36 Controlling Costs in Foodservice
11. State where you would place a highly profi table menu item in a menu with the
following number of pages:
A. one page
B. two pages
C. three pages
12. Chicken parmesan is a plow-horse item on a restaurant’s menu. Explain what that
means and what steps a manager can take to improve its overall performance.
Applying Your Knowledge
13. A manager is given the following information about a menu item. Determine its
selling price using the food cost percentage method.
Food cost = $4.00
Cost of labor to produce the menu item = $2.00
Employee benefi ts and payroll taxes as a percentage of labor cost = 20%
Food cost percentage = 45%
Prime cost percentage = 55%
14. Using the information given in the previous exercise, determine the selling price
of the menu item using the prime-cost method.
15. Given the following menu items, create descriptions to include on the menu:
A. 14-ounce New York strip steak
B. mashed potatoes
C. vegetables
Exercise 2-16
Complete the following exercise on the companion website:
www.g-wlearning.com/culinaryarts/
16. Jaime, the owner of the Riverside Cove Restaurant, uses the Texas Restaurant
Association (TRA) system to price menu items.
A. Use the common targets for percent profi t for various menu categories found
in the chapter to determine the selling price for the following menu items:
Menu Category Food Cost
Appetizer $0.75
Dessert $1.00
Beverage $0.50
Appetizer Dessert Beverage
Budgeted labor cost % 18 18 18
Other budgeted expenses %
(excluding labor and food)
35 35 35
Profi t % desired from menu item
Food cost percentage desired
Actual cost of item
Sell price