Excerpt
The second edition of the
Fundamental Principles of Restaurant Cost Control has been "kicked up a notch" with the addition of Paul F. Magnant as coauthor. Paul was one of my many students in the hospitality management program at Florida State University back in the 1980's. He served as the department head and assistant professor of hospitality management at Johnson and Wales University, Norfolk. We ran into one another at the annual hospitality educator's conference in the summer of 2002. We had not seen or talked in over 15 years.
He had come to this conference with the intention of getting me to autograph the bound course packet of articles I put together as a supplemental text for my class on cost controls at FSU. He had kept them for over twenty years and told me he referred to them often when he was in the industry and now as an instructor. He then said the words that when uttered to a college professor will absolutely leave them speechless. Paul said something that went like this. "I just want you to know how much I appreciate what you taught me in your classes. I did not fully appreciate it at the time I was a student, but as a manager and restaurant owner, I finally grasped the practicality of what you said in your lectures and these notes when I put them to use on the job. They restored a financially troubled restaurant to profitability and this success did not go unnoticed by my employer. It helped me earn a significant promotion and several pay raises." He further went on to tell me that he had used these materials to train countless managers and chefs under his guidance throughout the years. Many of them have gone on to very successful careers as restaurant general managers.
Hearing comments like this from a former student gives an instructor, whether he or she is teaching management or culinary, a feeling that is best described by words like validation, fulfillment, absolution, and justification. As a restaurateur who turned to teaching, I have been able to walk the talk with my students, colleagues, and consulting clients. It is a myth that "those who can't do, teach." When a graduate of a hospitality or culinary program has a successful industry career, their former teachers take pride in knowing they provided some of the knowledge used for an objective and critical review of operations. Fortunately, we get to take some of the credit for that success and find great satisfaction in the possibility that we might have made a difference. When a former student validates that thought in their own words, it is the most sincere form of flattery to an instructor. Thus was the case with me when Paul expressed those thoughts.
Over a cup of coffee, we talked and caught up on what had transpired in the fifteen years since we last spoke. The conversation turned to my cost control book and that I needed to write a second edition. I also mentioned that I wanted to write it primarily for culinary schools and asked for his input because Paul has taught hundreds of students in the area of cost controls. The more we talked, the more I felt that Paul would be an excellent co-author for the second edition. Paul brings his experience as a foodservice manager and entrepreneur into his classes. That, along with having earned his ACF certifications, has added an additional credential and point of view that helps make this version better than the first.
Thus we both set out to make the second edition of this text even more practical and helpful to both the student and the instructor. The text contains twelve chapters ranging from general cost controls to financial analysis. We introduce cost control from a "systems perspective." It covers all the important aspects of restaurant cost control stressing food, labor, and beverage cost controls. We have expanded the chapter on Menu Sales Mix Analysis and have included a CD program of Cost/Margin Analysis, developed by Pavesic. It is a most practical and easy to use tool for analyzing both your food and beverage sales mix. With this software, you will find it easy to use spreadsheets that analyze almost any menu. This will position you to manage your menu to maximize your profit potential. End of chapter problems that can be solved by using Excel spreadsheets are indicated in the text with the spreadsheet accessible on the enclosed disk. Excel supplemental products (