The success of your business is dependent on the quality of your food and service, but being good only at what you’re selling is not always enough to guarantee sustainability.

The bottom line is that your bottom line is a hostage to your skill in business. How adept are you (or can you become) at accounting for every penny to balance the books?

Having the ability to control costs to maximise profits is particularly important in the food service industry; an industry that attributes a high proportion of revenue to expenditure.

On average, food service businesses across the industry spent 52.5% (excluding rent) of total revenues on costs during the year ending September 2017, according to trade association UK Hospitality.

With profit margins thinning out progressively across a crowded market place, there’s never been a better time to review your costs to identify the potential for cost efficiencies.

To help you on your way, we’ve compiled our list of 20 top cost-savings ideas that could add up to some significant long term savings.

We’ve split our list of cost-saving strategies across seven main areas of your business to help you save money on:

• Food costs – They cost around 30% of total sales. We list 5 simple things you can do to reduce them.  

• Costs associated with your menu – Closely related to food costs, find out how you can balance your menu for savings now.  

• Labour costs – Sit alongside food as the most significant cost at around 30% of total sales. But there are ways to ensure that you get the most out of your labour spend.

• Costs arising from waste – The average restaurant could save £2000 per year if the amount thrown away was reduced by 20%. See 8 waste-saving strategies you could use now.

• Cost of equipment – Did you know that extending the life of the oil in your fryer has the potential to save you £3000 per year? Find out how along with other ways to increase the return of investment on your equipment.  

• Energy costs – Switching to LED lightbulbs could save you £6 per bulb per year. See lots of similar energy-saving tips here. 

• Rent and business rates – How to check you are paying the correct amount of business rates. 

Where possible, we have quantified the savings that could be made when one of the ideas is actioned so you can measure the benefits against your bottom line.