Ryan Galiotto

Determining how much food should go on each plate at your restaurant can be difficult to determine. If you are part of a chain restaurant consider yourself lucky when it comes to this detail. You will have it already determined for you. That way customers who come to your location or another one can order the same item get it to taste the same and to be the same amount of food.

You have to be able to find the balance between giving them enough food and too much. You don’t want your customers leaving and still feeling hungry. You also don’t want them leaving a great deal of food behind that they didn’t finish. It isn’t always possible to take the remaining food home to eat later. Some of it just doesn’t taste good reheated either.

If your prices are high and you offer too much food it can be a disaster for your business. Many customers would rather get a regular size portion and a lower price to go with it. That way they can save money and eat enough to satisfy themselves. You can also offer smaller portions for children and for those adults who don’t eat as much as a normal person does.

Portion sizes are also a concern for customers. I took a friend to a Mexican food place once and she ordered two burritos. I had to laugh and then told her not to get two as one would be more than enough. They were huge and covered the entire plate. Yet she didn’t know this from looking at the menu.

It isn’t just the restaurant owner who has to be concerned about how much food will be on each plate. Customers really take an interest in this as well. It can be frustrating when you don’t order enough food because you assumed it would be more than it was. It can also be overwhelming when you get way too much food for you to eat at one meal.

Customers who frequent certain locations will learn what the portions look like. It will vary significantly from one restaurant to the next. This can make it difficult to eat at someplace new though. It is a prime reason why so many travelers look for chain restaurants. They know exactly what they will be given and the portions they can expect as well.

Determining how much food should go on a plate at your restaurant is important. You want to give customers a good value for the money they spend. You want them to leave happy and full of great tasting food. You also want to keep your overhead costs low so seeing piles of wasted food isn’t good.

If you are new to the restaurant business you may need to pay attention to the portion sizes at other places around. This is because what is a decent portion of food in one part of the country won’t be in another. All of this should be worked out before you open your restaurant so it won’t create issues for you.