Tenderloin Is Eating Your Profit
Whole beef tenderloin is your top seller: a 180 g centre-cut medallion at $26.00. Your yield test on a 20 kg case gives 68% usable centre cut after removing the chain, silverskin and side muscle; the trim goes to stroganoff and has never been credited in your costing. Last month the case cost $21.60/kg; this month's invoice is $24.00/kg. The owner wants to add $3.00 to the plate and drop the portion to 150 g. Meanwhile your weekly count shows 72 portions sold but 13.9 kg of usable tenderloin gone, and a weigh-back of ten plates averages 189 g. Target food cost for this item is 30%.
1. Calculate the true portion cost at spec and at the actual average portion, and state the food cost percentage at $26.00.
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Cost per usable kilogram = case price ÷ yield = $24.00 ÷ 0.68 = $35.29/kg.
- At spec (180 g): 0.180 × $35.29 = $6.35 per portion → $6.35 ÷ $26.00 = 24.4% food cost.
- At the actual average (189 g): 0.189 × $35.29 = $6.67 → 25.7% food cost.
- Last month: $21.60 ÷ 0.68 = $31.76/kg → 180 g = $5.72 → 22.0%. The invoice jump added $0.63 per plate (about 11%).
Trim credit changes the picture. The 32% trim is roughly 6.4 kg per case. If about 80% of that is usable for stroganoff (≈5.1 kg) and would otherwise be bought as braising beef at $9.00/kg, that is ≈$46 of value recovered - about $3.38 per usable kilogram, dropping effective cost to ≈$31.91/kg and the 180 g portion to ≈$5.74 (22.1%). Ignoring the credit has been overstating this item's cost all along.
2. The owner wants $29.00 and a 150 g portion. What do you recommend, with numbers?
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Both changes over-correct, and the portion cut attacks the wrong problem.
- The item already runs at 24.4% against a 30% target. At $26.00 you can carry a portion cost up to $7.80 - about 221 g at current cost. You are not in a crisis on this plate.
- Dropping to 150 g saves $1.06 per plate ($6.35 → $5.29) but visibly shrinks a signature dish; on a 180 g medallion, 30 g is enough for regulars to notice.
- Going to $29.00 pushes food cost down to 21.9%, well under target, and leaves you no pricing room for the next beef increase.
Recommended: hold the portion, lift the price modestly to $27.00 (23.5% food cost) if you want insulation, and put the energy into portion control. The real leak: 72 × 180 g = 12.96 kg theoretical versus 13.9 kg used = 0.94 kg, about $33 per week. The 9 g over-portion explains 0.65 kg of that; the remaining 0.29 kg is unaccounted trim, board loss or a comped plate, and needs a count, not a price change.
3. What controls would you put in place this week so this does not recur?
Read the worked answer
Make the invisible visible.
- Pre-cut and weigh every medallion at 180 g raw before service and count them out against covers; no free-pouring from a whole loin during the rush.
- Put a digital scale on the butcher bench and do a ten-plate weigh-back weekly - you only found the 9 g drift because you weighed.
- Weight-based yield test each new case lot: yields move with supplier trim, and a 3-point yield drop is worth more than a dollar a plate.
- Credit trim formally on the cost sheet as a transfer to the stroganoff line at a realistic replacement value, so both dishes carry honest costs.
- Re-cost the item whenever the invoice moves more than about 5%, and keep a written spec (cut, weight, trim standard) so a new cook can hit it.