The Real Reason Food Cost Goes Sideways (It’s Not What You Think)

Food cost problems rarely come from pricing alone — here’s what really drives COGS out of control in foodservice operations.

Everyone thinks food cost issues come from:

• Vendor prices

• Inflation

• Higher SKUs

• Portion sizes

Sure — those matter.
But the real killers?
Training. Waste. And inconsistency.

I’ve walked into kitchens where:

• Yields are guessed, not measured

• Line cooks portion “by feel”

• Prep cooks do things 4 different ways

• Nobody tracks waste or over-prep

• Specials use 10 new ingredients nobody ever touches again

You can’t cost your way out of that.

The Fix

Stop looking at the invoice.
Look at the kitchen.

• Standardize recipes

• Train yield accuracy

• Track waste daily

• Build smart cross-utilization

• Simplify prep

Fix those, and your margins return — quickly.

Final Thought

Food cost isn’t a math problem.
It’s a systems problem.