The sound of those words is enough to send a chill up the spines of the most intrepid chefs. Blood pressures are raised by it. Bonuses are forfeited because of it.
Careers hinge on it.
It is undoubtedly one of the most sensitive topics in the industry. But feelings can get in the way of facts. By monitoring food costs based upon some arbitrary number instead of investing the time to calculate the true ideal food cost, management can be guilty of criticizing a kitchen staff's performance when the costs are in line or, worse, be lulled into food cost complacency when the costs are running two to three percentage points off the mark. The best gauge of a restaurant's food cost is an internally developed standard based upon an analysis of inventory, recipes, sales mix and price structure. Simply put, an ideal food cost is the number that will end up in the monthly food cost bucket if everything goes as planned.