Setting Food Cost Priorities

I was asked this question at a job interview and hope that I got them right. What is your take on this question?

Food quality control, food cost control and personnel supervision are three important responsibilities of this position. Please prioritize these in order of importance and provide your reasons.

Thanks!

I would put these three important responsibilities in the following order:
1. Personnel supervision is number one because people make the entire business model work. It's impossible to hit your objectives if you are lax with supervision.
2. Food quality control would be my second priority because quality drives sales. You can hit every other number in a restaurant and if the quality is low you're in danger. So now we have qualified, well supervised staff producing high quality menu items.
3. Let's make some money now that our guests are happy with the service and food quality. Food cost control will help insure proper portion control, lower waste, optimal stock levels (freeing cash frozen on your shelves), and optimal blend of ingredient price and quality.

On the quality issue, it's often possible to meet the food quality control and food cost control objectives simultaneously. I shop at Whole Foods for many items due to family allergies. They have a private label called 365. The 28 ounce can of the 365 label canned peeled whole tomatoes costs $1.39 here in Virginia. This is a premium over other local markets. You may pay as little as $1.09 for the same size can. When you cost the canned products by the tomato, the Whole Foods 365 label comes up a winner. Each can averages 12 tomatoes. Some of the cheaper brands have only 7 or 8 tomatoes and plenty of water or tomato juice.

Would you rather pay $1.39 for 12 tomatoes or $1.09 for 7.5 tomatoes? You pay 25% more when you buy the cheap brand.

This analysis is 100% tomatoes to tomatoes. The size is almost identical.