Some vegetable prices have fallen significantly this month, however some suppliers are struggling with quality. There are a few ingredients that are increasing in price but you should see a reduction in vegetable costs
overall.

Vegetable prices decrease across the board
The price of cauliflower has fallen by 33%, Lebanese cucumbers are over 15% cheaper and cos lettuce is down 11%. Brown onions are down 15%, desiree potatoes are 18% cheaper, pontiac potatoes are 19% cheaper and Roma tomatoes are down 16%.

Green capsicums are 22% cheaper than last month, but red cabbage is up around 10%. Avocados are down 25% from last month.

Be aware of increases in the price of spinach, silver beet, dill and
coriander, which continue to rise due to poor growing conditions. Ginger has
jumped again, this time by 130%! Medium tomatoes and golf ball tomatoes are both up by approximately 20%. Of particular note is the increase in the
price of broccoli of around 90%.

Berry prices increase
The cost of berries has jumped with blackberries and raspberries increasing
by over 50%! Blueberries and strawberries are also 15% more.

Exotic fruits such as mango, figs, papaya are all steadily increasing in
price. The exception is rambutan which is down to about 39.00 per case,
compared to nearly 50.00 last month. Rock melon has become 20% more
expensive, while the increase in honeydew is only slightly more moderate.

Although the cost of gala apples has increased, granny smiths are becoming cheaper. Bananas are approx 15% cheaper and grapes are very good value. The price of black grapes has fallen by over 40%.

Lemons and Limes are both cheaper this month.

Meat prices stable
We have not yet experienced any significant changes in the price of meat.
However Meat and Livestock Australia are forecasting that the high price of
lamb will continue, due to high overseas and domestic demand. The beef
market is still weak so it is not expected that prices will increase
dramatically in the foreseeable future.

How to change your menu for maximum profitability
Youd be surprised how often I see a restaurant change a menu by changing
the whole thing! This must be one of the worse ways of going about this.
Lets face it, the reason youre in business is to make money right? Once a
menu has been running for a period, it is a good time to analyse your sales
and profit of each item. It is through this refining and analysis that
profitable items can be established.

When analysing a menu there are two things you require remember that amazing till system with all the bells and whistles and reports? Thats the first part. You need a sales report of each item on your menu over a period, so you can see how many of each item has sold. The second thing is a list of your cost and sell prices for each item, from which we can work out the gross profit (sell price minus cost price).

If we line these up on a graph in excel with the sales on one side and the profit of each item on the other we can quickly see which items are selling and have a high gross profit. Now, guess which ones are the ones you keep for your new season menu? Of course, the ones which sell well and have a high profit are items you dont want to lose. Obviously if an ingredient was going out of season you would need to look at changing that, but otherwise, lets leave them alone!

Items on the other axis (selling well but not very profitable are a
different story. Can we increase the price and keep the sales high? Perhaps
adjust the ingredients or portion size to make them more profitable?

That brings us to the items which are not selling but are very profitable.
Really these are the ones taking up that fridge-space and being thrown away at the end of the week. Id recommend removing these ones unless there is an obvious way to make them sell.

Lastly are the items which are neither profitable nor popular.

Best to remove these ones. And there we have it a new seasons menu which should be the most profitable and popular ever! Let me know if you need a hand with this or require an excel template.

See MenuCoster at Fine Food Queensland next week!
Dont forget Queensland Fine Food is on between 21st and 23rd of March.

We'd love to catch up so come and see us on stand number A17

This weeks best buys

• Black grapes
• Pink (Ruby) grapefruit
• Valencia oranges
• Brussel sprouts
• Desiree potatoes
• Swede

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Gareth and the team at MenuCoster