Why is it Important to Control Food Portion size in your Food Service Business : F&B Tips

In the current economic climate where food costs can fluctuate depending on the season, profit margins are constantly squeezed. On top of this, issues like new competitors sprouting up continue to challenge Malaysian food service business entrepreneurs, making the process to budget for the quarter a difficult task. Add customer retention to the mix, and it quickly becomes a nightmare.

One easy, yet quick to be implemented way is to increase portion size and the number of available dishes to attract return customers. However, with rising costs and food sustainability concerns, this convenient way out is more often than not the more expensive way out.

Consider using portion control to your business advantage, which means keeping a managed, calculated guidelines to keep serving sizes consistent to save both time and money.

Here’s how portion control can help:

1. Controlling food cost

By keeping portions to a reasonable level per serving, this helps reduce food cost as less food is served on the plate. Profit margins in food service businesses are often tight, and competition is fierce. Restaurant proprietors can consider standardising recipes for a recipe to better know the ratio of recipe yield against serving size, which helps with budgeting and purchasing.

2. Reducing food wastage

Overserving not only takes a toll on finances, it also contributes to food wastage as perfectly good meal goes to waste. Once plated and served to customers, food cannot be recycled for a new serving and has to go into the trash. While large portions may look more appealing, offering free refills for sides such as fries and salads may be just as attractive to the customer, and helps manage wastage.

3. Maintaining consistency

The best laid plans still require kitchen staff on the ground to execute. It could be said that minimising human error is one method to enforce portion control — besides providing detailed guidelines and checkpoints, kitchen staff should be educated to use the correct utensils to measure portions both during meal prep and when plating. Generally, portions can be measured by count (number of pieces), volume (for liquids, like soups and gravy), and weight (common for steaks, grains, and pasta).

4. Enhancing control

With proper guidelines drawn up, it can be easier to accommodate customers with special dietary requirements, which may require substitutions. It helps businesses be prepared for these common situations, as staff can identify what can and cannot be substituted as well as the appropriate portions to allocate. For health-conscious customers, it also helps them know the exact caloric and nutritional values of the food they consume.

Portion control should be an integral part of any food service business, as it protects the profit margin, prevents unnecessary food waste, and, when implemented properly, benefits the customer in terms of serving quality as well.

For more tips and tricks, join us as an Ajinomoto Food Biz partner today. Let’s work together towards addressing sustainability concerns in and out of the kitchen!