14 Jul Reduce Prep Work & Increase Profit Margins with Pre-Cut Foods
In the kitchen, time equals money. Restaurant operators need to cut back on any activity that isn’t directly increasing profit margins, and prepping is a major one. Programs like Cheetah Just-In-Time (JIT) enable restaurants to buy prepped food, significantly reduce prep work and focus back-of-house activities on the things that matter most.
To help you get started, here’s a quick overview of how JIT works and of the top-selling products to increase profit margins at your restaurant.
Prepping Food is Costing You a Lot of Money
Experienced restaurant operators know that the time involved in prep work is costly. Precious hours of every shift go toward peeling, parboiling and reducing sauces, in addition to constantly labelling and tracking expiration dates. And it doesn’t stop there. Washing dishes, sanitizing surfaces and dealing with waste can all be reduced.
Even if you buy pre-made basics like frozen french fries, onion-rings and chicken tenders, or all sorts of breads and confectionery, your prep cooks are still burning through those billable hours.
Get What You Need Just in Time
With JIT, restaurants upgrade their operations to a fully prepped kitchen with products that save time and money.
Cheetah has partnered with best-in-class local food producers to create customizable pre-cut produce, seafood and meal kits that save hours of work and pounds of waste. JIT offers 100% usable products with zero waste, pre-cut to your specs. It has no minimum orders and is available directly through the Cheetah app for Android and Apple.
From the same digital Cheetah platform that allows you to order produce and supplies, you can now order a wide variety of prepped foods.
7 Ways JIT Increases Profit Margins
JIT was created to help restaurants increase profit margins. Here’s how it works.
- Cost effective. Pre-cut foods are slightly more expensive than non-prepped produce. But it’s pennies compared to the back-of-house salary that goes toward prepping those products.
- Save Space. JIT significantly reduces storage space, allowing restaurants to either opt for a smaller place or use their existing space more wisely.
- Demand planning. Having a steady supply of top-quality prepped food is the best way to adjust to changing demand. Instead of over-purchasing and worrying about expiration dates, only buy what you know your customers will order.
- Reducing Waste -Reducing garbage means less time handling it and less waste management supplies. Here’s how JIT helps reduce waste:
- Storage loss: food thrown away directly from storage because it perished, lost its quality or was damaged;
- Preparation loss: food discarded during preparation and cooking; and
- Overproduction: excess food which was prepared but never served.
- Better portion control. Consistently precise portioning allows restaurants to optimize in-stock fill rate and output more consistent portions.
- Optimized menus. Excessive waste and lost prep time can be symptoms of overly extensive and over-portioned menus. Using JIT prepped food helps restaurants focus their menus and reduce overall ingredient count.
- Finer food for higher profit margins. Once your cooks’ workload is reduced, they will be free to do their real job – creating tasty food. This will be reflected in your guests’ satisfaction, increased number of orders and ultimately higher profits.
Top 3 Products on JIT to Save Time & Money
Check out the top trending prepped foods ordered by restaurants on JIT:
- Atlantic Salmon (SKU 200078), 10 lb pack of perfect 6oz portions. These fillets are skin-on, PBO (pin bones out), and have great plate coverage. Of course, they are pre-cut, ready to cook, super fresh and require zero prep or waste.
- Complete Hamburger Sets (SKU 200619). 18 full hamburger sets, complete with green leaf lettuce tomato, red onion and pickles.
- Shredded Lacinato Kale (SKU 200595), 4 or 2.5 lb packs. With an outstanding shelf life and consistent crunchy quality this kale is perfect for salads, slaws, or sauteing and of-course, a classic minestrone.
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