Calculations for catering

[kaRma BBQ]

Hello all... this is strictly pricing a pork butt to make pulled pork.

Shouldn't have waited a year to ask the question cuz that's probably the amount of time I've been short changing myself lol... so I strictly sell 4oz per person in my current business and I will be taking that to catering as well.
I currently have the PP priced at $.65 for 4oz (prior to the markup)
Pork butt - $1.60/lb
Weight- 7.15lbs
Cost $11.44
sooooooo I got this by dividing the cost $11.44 by the weight in oz 114.
After that formula I come up with $.10 per oz. in order to get 4oz of cooked product, I'll need 6.5oz of raw product.... therefore multiplying 6.5oz by $.10 to get $.65 for 4oz.

Am I even close....????? And will I need to do this every time the price changes? :(
Thank you for any input.

[chefkeith]

To simplify it for you:

Your yield percentage is 61.54% (4 oz / 6.5 oz).

Your adjusted food cost is: Price per pound / yield percentage.

$1.60 / .6154 = $2.60/lb or $0.65/4oz.

This should make your calculations faster in the future

Cheers!

[kaRma BBQ]

Cool... so I can apply this using yield to get the price per pound? And then just break that down into ounces. That's awesome, thanks. What would you reccomend as a markup? No other BBQ in the area... so maybe that $2.60/lb X 3, or .35 (food cost %)

[CT-Mike]

What you sell your finished product for depends on your demand. I live in New England and the nearest brick and mortar BBQ restaurant sells pulled pork for $18.95/lb. Granted his overhead is a lot higher than a typical caterer.

[IamMadMan]

Originally Posted by kaRma BBQ

Cool... so I can apply this using yield to get the price per pound? And then just break that down into ounces. That's awesome, thanks. What would you reccomend as a markup? No other BBQ in the area... so maybe that $2.60/lb X 3, or .35 (food cost %)

As CT-Mike said, although you may not have a building, you do of course have overhead even if you don't recognize it. Travel (Vehicle Fuel, Vehicle Wear and Tear, Vehicle Maintenance), Shopping Time, Prep Time, Spices, Sauces, Cooking Fuel, Cooking Time, Use of the Smoker, Insurance, Paper/Serving Products, and the list goes on......

You need to factor these items into the sale of the food item, otherwise you are simply not making a profit.

Roadside BBQ here, a small Pulled Pork Sandwich only (no sides) runs at 6.50 at a Restaurant it's 7.75 to 9:00 per sandwich (no sides). A platter with one side and a beverage is $12.00. Bulk pulled pork is $14.50 a pound up to 17.50 per pound.

[Cook]

300% is old school thinking in my opinion. That just simply isn't enough markup...especially on a relatively cheap product. I would multiply by 4 instead of 3.

I also figure 50% yield on pork butts simply because there is most likely going to be some waste at some point along the way. Not only that, but it also makes for easy math.

At your original yield percentage & food cost of $2.60/#, 300% markup would only be $7.80/# to the consumer. That isn't going to fly in my book. $2.60 x 4 = $10.40...that's much closer to the $10.99 I currently charge for a pound.

Don't short change yourself with that 300% markup.

[kaRma BBQ]

Awesome advice! Thank you so much.
Yea no competition here and that X4 markup wouldn't be bad at all. Thanks Cook!
Although not much ... I do factor in the other overhead costs such as mileage (I deliver), gas, the tablespoons of ingredients for the rubs, wood, etc. I probably need a better way to do this.

CT-Mike, WOW... $18# for PP!!! I wish, I mean... I could lol. I'm the only BBQ guy here.
But seeing what you all charge and see in your neighborhood, I shouldn't be hesitant to turning this thing around.

[chefkeith]

I don't disagree with any of the numbers posted above, but I would be hesitant to include all those other expenses in my "food cost." I would keep it separate for better accounting.

Often, restaurants only make around 10% profit margin after all other expenses.

[kaRma BBQ]

Chef Keith,

How do you account for the other expenses and keep them separate from your food cost? I usually factor it all together but this could be good advice to get me better profit. I'm doing well, but I always want to improve if I can implement something different. Thanks brother.

[chefkeith]

Originally Posted by kaRma BBQ

Chef Keith,



How do you account for the other expenses and keep them separate from your food cost? I usually factor it all together but this could be good advice to get me better profit. I'm doing well, but I always want to improve if I can implement something different. Thanks brother.

Here's a real simple Profit and Loss Statement for a restaurant. The top portion is sales and the bottom portion is COGS (cost of good sold).



You'll notice that each expenditure is separate. You don't want to include other costs on your food cost, they should be itemized separately so you can draw inferences about each cost and possibly control it.

In this example, you can see their food cost is 32.5%, which means off all the revenue brought in from Food, 32.5% was spent on food.

[kaRma BBQ]

Cool table man. Thanks a lot!!!!
And oh yea..... while I have your attention (sorry to jump ship)
Why is it that ribs are often discouraged to be sold? I've seen it at least 100X here.... a post or a reply that says something like "get rid of them BBs, they'll kill you" or "there isn't much $$$ in ribs. Switch it up" thanks again fellas.

[chefkeith]

My guess is the profit margin is very low on ribs, i.e. You make way more money selling pulled pork, etc.

And maybe they take up so much cooker space that could be used for a higher margin product.