# kitchen management resources



## steph001 (Dec 20, 2011)

Hi, I've been a cook in the culinary industry for a while now. I'd like to educate myself in more the office side of the business. 

to become comfortable if I ever get a manager job, or start my own business.

I tried to look and research on youtube for very good tutorials. I've found some but short clips.

  I know how to food cost recipes, I've never ordered food, or entered inventory numbers.  (participated in counting inventory)

never did the start of month, end of month inventory and sales calculations, as part of a job ( i understand the concept) and downloaded excel templates.

does anyone know good websites or youtube channels that explain everything straight to the point. 

plus I need to start applying these and practicing them. 

thanks


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## mikefromzim (Jan 10, 2010)

Try this website, I use it quite a bit for all my office work.

http://www.chefs-resources.com


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## steph001 (Dec 20, 2011)

Thanks mike, I have used that one, I read a lot of articles and downloaded many excel templates. its a good one.


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## chefboyog (Oct 23, 2013)

If your area has a tourism association they may offer classes.

For instance I am " TCS", tourism certified supervisor. It gets you thinking.

CCC designation is a lot of business. I haven't taken it but have looked at some of the material, its meant to be business sided.

A College it University level business undergrad or certificate program is always a good option. I am 3 courses ( core business) and about 6 electives from an Undergrad that will never materialize. 

There are a lot of resources Im sure in your library or bookstore if you just want sone general reading.

Practice food costing. 
Practice Practice Practice

Write recipes. Then cost them. Freehand with a pen not software. Software is all the same but different, i. E if you take over a kitchen you wont know what they are using but the fundamentals remain all the same.

It is an acquired skill. You use it or loose it. Formulas. Memorize food pricing and seasonal trends.


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## chefboyog (Oct 23, 2013)

Just looked at chef resources. Com

Site doesnt look too good on my iphone, might run better on cpu I'll never know. Maybe they need a mobile version.

I looked at a fridge temp chart. Its honestly pretty ugly, could be fixed up easily enough I guess.
http://www.chefs-resources.com/file...h-department-forms/Walkin_Temperature_Log.png




  








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chefboyog


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Dec 3, 2014








Im just picky about posting things permanently that are not formatted well.
Dat
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!!

Just being picky I'll look at that site again sometime.

Take a course in using Excel, that will help in the long run. Formatting. Hard to do if you don't know how to use it. Loop errors, nightmares are made if these.


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## steph001 (Dec 20, 2011)

I've been slowly learning 'Cal" from open office. with free internet pdf's and youtube vids. I made a food cost recipe master copy from scratch. and made a weekly food menu, for camp work with drop down cells that have different options for soups, starch, veg, protein option,,, ect 

plus I made a spread sheet of what I needed to order based off of 1 week.    i have a template of monthly inventory I need to play around with , start entering a make believe bussiness


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## chefboyog (Oct 23, 2013)

Whats " Cal"?


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## steph001 (Dec 20, 2011)

it's open office's version of excel.   its the same exact thing


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## chefboyog (Oct 23, 2013)

I see. Good, excel is great.

https://www.menutools.com/

Is very good. Can save a company a lot of money and headaches. Souped up excel really.


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## steph001 (Dec 20, 2011)

here is some stuff I wrote to get a clearer picture of the kitchen manager tasks I know and or need to work on. 

1. schedule staff ( done on a excel sheet, depends the type of operation)  -I've made a excel template.  

2.Tracking labor cost of the work week. ( I've made an excel sheet, with employee names and pay rates for each , with over time additions if needed. )

3. ordering food + keeping track of food credits + scheduling delivery times (I've never ordered food, but I assume that suppliers have software , e.i. GFS...  our your company provides a software, )

4.adding invoices/food purchases into excel.   ( I've made a excel template)

5. Inventory sheet counting  -end of month-  ( I've never entered inventory numbers in software,, but I've participated many times in counting inventory, using the shelve to sheet method. )   to enter numbers in excel I need the vendors food prices,

6. End of month food cost percentage ( I understand how to do it once all the numbers are in, inventory #, sales#, ect...   I've just never done it as part of my job.  but I have a good excel template  from chef-ressources.  ) 

7. hire and train staff ( I've never done it but I think I could)

8. payroll, and pay bills. ( I've never done payroll, but I know I could pay bills. )  I amuse payroll is done by software??? if your company doesnt have accounting department.

9. Create menu items and cost them. ( I know how to cost a recipe and i'm resourceful to think and create new food items. 

is there anything else I need to know.  apart from little things like , staff conflict, ect....


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## beachchef22 (Oct 19, 2011)

Hi Steph,

     There are numerous excel spreadsheets out there to be found, some free, the better ones, NOT....It looks like you are finding your way like I managed to do....Teaching yourself Excel.....lol....While rather daunting at first, it really doesn't require that much knowledge before you are able to create some really productive foodservice-related spreadsheets.  One tip I'd offer.  The more you learn, the less inclined you'll feel that you have to use the online spreadsheets you find.  I began, after a while to look at those as a means to gather ideas on how I wanted to create my OWN spreadsheets.....Basically, 6 years in now, I don't have to look anymore...I simply create my own files based on what I want to organize.  I've even started on database design, which is different, but not really much harder than excel......The best thing about our profession is that there can only be so many types of spreadsheets...lol...We have a given range of information that we're required to master and keep track of...Some of us are required to keep track of MORE stock, some LESS......but that's about it....Get a good, solid food cost card template, create your own inventory spreadsheet.(I've divided mine up into departments, ie...Frozen, Dry storage, perishables, etc),  I printed mine out and laminated them...You are bound to add items from time to time....but that's what a dry-erase marker is for.  It just saves printing those sheets every time inventory rolls around...The rest are things like schedule templates, food waste/spoilage sheets, etc...simple spreadsheets....I'd be happy to help if you have any questions....good luck!!

Tony


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## seabeecook (Aug 23, 2008)

Steph ... It sounds like you're on the right track. Over the years, I've developed a series of Excel spreadsheets that help me track my expenses, budget, etc. The type of reports that you need depends of the segment of the industry you're in. Restaurants generally track food cost, labor cost, etc., as a percentage of gross income. However, in non-commercial food service (institutions), food cost is usually accounted for via cost per person per day. At my camp, where I work from May to August each year, the camp director gives me a weekly budget based on expected camper reservations. (He who gives also takes away!) I don't track labor as closely as a restaurant chef, although I do know what each employee costs the camp.


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## theages (Feb 7, 2010)

FYI The form posted by @chefboyOG now has a new url (address) on the same site. We recently updated our navigational structure so the new address to the same content is located here:

http://www.chefs-resources.com/kitchen-management-tools/food-safety/food-service-safety-forms/


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