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Meals and Labor Prices 101 | Pizza Expo 2026 Schooling Unique


Management prime prices to attain your revenue objectives

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Dive deep into Meals & Labor Prices 101 at Pizza Expo throughout Nick Bogacz’s schooling session on Tuesday, March 24, at 9:30 a.m. See the total schooling schedule. 

 

Generally success actually is a matter of {dollars} and cents. Within the pizza enterprise, a lot of the prices are fastened and only some are controllable. The primary controllable prices are meals and labor. These two areas possible make up 50% to 60% of total prices; understanding the best way to handle these numbers is necessary to operators’ success. Learn to calculate, forecast and decide your objectives whereas holding managers accountable.

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Calculating Labor Price

Labor value at all times looks like it’s rising. For those who set a purpose value and perceive the mandatory steps to take when writing your schedule, you possibly can place your self to have an excellent quantity that helps your backside line. What’s a “good” labor quantity? I shoot for a 55% prime value – that means labor and meals value whole 55%.

At the moment, the labor purpose for our firm is 25.5%. How will we decide that purpose? At a 55% prime value, I do know the remainder of my fastened prices are 35%, which leaves a revenue margin of 10%. Many operators suppose the revenue margin needs to be larger, and I gained’t argue that it may very well be larger. Nevertheless, 10% works for our firm, as we make investments every little thing over 10% again into the enterprise. Some years, we revenue even much less and make investments extra into the enterprise – particularly after we are in progress mode. As soon as you determine your fastened prices and the way a lot revenue you need left over, you possibly can decide each labor and your meals value objectives.

After getting each objectives, you must put up them within the workplace for all managers to see. This may go a good distance towards holding them accountable. The subsequent step is to jot down a sensible schedule. By “real looking,” I imply that if each week you might be calling in additional assistance on sure days, then you must schedule these hours. Try to write a schedule that’s near what you really want.

When you write a sensible schedule, you want multiple individual it. You must have all of your managers look it over for errors. You will need to begin your schedule early within the week. Begin writing it on Monday and Tuesday, have others assessment it on Wednesday and get it posted by Thursday.

For those who wouldn’t have it completed by Thursday, you run into writing it on the weekend with little or no time to research or modify. You wish to take an excellent take a look at begin and finish instances whereas writing the schedule. It makes little sense to have everybody beginning and ending on the identical time.

As soon as the schedule is full, you’ll add up every individual’s wage for the week. Then, you’ll add up wages for the entire schedule. Then, add 14% on prime of the quantity to incorporate estimated payroll wages. That’s your true predicted labor quantity. You’ll predict weekly gross sales primarily based on the earlier 4 weeks of gross sales. Modify the prediction for any particular occasions, resembling Halloween, the Tremendous Bowl, and so forth.

After getting all that in place, you might be able to get your labor quantity. The system is:

Complete Wages: Wages of all staff
   and your self, plus 14% payroll wages

Projected Labor: Complete Wages / Projected Gross sales

Projected Wages: $4,050

Projected Gross sales: $15,000

Projected Labor: 27%

Labor Purpose: 25.5% (or $3,825)

Labor to Minimize: $4,050 – $3,825 = $225

   Labor to Minimize / 7 Days = $32.14 per day

   $13 per hour worker + 14% payroll = $14.82

   $32.14 / $14.82 = 2.17 hours

So, it’s worthwhile to lower two hours per day without work your schedule.

I begin on Monday and work by every day, slicing the 2 hours needed to fulfill my labor purpose. If I can not lower two hours on in the future, I roll over to the following day. By the top of the week, I’ve lower the 14 hours of labor.

Laborious and quick guidelines for the best way to lower: Stagger begin and finish instances, lower entire hours into half hours, possibly there’s a complete shift you possibly can lower. Don’t inform everybody within the retailer you might be slicing hours for labor; you’ll scare everybody. Add to the underside of each schedule one thing like, “Scheduled Hours Are Based mostly on Efficiency.”

Calculating Meals Price

Meals prices begin with stock. Having an excellent ending stock every Sunday helps to fulfill the meals value purpose. Constructing a rely sheet that makes stock go shortly is essential. It’s OK to listing gadgets greater than as soon as. I like having my rely sheets damaged down by the place every product lives – that means we rely the walk-in, and what’s listed in there additionally could be listed within the makeline part. Having a quick approach to rely helps make the stock course of bearable. Having the identical individual counting every Sunday is an efficient rule of thumb, if potential. Save the rely sheets every week. We rely every little thing and embody every little thing in our meals value quantity. That features all dry items and cleansing provides. 

After getting the stock quantity, that is the way you calculate your meals value every week:

Beginning Stock: $6,000 + $3,000 invoices = $9,000

Ending Stock: $4,000

Meals Used: $9,000 – $4,000  = $5,000 

Meals Price: $5,000 meals used / $15,000 web gross sales = 30%

Measures to Keep Meals Price

Pricing your menu accurately is necessary. We use a software program platform to cost our menu primarily based on prices, and it has saved us 1000’s of {dollars}. Realizing the value of your menu gadgets is essential to this course of.

When somebody begins at a pizzeria, they make the pizza the best way they suppose it ought to look. Coaching is necessary to your meals value; you need to prepare new staff to make gadgets your approach:

  • Use scales to coach every new staff member.
  • Have a booklet or charts about the best way to make each single merchandise to spec.
  • Have the oven-tender give suggestions on each pizza to maintain staff members engaged. (We take the loudest worker and prepare them on the oven.)

Speaking about meals value frequently in your pizzeria lets everybody know what’s being watched. Set boundaries about what worker meals are and what’s allowed.

When you perceive how labor and meals prices work, it’s your job to show your staff, beginning along with your managers. Having a weekly assembly to debate the numbers will get outcomes. Now we have a cellphone assembly with our GMs every Tuesday at 8 p.m. We additionally incentivize assembly labor and meals value objectives by quarterly bonuses.

Getting buy-in out of your staff is important. On the finish of the day, {dollars} and cents can’t simply matter to you, additionally they must matter to your staff.

Nick Bogacz is the founder and president of Caliente Pizza & Draft Home in Pittsburgh.  Instagram: @caliente_pizza

 

Keep updated on the most recent Pizza Expo 2026 information, go to Pizza Expo 2026: Newest Information from the World’s Largest Pizza Present hub web page.



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