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Portion Control At Your Restaurant

By Patricia Farnham

How much food should you serve your customers at your restaurant? This can prove to be a very tricky question but one you need to deal with. Unless you are serving foods with a chain that have given you the specifications, then you will need to determine it on your own. There is no right or wrong answer but you need to do your homework. You want to be able to offer your customers what they will be happy with.

You want to be able to offer enough food for the customers to be full when they leave. In fact, most will say that portions are so big that they either over eat or the end up wasting a great deal of food. Some will ask for a box to take it home but not everyone is going home so they can't benefit from eating the leftovers at another meal.

If your prices are high and you offer too much food it can be a disaster for your business. Many customers would rather get a regular size portion and a lower price to go with it. That way they can save money and eat enough to satisfy themselves. You can also offer smaller portions for children and for those adults who don't eat as much as a normal person does.

Sometimes it can be offset by taking the leftovers home though. If you can get an addition meal out of it then it can help to justify the cost. Yet not everyone is going home after they leave the restaurant so boxing up the rest isn't always going to work. Help out your customers with small appetites too by offering some smaller portions on the menu.

It isn't just the restaurant owner who has to be concerned about how much food will be on each plate. Customers really take an interest in this as well. It can be frustrating when you don't order enough food because you assumed it would be more than it was. It can also be overwhelming when you get way too much food for you to eat at one meal.

Pay attention to the plates of food of others sitting around you. This will give you a very good indication of what you can expect on your own plate. You can also verify it with the wait staff. They should be able to explain to you just how much food a particular menu on the item will have.

How much food you offer is an issue you really need to take a close look at before you get ready to open or to set your prices. It is one of those details that most of us don't think about unless we are a part of such a business. Make sure you compare what you are thinking of offering to other restaurants in the area. You want to be comparable so that your customers will be happy.

More isn't always what customers are looking for though. Many who like to eat out want to be healthy as well. They want a well balanced meal that is satisfying so the quality is the most important thing to consider. You can help keep your prices down for food items too if there isn't a great deal of it being wasted.

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