Food and Beverage Management: Menu Engineering, Cost Control and Outlet Operations – Dubai, 6–17 Sep 2027

Programme overview

Introduction:

Food and beverage management often fails in the numbers behind the menu: dishes priced without costed recipes, deliveries accepted without checks, stock issued without requisitions and staff rostered by habit rather than forecast covers. Outlets then post rising food cost, thin margins and uneven service that nobody can trace. This Core Concept course gives restaurant, outlet, catering and banqueting managers the costing, control, menu engineering and scheduling methods to run a profitable outlet, and ends with an Outlet Menu Redesign and Cost Plan built on each participant's own restaurant.

Course Objectives:

• Build standard recipe cards and plate costs that set selling prices against a target food cost percentage
• Operate purchasing, receiving, stores, issuing and inventory controls that close the gap between actual and theoretical food cost
• Classify menu items by popularity and contribution margin and decide which to reprice, reposition, rework or remove
• Configure POS, reservation and table management settings to raise covers yield and produce reliable daily reports
• Plan banqueting, catering and coffee programme operations with costed function sheets and cup costs
• Produce an Outlet Menu Redesign and Cost Plan with food cost, labour hours and KPI targets

Target Audience:

• Managers responsible for the results of restaurants, cafes and all-day dining outlets
• Managers accountable for food and beverage cost, purchasing and stores across several outlets
• Managers who run banqueting, conference catering and outside catering operations
• Kitchen and service managers who plan menus, rosters and shift supervision
• Managers who oversee coffee shops and non-alcoholic beverage counters

Course Outline:

Day 1: Outlet Concepts, Organisation and the Outlet P&L

• Outlet Concept Canvas: Format, Cuisine, Price Point and Service Style
• Brigade de Cuisine and Front-of-House Organisation Charts for Outlets
• Outlet Profit and Loss Statement: Revenue Streams, Cost of Sales and Controllable Costs
• Prime Cost Calculation: Cost of Sales Plus Payroll
• Outlet Baseline Review: Covers, Average Check and Cost Lines

Day 2: Menu Planning, Standard Recipes and Food Costing

• Menu Planning Matrix: Balance, Seasonality, Kitchen Capacity and Station Load
• Standard Recipe Card Format: Yield, Portion Size and Method
• Yield Testing and Butcher Test Worksheets for As-Purchased and Edible Portion Cost
• Plate Cost Calculation and Target Food Cost Percentage Pricing
• Recipe Costing Spreadsheet with Ingredient Price Updates

Day 3: Purchasing, Receiving, Stores and Issuing Controls

• Purchase Specifications and Supplier Quotation Comparison Sheets
• Par Levels, Order Quantities and Order Guides by Supplier
• Receiving Procedure: Delivery Note, Weight Checks and Credit Notes
• Stores Rotation by FIFO, Bin Cards and Requisition-Based Issuing
• Month-End Physical Inventory Count and Cost of Food Consumed Reconciliation

Day 4: POS, Reservations and Restaurant Technology

• POS Configuration: Menu Item Setup, Modifiers and Kitchen Order Routing
• POS Sales Mix, Void and Discount Reports for Daily Control
• Reservation System Settings: Booking Slots, Turn Times and No-Show Policy
• Table Management Plans: Floor Layout, Section Allocation and Table Mix
• Inventory and Recipe Software Linked to POS Theoretical Consumption

Day 5: Week-One Case: Diagnosing an Outlet's Cost Problem

• Guided Case: Rising Food Cost in an All-Day Dining Outlet
• Actual Versus Theoretical Food Cost Variance Analysis
• Waste Log Review: Preparation, Spoilage and Plate Waste Categories
• Covers and Average Check Trend Interpretation from POS Data
• Week-One Findings Briefing and Cost Recovery Action List

Day 6: Menu Engineering, Beverage Programmes and Banqueting

• Menu Engineering Matrix after Kasavana and Smith: Popularity and Contribution Margin
• Menu Item Actions: Reprice, Reposition, Rework or Remove
• Menu Layout and Item Description Choices and the Limits of Sweet Spot Claims
• Non-Alcoholic Beverage and Speciality Coffee Programme: Drink Recipes, Cup Cost and Equipment
• Banqueting and Catering Operations: Function Sheets, Event Orders and Confirmed Guest Numbers

Day 7: Food Safety Oversight, Service Quality and Revenue Controls

• Food Safety at Overview: Hazard-Based Plans, Temperature Logs and Guest Allergen Information
• Outlet Service Standards Manual: Sequence of Service Steps and Timings
• Mystery Diner Audit Checklist and Scoring Method
• Cash Handling, Void Authority and Revenue Leakage Controls
• Supplier Performance Review and Product Rejection Records

Day 8: Team Scheduling, Supervision and Guest Experience

• Labour Scheduling from Forecast Covers: Staffing Guides by Meal Period
• Pre-Service Line-Up and Shift Briefing Structure
• Upselling Coaching for Service Staff Using Menu Engineering Results
• Dining Room Complaint Handling and Service Recovery Scripts
• Menu Change Communication Plan for Kitchen, Service Teams and Guests

Day 9: F&B KPI Analytics and Outlet Benchmarking

• F&B KPI Dashboard: Food Cost Percentage, Labour Cost Percentage and Prime Cost
• RevPASH Calculation: Revenue per Available Seat Hour by Day Part
• Covers Yield, Seat Occupancy and Table Turn Analysis
• Average Check and Spend per Head Benchmarking Across Outlets
• Banquet Revenue per Event and Catering Margin Tracking

Day 10: Capstone: Outlet Menu Redesign and Cost Plan

• Capstone Brief and Outlet Data Pack Review
• Menu Engineering Analysis Build for the Participant's Own Outlet
• Revised Recipe Cost Cards and Target Selling Prices
• Outlet Cost Plan: Food Cost, Labour Hours and Twelve-Month KPI Targets
• Menu Redesign and Cost Plan Presentation and Peer Challenge

Skills You Will Gain:

• Recipe Costing
• Yield Testing
• Inventory Reconciliation
• Menu Engineering Analysis
• POS Report Interpretation
• Covers-Based Labour Scheduling
• Banquet Function Planning
• RevPASH Analysis

Why Attend This Course:

• Return with an Outlet Menu Redesign and Cost Plan built on your own restaurant's menu and sales data
• Explain every point of food cost variance to owners and finance with evidence from recipes, stores and POS
• Spend two weeks moving from single controls to a full outlet plan, with a guided case at the end of week one
• Compare outlet practice with peers from hotels, standalone restaurants, contract caterers and coffee chains

Conclusion:

An outlet makes money when every dish is costed, every delivery checked and every shift staffed to forecast covers. Week one builds the controls: outlet P&L, standard recipes, purchasing, stores, POS and reservations, closed by a guided cost case. Week two adds menu engineering, coffee and banqueting programmes, service quality and revenue controls, team scheduling and KPI analytics such as RevPASH and average check. The capstone produces an Outlet Menu Redesign and Cost Plan for each participant's own restaurant.