10 Tips for More Profitable Portion Control

Jun 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Bob Oros, CSP, CMC

Consider a breakfast serving line that serves two slices of bacon per person and 400 servings per week, or 40,000 slices per year. Keeping in mind that an 18/22 bacon has 300 slices per box, that represents 133 cases for the year.

A 22/26 slice count has 360 slices per box and would mean 111 cases for the year.

Why deal with all that grease?
The theory behind precooked bacon is, first of all, no grease. This saves on clean up as well as freight, keeping in mind that bacon is 50 to 60 percent fat. For an operator using 75 pounds of bacon per week, that means over one ton of grease that has to be removed per year.

Another advantage is no broken slices, which saves on waste. Precooked bacon only takes one minute to cook, making it an excellent product for a sandwich shop as it can be put in a microwave. And because it's pre-cooked, there's much less chance of accidentally overcooking a batch, reducing the likelihood of waste. It also has a long shelf life and very seldom will spoil. To compare the price, find the price of a 15 lb box of 18/22 slice count, which will also have 300 slices.

BONUS TIP!
Taking the squal out of ham prices
The terms we see on the ham labels all have specific meanings. Cooked means the internal temperature has been brought up to 140 degrees. Fully cooked means the internal temperature has been brought up to 148 degrees; and Baked means both that the internal temperature has been brought up to 170 degrees and that it was cooked in dry heat.

The term Smoked means it was exposed to smoke generated from hard wood. If the label says “liquid smoke,” it means that smoke flavor has been added. Sugar Cured means the sugar used had to be at least 50% cane or beet sugar.