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 Restaurant Marketing Newsletter |
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Quantified Marketing Group is the nation's largest full-service strategic marketing and public relations firm focused exclusively in the restaurant industry. To find out how we can help your restaurant, click here or call (407) 936-1010.
IN THIS ISSUE...
Introduction Letter
Ask the Experts
This Week's Question
Restaurant Accounting Software
Book Review
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 Hello QMG newsletter subscribers! Larry Cate here, filling in for Aaron Allen while he's off making a speech before the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association.
As a new member to the QMG team, I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I am heading up our newest division, Restaurant Business Planning and Financial Consulting.
Although I've had a very fulfilling 20-year career working for top hospitality companies including Hard Rock Café, Planet Hollywood International and Marriott Hotels and consulting for Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville and Hard Rock Park, I'm very excited to be able to tailor my expertise and exclusively work with restaurants as a member of QMG.
We have so many divisions here that each day is truly a meeting of the minds. It's a great feeling to work hand-in-hand with the culinary, marketing and concept development teams to consult existing restaurants and even create new ones from the ground up!
My role in that process is to develop restaurant business plans and assist with investor presentations, franchise development and POS and back-of-the-house system selection, implementation and integration - a task that can seem overwhelming for many restaurateurs.
For that reason we've included an article on Restaurant Accounting Software in this week's newsletter. The article is just an overview, so if you have any questions after reading it, I'm only a call or email away.
I look forward to answering any of your questions in upcoming newsletters.
Sincerely,
Larry Cate
Director of Business Planning & Senior Financial Consultant
Quantified Marketing Group
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 Do you have a question about restaurant public relations, marketing, design, culinary development or concept development? Well, here's your chance to pick the experts' brains.
Click here to submit a question, and if selected, it will be featured in a future Quantified Marketing Group newsletter.
Submit a Question
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 Q: Could you kindly help me calculate the selling price for my restaurant's dishes? Suppose my pasta dish has a food cost of $2.00, what should my selling price be? My concept is a 50-seater, Italian-dining restaurant with a cozy, pretty atmosphere and semi-casual service. Please help.
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Samit Das
A: The industry standards for food costs typically average between 28 percent and 40 percent depending on the type of restaurant. So if you were aiming to keep your food cost around 30 percent, then a $2.00 menu item would need to be sold for at least $6.67.
Of course, when it comes to menu pricing, there are other factors to take into account in addition to food cost. What if you have an appetizer and an entrée that both have a $2.00 food cost? You probably wouldn't charge customers the same price for both.
Most restaurants create a tiered system with their menu items, with appetizers and desserts on the lower end of the price scale and entrees higher. Sometimes this means charging less for an appetizer with a high food cost, resulting in lower profit margins. However, low profit margins can always be made up for in sales volume.
The profit margin is the amount of money generated from the sale of a menu item, minus the food cost. So if you charge $6.67 for an item with a $2.00 food cost, your profit margin will be $4.67. Keep in mind though that you can't simply pocket this profit. It will also need to be used to cover labor and other overhead costs.
Another good way to get a feel for how much to charge for your menu items is to research local competitors within your category. How much does the local Carrabba's Italian Grill or Macaroni Grill charge? Based on how your food, service and atmosphere compare to theirs, you can adjust your own menu prices accordingly. Guest expectations are the most important factor when determining menu prices. It is important not to charge more or less than what guests are willing and expecting to pay.
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 Where the typical restaurateur's financial expertise lacks, restaurant accounting software can pick up the slack. Most restaurateurs find their way into the industry because of a knack for hospitality, not accounting. But if accounting software is figured into a restaurant's equation, it will add up to success.
Integrated Restaurant Accounting Software
With the exception of large, multi-unit chains with their own in-house staff of accountants, most restaurateurs use a computer program to do their number-crunching. Some of the most popular financial packages on the market include Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly Microsoft Great Plains), QuickBooks and Peachtree.
A fully-integrated restaurant accounting software system is composed of a point-of-sale (POS) system, a middleware system and a financial software package. The easiest way to import numbers into accounting programs is through the middleware system.
Middleware systems play the middleman between POS systems and financial management software by pulling sales and inventory data from your POS system, processing the figures and importing the appropriate information into your financial software. Middleware systems are capable of managing inventory control, theoretical costing and store-level financial reporting.
Benefits of Restaurant Accounting Software
There are many hidden costs associated with running a restaurant that basic profit and loss statements can’t detect. Restaurant accounting software can help bring these to light.
Restaurant middleware systems can identify all of the data from your POS system that is required to produce a detailed financial report.
The middleware system will separate sales data by categories and labor data by department. It should also provide food and beverage inventories and daily fixed expenses to produce a weekly estimate of the restaurant’s net profit.
Purchasing Restaurant Accounting Software
While simple financial packages such as QuickBooks only cost a few hundred dollars, middleware and POS systems run several thousand dollars per module. Though some can be less expensive, they may have limitations.
Continue Reading...
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 Kitchen Confidential
By Cassandra Mas, QMG's Lead Development Chef
So you think you want to be a cook? This is one of the many teasers Anthony Bourdain uses to begin his chapters in his memoir, Kitchen Confidential.
Bourdain, a self professed "sensualist," "bad boy," "renegade," "pirate" and "near criminal," weaves a compelling, although, seemingly unbelievable tale (to those outside the business) of his kitchen exploits, training and rise through the industry. The book is edgy, and a little naughty at times, but overall Bourdain is interesting, honest and truly in the know.
Bourdain prefaces his tale with some rather witty disclaimers of his objectives in writing this novel.
He claims, and I believe him, that his intention is not to reveal the secret inner workings of an industry which he refers to as the "'beast" for shock value. Nor is it to seek retribution against any former employers (although he questions his career longevity following the release of the book).
His purpose - which is fortified by the sumptuous language and thoughtful, almost poetic, storytelling - is to expose the nature of a truly committed professional chef and his love affair with food.
Bourdain clearly is a chef's chef. He's the real deal; the man has moves. It's clear in his writing that his life as a cook and chef consumes his thinking in every way.
His narrative is rich, layered and deep like food that's been properly prepared – seasoned at every layer. His "chefness" is so engrained it is impossible for him to speak anything but "kitchenese".
The constant barrage of cooking terminology, kitchen-French and kitchen-Spanish must be overwhelming for the non-professional reader. For those of us that have actually worked in the business, we are all too comfortable with the sweet familiarity of this soothing patois (By the way, this is Anthony's word "patois" - the guy is not just a grunt, no matter how much he would protest).
Continue Reading...
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For more information please visit us at www.quantifiedmarketing.com. To forward this newsletter to a friend, click here.
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