Module 10 - Controlling Food Sales

The three principle goals of sales control are: optimizing the numbers of customers, minimizing profit, and controlling revenue.

Homogeneous products are sufficiently different from others in their class and customers may develop preferences for them based on their unique characteristics.

Differentiated products are sufficiently different from others in their class, so that customers may develop a preference for them because they are unique.

Restaurant menu items tend to be price sensitive; they have high price elasticity. That means that there is a relationship between sales price and sales volume, such that demand rises as price rises.

Most restaurants find it necessary to have a broad range of food items on the menu.

Restaurants with highly differentiated items have less flexibility to raise and lower prices than those with homogeneous menu items.

Most restaurants whose menus combine both homogeneous and differentiated items should take competitors pricing into consideration: copy their price to build market share and provide profit.

The menu is responsible for sales and for determining sales mix, especially in operations that do not have the time to employ sales techniques.

Prime space (the area guests like to read first) on a menu is always located on the left side of the page.

Well-written descriptive menu language with appropriate adjectives tends to increase customer satisfaction because they lead to higher levels of satisfaction.

Kitchen staff and equipment are very important elements of consideration when preparing a menu.

Restaurant managers are usually interested in developing appropriate sales techniques for their servers as server influences the customer’s decision on whether or not to order an option.

Websites are an effective way to advertise and will help to disseminate an image and brand, and may directly bring in sales.

Accurate recording of sales and inflows of appropriate revenue are both desirable and necessary to the successful operation of a restaurant.

There are three standards for achieving the goal of revenue control – ensuring that all food served results in appropriate revenue for the establishment.