Elective Units: Menu Design, Costing and Kitchen Supervision
What the elective units cover
Elective units typically include menu planning, cost control, stock and supply management, staff supervision and specialist cookery. Expect questions on standard recipes, portion control, yield testing, food cost percentage, gross profit, and menu engineering using popularity and profitability. You should understand how to calculate a selling price from a cost and a target food cost percentage, how to read a requisition or stocktake, and how to manage par levels and rotation (FIFO). Supervision content covers rostering, briefing, coaching, performance feedback and conflict resolution.
Traps to watch for
A frequent error is confusing mark-up with margin. A 100% mark-up doubles cost; a 50% food cost gives a 50% gross profit - they are not the same calculation. Another trap is menu engineering quadrants: high popularity and high profitability is a star, low popularity and high profitability is a puzzle, high popularity and low profitability is a plough horse, and low/low is a dog. Questions also test whether you know that yield testing changes the usable cost per portion, not the purchase price. In supervision scenarios, the best answer is usually specific, documented and supportive - not punitive.
Worked example
A dish costs $6.00 in ingredients and the target food cost is 30%. Selling price = cost ÷ food cost percentage = 6.00 ÷ 0.30 = $20.00. Check: 6 ÷ 20 = 30%, correct. If the question instead asks for mark-up on cost, the answer is different: 6.00 × (1 ÷ 0.30) also gives $20.00 here, but mark-up percentage would be 233%, not 30%.
Rule of thumb
Write the formula before touching the calculator, and label units - dollars, percentages and portions are easy to mix up under time pressure.