Restaurant Operations

 Week 8

Choose one topic about the restaurant operations you’re interested in and explore more information about it. 

The topic I chose to explore is employee recognition. This is an immensely crucial aspect of back-of-the-house management since it inspires employees to work hard and, in the end, produces consistently better food for the customers in a positive work atmosphere. McDonald's, a global corporation, is well known for its multifaceted approach to employee recognition, which honors and rewards workers for their contributions.

McDonald (2024) developed a mature system called Employee Stars to motivate employees. The stars contain four important training fields including Quality, Cleanliness, Service and Operational Excellence. Each star is awarded once an employee demonstrates a clear understanding and application of operating tills, preparing products, and maintaining hygiene and safety standards. Having all four stars signifies that an employee has achieved high competence in restaurant operations.

 

 

Apart from Employee Stars, McDonald's has also obtained recognition programs such as Employee of the Year. It is an annual award open to nominations from across the business. Winners are celebrated with a special event and meet senior leadership. Ray Kroc Award is the most prestigious award for high-performing employees, and it rewards a trip to the McDonald's worldwide convention and a cash bonus. The winners will be recognized as achieving exceptional operations in many areas (Jurskye, 2023).

 

Furthermore, the awards for global McDonald's staff are very authoritative. The Presidents’ Award only honors the top 1% of staff globally who embody McDonald's values. The Circle of Excellence Award recognizes cross-functional teams that demonstrate an enterprise mindset. The Shining Light Award celebrates individuals living McDonald's values daily, with over 2,700 nominations received in 2024 (McDonald, 2025). The above recognition programs are integral to fostering a positive work culture at McDonald's, ensuring employees feel valued and motivated.

 

 

 

Research on how restaurants do their forecasting and food cost control process. 

In order to maintain probability in such a competitive industry, successful restaurants must rely on accurate forecasting and efficient food cost control. Forecasting helps predict customer demand, manage inventory, and optimize staffing. Standard forecasting techniques include time-series analysis, moving averages, and regression analysis. These analyses are based on historical sales data such as guest counts, average check amounts, and sales by meal period while accounting for factors like seasons, weather and local events (Unknown, 2014).

However, food cost control is equally critical for a restaurant. The average food expenses of restaurants are about 20 and 40% (McCann, n.d.). The majority of restaurants aim to maintain food costs between 28%–35% of their total expenses. Important tactics include negotiating lower prices with suppliers, managing inventory to avoid overordering, optimizing the menu to highlight high-margin items, and reducing waste with methods like portion control and standard recipes.

There is an eight-step approach to food cost control that restaurants often follow: purchasing, precise ordering based on demand forecasts; pricing, setting menu prices that cover costs and generate profit; receiving, verifying quality and quantity of goods; storage, proper storage to maintain quality; issuing, manage ingredient distribution; food production, optimize cooking processes; portioning, standardize portion sizes and cash collection, ensure accurate billing. This process ensures efficiency from start to finish.

Despite the existence of the methodology, execution can improve as time goes on, and we will have access to more available resources. While traditional forecasting relies on manual methods like spreadsheets, there is growing interest in using AI and machine learning to improve accuracy and streamline operations. By combining data-driven forecasting and disciplined cost control, restaurants can reduce waste, improve efficiency, and enhance their bottom line.

 

Find out the updated trends about restaurant operations

First, there is a trend of increasing takeout and delivery. Fueled by technology and lifestyle changes, contemporary citizens are more willing to dine at home conveniently. Therefore, many restaurants now may focus more on off-premise dining. Meanwhile, ghost kitchens are rising in number. It refers to restaurants without dining spaces that only offer delivery, flexibility, and cost efficiency. Ghost kitchens are proliferating due to the high demand and expensive rent in Hong Kong.

However, the irreversible labor shortages in Hong Kong have caused the industry to face exacerbating difficulty in hiring and retaining skilled kitchen staff, thereby increasing the importance of employee recognition and training. Consequently, the paramount importance of technology integration has encouraged more restaurants to use cloud-based POS, innovative kitchen display systems, and mobile ordering apps to reduce human involvement.

In addition, the expectations of customers attend an unprecedented level. With advanced technology, consumers now demand faster service, transparency in sourcing and more digital payment options. Meanwhile, there is a stronger emphasis on hygiene, especially post-pandemic, with mandatory certifications and stricter sanitation protocols in food safety. Sustainability is also one of the areas that customers are concerned about. Eco-friendly packaging, waste reduction programs, and locally sourced ingredients are becoming standard expectations.

 

 

Reference list

Jurskye, K. (2023, October 5). Understanding the power of Recognition. Inclusive Employers. https://www.inclusiveemployers.co.uk/blog/understanding-power-of-recognition-mcdonalds/ 

McCann, K. (n.d.). How to Calculate Food Cost Percentage with a Food Cost Formula. TouchBistro. https://www.touchbistro.com/blog/how-to-calculate-food-cost-percentage/ 

McDonald. (2025, March 7). Congratulations to our 2024 global staff awards winners. https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-stories/article/congratulations-2024-global-staff-awards-winners.html

McDonald. (2024, July 12). What do the McDonald’s employee stars mean and how do you earn them? https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/help/faq/what-do-the-mcdonald-s-employee-stars-mean-and-how-do-you-earn-them.html 

Unknown. (2014, November 5). Restaurant operations-how restaurants do their forecasting and food cost control process. Hospitality Management. https://hehehe3304.blogspot.com/2014/11/how-restaurants-do-their-forecasting.html