Filling up warmers halfway. Running lean inventory. Using a meat shredder. These are just a few ways convenience stores can save money and time in foodservice.
Another strategy: not entirely filling up the containers holding portion control creamers at the coffee bar. This tip, from a category manager at a CSP forum earlier this year, resulted in fewer customers helping themselves to an excessive amount of the items than if the container was fully stocked.
Here’s what experts from Chillbox, Kwik Trip and more shared on how they improve foodservice operations to save time and money.
Chillbox
At Chillbox, owned by New Haven, Michigan-based Bazco Oil, Ali Beydoun, foodservice director, said not filling warmers to capacity helps sales.
“We’ll fill them up halfway,” he says. “And what happens is people will start looking at it and say, ‘Wow, these are really moving’ because the perception is this was full and now it’s gone half gone. So people are like, ‘OK, maybe I should try this because maybe it’s a good product.’ People are more comfortable trying something if they see somebody else had already tried it.”
Retail Management Inc.
Steve Morris, president and CEO of St. Paul, Minnesota-based Retail Management Inc., which offers contract retail operations, marketing and accounting services for retailers, said to clean roller grill rollers with a damp towel with ice cubes folded in.
“The hardness of the cubes helps scrape the rollers without scraping the Teflon off, and the heat from the rollers will melt the ice keeping the towel damp,” Morris said.
Gate Petroleum
Andrew Spink, research and development chef at Jacksonville, Florida-based Gate Petroleum, said they run their inventory “really lean.”
“We have build-to’s our store personnel use to order and to put out for consumption,” Spink said. “Our food supervisors review these build-to’s every few weeks or as needed to adjust up or down for time of year, pickup in business, etc.
“It has made a drastic improvement in our margins,” he said.
Spink said a build-to is the level to which they want to build the inventory.
“Let’s say on our roller grill we want them to have eight hot dogs out from 8 to 9 a.m., but at 7:45 a.m. they go to the grill and see that they only have 2 on,” Spink said. “They would put out six to ‘build it up’ to eight.
“Works the same way with inventory,” he continued. “We use reports to show them that they may use 10 cases of croissants per week. So on order day, they count how many cases of croissants they have. If they only have one case, they would order nine. All of it is based on sales/purchasing/prior orders, etc., reporting so we can keep them as accurate as possible. We also use an algorithm software that helps analyze some of these things as well.”
Kwik Trip
At Kwik Trip, La Crosse, Wisconsin, Jessica Howe, foodservice project manager, rolled out a plateful of suggestions.
Consider bringing in equipment that saves labor was her first suggestion, recommending:
Meat shredder: “Improves shred quality of the chicken, and you could evaluate how much chicken you are putting in each recipe,” Howe said. “Look for one without blades to reduce injuries.”
FOG Tank: A tank that removes fat, grease and carbon buildup from metal cookware and kitchen and bakery equipment is “cheaper than a commercial dishwasher if you don’t have space or money for one,” she said. “It cleans metal pans and parts from ovens. People can spend time on more meaningful things that make money for your operation.”
Secondly, Howe said to organize training materials, such as recipes and standard operating procedures (SOPs), in one location.
“This helps new employees become efficient more quickly,” Howe said, adding that putting things in charts makes them easier to read and reference. “Hang up the most important ones to your operation.”
Next, evaluate recipes to reduce steps, she said:
- Can you eliminate a microwaving step?
- Can you cook similar items on the same pan instead of separately? For example, making three types of breakfast sandwiches on one pan (sausage, bacon, ham).
- Can you use an Alto-Shaam (foodservice equipment) for hot holding? Make more at one time? This improves efficiency.
- Can you cook and hold sides like mashed potatoes and gravy/mac and cheese and then refill your grab and go throughout the day?
Next, create recipes for cook-from-frozen when possible. Doing so “helps reduce waste from overcooking and is especially helpful during winter when business can be unpredictable,” Howe said, adding that this eliminates wasting labor on putting items in Cambros (food storage containers) and doing dishes.
Howe’s next suggestion is to thaw food in boxes when possible. “It doesn’t work for every item, but for many it will,” she said, adding this also eliminates wasting labor on placing items in Cambros and doing dishes.
Finally, evaluate the efficiency of your kitchen layout. “Items touched the most should be closest to the cook,” Howe said.
Do you have a tip or trick to share? Email chuck.ulie@informa.com.
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