Article: Just as you pay rent, utilities, etc. on the same date each month, you should calculate your food cost based on a regular time period. You should analyze your inventory at the same time every week — perhaps every Sunday, either before or after the kitchen opens. Always take inventory outside of business hours, so no food is being delivered or being cooked. ” On the day that begins your “fiscal week” — Sunday, in our case — do a thorough inspection of all the food products in your kitchen. It's important that you're as accurate as possible, so look at your receipts to see how much you paid for each food item. For example, you may have paid $48 for 35 lbs. of frying oil, of which 5 lbs. are left at the beginning of the fiscal week. Calculate exactly how much that 5 lbs. of oil is worth at the opening of your inventory period: ($48 ÷ 35 lbs.) = (X ÷ 5 lbs.) When you solve for X, you see that you have about $6.86 worth of frying oil at the beginning of the fiscal week. Repeat this calculation procedure for every food item you have. Add up all the sums to determine your opening inventory — the dollar amount for the food in your kitchen at the beginning of the fiscal week. Throughout the week, you will order more food supplies as necessary, based on what's selling best on your menu. Keep all purchase receipts neatly organized in your office so you know exactly how much you spent on food purchases during the day. Repeat the process outlined in Step 2. This will give you a number that serves two functions: it is the opening inventory for the next week and the “ending inventory” for the current week. You now know how much food you started the week with, how much you bought, and how much you ended with. At the end of each shift, the restaurant manager should calculate total sales. Look at your sales reports for each day of the week and add them up to calculate your weekly food sales. In Part 1 of this article, you calculated your maximum allowable food cost as a percentage of your total budget. Now, you need to calculate what percentage of your budget is actually being spent on food. When you compare those two percentages to each other, you can see whether you're spending too much money on food to keep your business afloat.  To calculate actual food cost, complete the following equation: Food Cost % = (Beginning Inventory + Purchases – Ending Inventory) ÷ Food Sales. For our example, let's say Beginning Inventory = $10,000; Purchases = $2,000; Ending Inventory = $10,500; Food Sales = $5,000 (10,000 + 2,000 – 10,500) ÷ 5,000 = 0.30 = 30% In the example, there is a maximum allowable food cast of 25%, and an actual food cost of 30%. This indicates that the person is spending too much money on food cost to reach a target profit of 5%.  Adjust your purchasing every week to keep your inventory in check. You want to bring down your actual food cost to a percentage at or below your maximum allowable food cost. Keep in mind that this calculation can go wrong if you counted items incorrectly during inventory, counted and input units differently than the inventory pricing (such as by counting 10 cans of tomatoes, but being charged by the case for that item), are missing the invoice for a product you counted in the inventory, or having an invoice processed for a product that you do not have (such as a returned item).
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Choose a date that will begin each weekly assessment period for you. Determine your “opening inventory. Track your purchases. Take inventory again at the beginning of your next fiscal week. Find out how much you made in food sales during the week. Calculate your actual food cost for the week. Compare your maximum allowable and actual food costs.
Article: Before you decide whether you want a child, take a look to see if you’re healthy enough to have a child. If you have a chronic condition, be it physical or mental, ask yourself, “How might this impact my child as I get older?”  Meet with your doctor. Let them know, “I am considering having a child, and I want to know if my health might have any long term impacts on my ability to parent.” Women must also be aware that certain biological factors may impact how likely they are to get pregnant, as well as how likely they are to carry the pregnancy to term. Ask your doctor for a preconception visit to evaluate any potential complications that may come up during your pregnancy.  If you have a history of anxiety, depression, or other mental health complications, meet with a mental health professional and let them know, “I want to have a child. What impact could my mental health struggles have on me as a parent?” You don’t need the whole quarter of a million in the bank before you have your kid, but you should make sure that you are able to meet your child’s foreseeable financial needs for the near future.  First, make sure you can afford the time off work. If paid parental leave is not a part of your benefits program, make sure you can afford reduced income for the amount of time you or your partner will take off after the child is born. Look at healthcare costs. Once you decide to have a baby, you and your partner are going to have to start paying for the expectant mother’s medical care, which may range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars depending upon insurance programs and care received. You are also going to have to take care of any medical complications the child may experience after birth, and add the child on as a new insurance dependent. Consider how much it will cost to supply a new baby. Cribs, baby clothes, car seats, and other objects all come with a price, and items like diapers and baby food represent a recurrent expense that may add tens to hundreds a month in expense.  Look into the cost of daycare as well. This may be necessary if you cannot afford to let one partner stay home with the baby while the other partner is at work. If you plan on being a working parent, now is the time to think about where your career is going. Meet with your boss to discuss current and near future plans for your company and your position, and ask yourself:  Does your job require long hours or a lot of travel? Are you working on a major project that might require excess time or attention? Would having a child result in excess childcare costs due to career obligations? Does your company offer paid parental leave or other benefits for new parents? The bulk of raising a child falls on the parents or guardians, but a good support system will benefit both the parents and the child in the long run. Look at your friends, family, and colleagues and ask yourself if you see them having a positive impact on your child’s life.  Look for people who are not only willing to offer emotional understanding, but who will actually help with matters such as babysitting and housekeeping in order to ease the transition into parenthood. If you do not have an integrated support system already established, ask yourself if you have the financial means to hire support staff such as nannies or housekeepers.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Get a check-up. Check your bank account. Meet with your boss. Evaluate your support system.