Food & Beverage Control Scorecard

While you can't cost control yourself to success in this business, I've seen plenty of restaurants bleed to death (literally) not because of bad food or poor service but because they didn't have a clue about safeguarding their inventory and controlling their costs. Sure, taking care of the guest is the most important thing you do, however, great food and superior service doesn't necessarily guarantee a successful business.

One of the areas restaurants are most vulnerable to losses is in the food and beverage areas and the reasons are obvious. Basically we're dealing with goods that are expensive, have mass appeal and can be misused in a variety of ways.

How are you managing your food and beverage costs? Here's a check-list of a few practices used by many of the country's most profitable independent and multi-unit operators. To see how you stack up, note which ones are currently being done in your restaurant.