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Essay / Labor Cost Case Study - 1167
Labor costs fall into two categories: fixed costs and variable costs. Fixed costs refer to the salaries of core or permanent staff and the variable costs of hourly or casual staff. Labor costs are the highest costs in food and beverage operations. On the other hand, food costs are called variable costs. Controlling labor costs is therefore fundamental to increasing revenues. Additionally, reducing the cost of food will increase revenue and make the business more sustainable. Since labor and food costs are well above the industry average, we will provide long-term solutions to reduce them. 2.1 Labor cost Controlling labor costs starts from the hiring process and we can refer to task 1 to prepare for it. We could also think of the training programs also covered in task 1. The following solutions could then be implemented: 2.1.1 Cooking methods The use of certain cooking techniques such as Refrigerated Pasteurized The main principle is, from the setting up, first cook at a temperature (82°C) higher than the pasteurization temperature (72°C), fill and double-seal the liquid or semi-liquid in a dedicated plastic bag then cool quickly through the danger zone (5-60°C) and finally store the product at low temperature (0-2°C). This production method allows the product to be preserved for a period of 14 days. The benefits in terms of labor cost savings are a reduction of up to 90% since cooking liquid or semi-liquid foods on a daily basis is avoided, thereby reducing the work to be done. Even untrained personnel could simply open the plastic bag and heat the liquid without any supervision. Sous-Vide: provides another alternative to extend the shelf life of the product, such as in the hot filling process. The product is first vacuum-packed before following the same cooking, cooling and storage process described above. Again, unqualified personnel can serve dishes prepared sous vide. The product must not be fragile and