Less is More� philosophy

							     “Less is More”
          philosophy

A strategy for decreasing costs

                Rob Clickstein
                Shelly Demmon
        History

A philosophy developed by Shelly
       to target areas were
  we can control reduce costs
         History

Rob then took the philosophy and
 turned it into an incentive based
             strategy.

  The following can be adapted
       for your District.
           “Less is More”
A philosophy devised to not only save money
            but also save time.

Now is the time to get back to the basics of
            managing our kitchens.
        “Back to basics”
• Checking orders in.
• Maintaining organized store rooms and
  refrigerator/freezers.
• Utilizing products on hand.
• Supervising and educating your staff to follow
  recipes.
• Forecasting food and paper needs monthly, weekly
  and daily.
• When placing orders be aware of how much
  product you really need and when it is actually
  needed.
  The focus will be on
   five specific areas
   which allow you to
control and manage each
of your operations more
     efficiently and
       effectively.
The five areas we will focus on are:

•   Menu engineering
•   Budgeted purchasing
•   Exact portioning
•   Finite inventory
•   Targeted merchandising
Menu engineering: The idea of
 menu engineering is simple.
    » Look at what you are
      currently making and see if
      you can remove a high cost
      ingredient and substitute it
      with a lower cost one.

    » Look at your high cost
      entrée’s and see if you can
      replace it with a lower cost
      version.
“Sometimes it’s just the
  little things that can
   make a difference”
   Challenge your staff to be more
creative with ingredients and to utilize
      commodities and leftovers.
                  For example:

•   Home made hummus
•   Grilled vegetables
•   Diced chicken and ham in the salad bar
•   Rice salad
•   Parmesan mozzarella blend
            Budgeted purchasing: Each school will
          received a weekly budget for each of the
       following categories. The challenge is stay with
                  in this budget each week.

                                   FA Day Middle School

Sept-November Sum of PRODUCE Sum of PIZZA   Sum of DAIRY   Sum of GROCERY Sum of BAGELS   Sum of BAKERY
Day Total         $1,156       $2,808          $6,716          $23,766        $119            $1,030
Average weekly $105             $255            $611            $2,161         $11             $94
         Also concentrate on lowering
              the following:
Chemicals:
•   It is important that every manager is aware of what
    they have and what they need.
•   Look at how many times your sinks are drained and
    refilled. The cost is approximately $5.oo

Paper:
•   When ordering paper it is necessary to physically walk
    into your store rooms and look at your stock.
•   Organization in your store rooms is pertinent to the
    “Less is More” strategy.
    Exact portioning:        Start looking at
“exact portioning” this will allow you stay with
  in your budget and maintain the nutritional
         value of the items you serve..

•   Portion control: Portion control one of the
    biggest obstacles. The key to success is to be
    diligent, stringent and educate the staff on the
    appropriate portion size for each recipe.

•   Service: Before service inform the servers
    what the portion size is and what comes with
    the meal
            Finite inventory:     Keep a
target amount of monthly inventory on hand.
•   Provided each location with a monthly
    targeted inventory amount.
•   Explained the need to turn their
    purchased inventory over every 1.5 weeks
    or every 8 days.
•   This will allow you to see what is on hand,
    not over produce, waste products and
    allow for an accurate inventory.
     Targeted merchandising:
 Challenged your staff to come up
 with innovative ideas to sell their
               food.
Start by looking at:
• The visual impact
• Name brands
• Freshness
• Colors
• Ease of service
         Action Plan

• Purpose-focus on specific areas
• Goal-reduce expenses & increase
  participation
• Reason- You need to come up with a
  reason?
          Action Plan
Phase 1: September-November focus on
  menu engineering and budgeted purchasing.
• Each team will concentrate on their menu,
  forecasting and production records.
• Production records will help the school
  plan their menu and forecasting will help
  when purchasing items.
      Menu engineering

• Look at your menu and decide what you can
  eliminate and/or substitute.
• When writing your menu always look in your
  freezers and store rooms.
• Always check with your Principal to ensure
  you are up to date on all school activities.
• Menu writing should start 2 weeks before
  the end of the month and turned in by the
  25th of each month.
          Budgeted purchasing:
•   Production records will need to be
    filled out on a daily basis.
•   All orders need compiled by
    physically looking.
•   As managers you need to
    communicate to your staff what is
    expected of them daily.
   December managers meeting

• Discuss the first three months of the
  individual schools food cost.
• Managers will need to share improvements
  and the strategies they used.
• Each school will receive their individual
  food cost goal. A decrease of X% points.
           Phase 2:
      December-February
Each team will need to concentrate on:
• Controlled portioning.
• Finite inventory.
• Targeted merchandising.
• Continue to work on menu engineering and
  budgeted purchasing.
    Controlled portioning:
• Deli bars need to be monitored and
  controlled.
• Develop the “City/Town way” to roll wraps.
• Always use scoops, spoodle’s and ladles.
• Inform cashiers of the portion size.
• Never assume your staff knows what is
  expected of them.
      Finite inventory:
• Set up par stock levels.
• Keep on hand only what you need for 8
  days.
• Reduce your paper and chemical spending.
• Check in all chemical deliveries to ensure
  the product ordered is what you need.
• Monitor how you are using grab & go
  containers and how much paper products
  the staff is using.
 Target merchandising:
• Go through your stations as a customer.
• Look at colors, station heights, signage,
  and ease of getting products.
• Talk to students.
• Decorate for the season.
• Get rid of that institutional look.
• Brand if you can!
        March managers
           meeting

• Discuss each team’s purchasing
  practices, targeted inventory and
  the decline in percent of spending
• Discuss the overall food cost and
  participation for the secondary
  schools.
       Phase 3: April-May
      “Maintaining what has been
            accomplished”.

• Continue to menu engineer.
• Stay with in your food budget.
• Maintain and use your production records
  for forecasting.
• Monitor portion control.
• Maintain your targeted inventory for all
  categories of products.
       Phase 3: continued
       “Maintaining what has been
            accomplished”.

• It is in the best interest that each team
  maintains what they have accomplished in
  phase 1 and 2.
• Stress to your staff this is the time to
  use their management and leaderships
  skills.


       “The home stretch”
        June managers meeting

• Report on each team’s year to date
  numbers and the secondary as a whole.
• If the schools met the goal of reducing
  food cost by X% and increasing
  participation by X%.
• The entire secondary team will be
  allocated up to X dollars to be used for a
  team year end event.
   Final words to your staff
As a team the food service department can
    make the necessary changes to reduce
                  expenses.
  It is our job to manage our people, vendors
                  and products.
By thinking “Less is More” we will all end the
     school year on solid ground with much
               deserved respect.
   Remember use the philosophy of “Less is
    More” to help guide you through this
                 challenge.
Good Luck!