Margin on takeaway meals with Debic
In these times, where the horeca industry must show its resilience, it’s extremely important to (know how to) make a margin on your takeaway dishes. Next to frequently mentioned tips on visibility on social media, ease of ordering through your website and the right photography, the margin on your dishes should be calculated carefully.
You should know the purchase and delivery costs of a dish in order to determine the right sales price. The following article will first give you an insight on how you can increase margins for the different components in a dish. After which, these tips are implemented in some takeaway recipes that you can try yourself.
By serving more vegetables and less meat or fish, you lower the purchase prices. Next to this, the demand for vegetarian dishes is growing. Besides its health aspect it is also much more sustainable than meat or fish. Respond to this by preparing vegetables as you would prepare meat and fish.
Products with a lot of carbohydrates and starch have traditionally been the basis of “the poor kitchen”. These ingredients are perfect margin makers, they have a low purchase price and fill the stomach very well. Think of the Italian cuisine, for example: pasta, pizza and the ‘cucina povera’.
Water
In most countries, the taste and quality of water is very good and not that expensive. Take advantage of this and consider, for example, the sale of homemade ice tea or popsicles.
Besides the fact that air is free, it also offers flavor. For example in the case of whipped cream, where air cells are surrounded by a film containing fat droplets. This provides the beautiful mouthfeel. The Debic whipped cream has a high overrun percentage and therefore more margin.
Make your work a lot more rational and prepare larger quantities in one go. This saves time and therefore money. Many products can be stored properly. Think especially of cream sauces and cream soups that you can freeze perfectly. The Debic cooking cream is freeze-stable and easy to regenerate.
Convenience plays an important role in today's kitchens. Personnel costs are the highest cost item for the entrepreneur. Debic has played an important role in this for years with our dessert range. Did you know our desserts are perfect for takeaway as well?
Seasonal products are always the right choice. Not only in terms of taste, but also the price of seasonal vegetables is lower. Dried products can also offer enormous benefits. Take a look at Asian cuisine where the use of dried fish and mushrooms as seasonings are widely used. You save a lot of money by purchasing these products at the Asian supermarket.
Finally, analyze your menu and actions. Check regularly what can be done more efficiently, and whether it can be done cheaper without having to compromise on your quality. Consider, for example, your routing in the kitchen and of course your delivery route.
How to implement these tips in a recipe
The demand for vegetarian meals is increasing. The shelves in the supermarket with meat alternatives are becoming more extensive and the products are getting better. This is because many people still want to experience the mouthfeel of eating meat. As chefs, we can respond to this by offering a recognizable and healthy alternative to meat or fish. Pure vegetables is the answer! By treating them like fish or meat. Such as pre-cooking them sous-vide or steaming them like with these vegetable cutlets. This way you can ensure they are done and you get the convenience of being able to bread them well.
Discover our recipes here
A trend that is here to stay. How to define street food? Originally these are often dishes that were sold in street carts or food trucks. Typical for these dishes is that they are easy to prepare, you will not need much equipment to prepare them, they are easy to transport and they can be consumed on the go. Maybe the most important factor is that these dishes serve as soul food for the consumer, something very needed in the times we are currently in. Below you can find three examples of recipes that fit all the criterias.
Carnitas taco
Forget about pulled pork, carnitas are the pulled pork 2.0. This essential taco of Mexico is one of the most important dishes of the country. Why? Because it’s utterly delicious, easy and cheap to prepare.
Wafu pizza & pasta
Wafu is the Japanese interpretation of western style foods, and is very popular there. In this case pizza & pasta. Easy to prepare, highly profitable and as with all Japanese food utterly delicious.
Mentaiko pasta
Mentaiko is the Japanese word for cod roe that has been infused with red peppers. In Europe we love different types of fish roe from flying cod to the more luxurious sea urchin & caviar. We don’t see cod roe that often on menus, but it’s an ingredient that gives a deep sea flavor to your dishes. Different from the texture of sea urchin & caviar, but more sustainable in terms of price with a delicious end result. The Food cost for this pasta is lower than 1 euro per portion and could be a profitable dish to try out on your menu.
Want to find more culinary inspiration for a new dish or menu? Discover our recipes. Developed by and for professional chefs.
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