The Buffet That Cannot Be Costed
A hotel runs a Sunday carvery buffet for 140 guests at a fixed price of 22.00 per head. The kitchen's standard recipe cards give a raw yield of 68% for the top rump after trimming and roasting, and a further 12% shrink on the carving board. The rump is bought at 9.40 per kilogram raw. Last Sunday the kitchen drew 26 kg of raw rump, served 140 covers, and 4.2 kg of carved meat was returned to the kitchen and discarded at the end of service. The food cost target is 30% of revenue. The purchasing manager claims the buffet "is fine because we sold out", but the chef suspects the portion is drifting.
1. Calculate the usable cooked meat, the cost per cover for the beef, and whether the beef alone is within the 30% food cost target.
Read the worked answer
Step 1 - Usable cooked yield.
- Raw drawn: 26 kg
- After trimming and roasting (68%): 26 × 0.68 = 17.68 kg
- After carving shrink (12%): 17.68 × 0.88 = 15.56 kg usable carved meat
Step 2 - Portion actually achieved.
- Served: 15.56 − 4.2 discarded = 11.36 kg
- Per cover: 11.36 kg ÷ 140 = 81 g of carved beef per guest
Step 3 - Raw cost.
- 26 kg × 9.40 = 244.40 total
- Per cover: 244.40 ÷ 140 = 1.75 per guest
Step 4 - Against target.
- Revenue per cover: 22.00; 30% target = 6.60 allowable food cost per cover
- Beef alone at 1.75 is 26.5% of the beef's share of the 22.00 price - but the buffet also carries potatoes, vegetables, Yorkshire puddings, sauces and dessert.
Interpretation: the beef alone is not the problem; the discard is. 4.2 kg of edible carved meat is 27% of the usable yield thrown away - roughly 0.30 per cover in raw-cost terms (4.2 ÷ 0.68 ÷ 0.88 × 9.40 ÷ 140 ≈ 0.48 per cover of raw cost). Portion at 81 g is below a typical 100–120 g carvery portion, which suggests the carver is slicing thin to stretch supply, then over-producing at the end.
2. Recommend three changes to bring the buffet under control, and explain how you would monitor them.
Read the worked answer
Change 1 - Carve to a stated portion and control the draw. Set a standard portion (for example 110 g carved meat per guest) and calculate the raw draw from it: 140 × 0.110 = 15.4 kg usable ÷ 0.88 ÷ 0.68 ≈ 25.7 kg raw. The current 26 kg draw is therefore about right for 110 g portions - the loss is at the board, not at the butcher. Give the carver a portion guide and a count sheet.
Change 2 - Reduce end-of-service over-production. Hold back a portion of the roasted joint un-carved and carve to demand in the last 45 minutes, keeping it hot above 63°C. Track returned meat daily; a target of under 1 kg per service is realistic.
Change 3 - Re-cost the whole buffet, not just the beef. Build a plate cost for the full offer (beef, potato, two vegetables, Yorkshire pudding, gravy, dessert) and compare it with the 6.60 allowance. If the total exceeds 30%, adjust either the price, the menu composition, or the portion of the high-cost items.
Monitoring:
- Daily yield sheet: raw drawn, cooked weight, carved weight, returned weight, covers.
- Weekly plate-cost review against the 30% target.
- Carver spot-checks with a scale for the first two weeks.
The purchasing manager's "we sold out" argument confuses availability with profitability - selling out of an over-portioned, over-produced item can still lose money.