execute.
Post them as a means to communicate
with teams and as a supplement to
conversations and pre-shift huddles.

hat you put into it is what you’ll get out of it.

d cost is not one of those. We have a responsibility to our teams, our
to do to be as successful as we can be.

If you have question
please pass

training@p

ns or come across new ideas,
s them along to us!

papamurphys.com