More Than Leftovers: The True Cost of Croquettes
Understand the importance of including labor costs in your cost breakdowns and how it can affect your profit margins.
In a traditional cost breakdown, prices and quantities of raw materials that make up a dish are typically recorded, which is crucial for business management. However, two fundamental elements are often omitted: energy costs and labor costs, with the latter being a limited resource.
If we don’t include these costs, we might make inaccurate statements, such as “croquettes and broths are super cheap because they are made from leftovers of other preparations.” It’s true that the ingredients of a croquette are inexpensive and offer a good profit margin, but doesn’t it take the staff several hours to bread them?
To set a profitable price for a portion of croquettes, it is essential to consider this cost. Depending on the recipe and the breading pace, labor can be more expensive than the product itself.
Are we suggesting buying croquettes instead of making them in-house? Not necessarily, but we must consider all the necessary resources. Perhaps it is more profitable for you to invest in a breading machine, and you don’t know it yet.
Deciding between buying or making in-house depends on several factors:
1.How much does it cost me to do it with my own resources?
2.Do I have accessible suppliers who offer the quality I want?
3.Does it leave me a good profit margin?
4.Is it important for the identity of my business?
A crucial part of managing a kitchen is precisely this: deciding whether to use internal or external resources for each task, considering the above factors.
Nowadays, with the availability of all kinds of products, you can buy or make almost anything, from butter to spherifications.
Peeling tomatoes is one of those tasks that can significantly increase your cost breakdowns. That’s why we want to share a video with you showing the most productive way we know to do it. Don’t miss it!
