Buffets and POS Investment

One of the biggest selling items on many hotel, restaurant and club menus is Sunday Brunch. Often, the POS system will rank the brunch as the top item and it's common to see it garner a hefty percentage of total weekly sales. If your operation fits this profile, you need to take it farther.

Create a POS menu item for all buffet components. Setup every pan as a modifier menu item in the Sunday Brunch group on the POS. Instruct the dining room manager to ring up each pan sent to the buffet line at the start of brunch. As pans require replenishment, the manager should continue to ring them up on the POS. Make a policy of no pans leaving the kitchen unless the order prints on the POS printer.

Why bother with this level of control? Your food cost will improve. Fewer weekly cost variances will be blamed on the brunch consumption.

It's now possible to cost each pan and accurately calculate brunch buffet consumption. The total cost divided by brunch sales may be compared to your overall food cost percentage. Forecasts may be improved to include both cover count and pan count estimates. Spoilage will decline through careful study of the entire picture.

After several brunches have been analyzed, patterns will develop. These hidden patterns will provide profit improvement opportunities. You'll find certain buffet layouts produce better results.

Let's face it, there is a big investment in the POS system. Get a better return on that investment during your busy times.