Menus, Inventory & Pricing Case Study

Robert Carlson the Executive Chef at the famous Grill Room, an upscale steakhouse, located in the heart of town has been experiencing issues with the restaurants food cost lately. He has been reviewing operational procedures to determine the best course of action to remediate the situation, however he is also worried that his staff may not be controlling production effectively. To further explore the latter, he has asked his sous chef and chefs de partie to meet him for a brief meeting to go over some costing and pricing fundamentals. Through the discussion, Chef Robert expects to assess his executive team knowledge about menus, costing & pricing and production control. To this effect, all BOH chefs will be required to answer several questions about the above-mentioned topics.

As part of this project, you will pretend to be one of the Grill Room chefs de partie. In preparation for the meeting with Chef Robert, please answer the questions included below.

8. What does the term Perceived Value Pricing mean?

9. Explain the role customer perception plays in menu pricing.

10. List four (4) main factors that a chef should examine when looking for ways to control food costs. Explain.

11. Explain why food cost percentage is not the best indicator of profitability.