prime rib dinner

[BobbyT]

Does anyone here do a prime rib at their restaurant? I am thinking about doing a prime rib night and was wondering about pricing and portion amount. I will probably do a twice baked potato and side salad with it. Trying to get a general feel for this.

[Pit Boss]

Pricing will be a product of cost, cooked weight vs. raw weight, and portion size. If possible, the first 2-3 you cook, you should weigh before and after cooking to get an idea of average weight loss. Be sure to weigh the raw loin before you do any trimming. Then you can figure your cost of the cooked loin. The decision is yours as to what size steak you want to serve. I always went with a 10oz. cut, but some people like to dazzle folks with cuts up to 16oz. Once you decide on portion size it's just simple math to come up with pricing.

Steaks, for me anyway, were never a good profit maker. They cost too much, there was alot of waste in trimming, and you MUST watch those who are cutting the steaks in the back. USE A SCALE RELIGIOUSLY!!!

Most meats are market sensitive, but steaks seem to be very volatile alot of the time. I always tried to figure my menu price with a middle of the line rib loin cost. I've paid as little as $4.50 for rib eyes and as much as $8.80. I figure my pricing in between those costs. If you charge "market price" and figure the customer price for every individual case of beef you purchase, then you won't have that problem as you'll be able to cater the price to your exact cost. I know a couple of places that do just that.

Good luck.
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Somewhere in Kenya...a village is missing their idiot.

[marvsbbq]

Check with your supplier to get an "average" price (so you don't have to change prices each week).

You will also need to decide if you want to offer boneless or bone in. Most offer the boneless around here.

If you are looking to really draw your customers in, make sure you let your meat supplier know this so they can help you select the right choice to get the max profit so you don't have to charge an arm and a leg price.

Most places here offer a 10, 12 & 16 ounce steak. Some even cut it right at your table side for a real special effect.

Some taverns offer a prime rib night and offer a steak, baked potato and some kind of veggie for anywhere from $9.95 up to $12.95 in some places.

Reg restaurants run from $12.95 up to about $16.95. Then you have the "upscale" places that offer them from $14.95 up to about $19.95

I belive if you REALLY want to draw the people in....offer them a "NICE size" cut of prime rib at the BEST possible price you can do and see how that works for you.

What you don't want is customers coming in JUST for that "Friday night special" and not coming in any other time of the week.

[Harry Nutczak]

Quality beef is always hard to make a profit on;
the price fluctuates with the wind, and beef traditionally goes up in cost over the winter holiday season, and up again in the summer months but it is cheap as dirt in the spring and fall. if you charge what is required to get a decent cost ratio it is usually priced out of the range of what most people would pay. That loss can be made up on cocktails, other beverages, desserts, and appetizers though.
For instance;
A BBQ place with the bulk of it's items in the $7-$14/plate range may not sell too much ribeye at $26-$32/plate. re-heating a ribeye is not usually of the same quality level of one right out of the oven.smoker and then usually has to be sold as sandwiches for an even lesser amount

If I were going to cost out a rib-eye;
I would get an average raw weight, roast it until done, count the number of servings I could get from each finished roast and divide my raw cost by the number of servings so I would know what each serving cost me to put in front of the customer.

I could see ribeye being a 1-night per week special and being very successful profit wise, but just not an everyday thing. Maybe set it up as "Til it runs out" so you do not need to deal with leftovers, and keep it as a treat for your customers. Maybe offer that special on your slow days to get your check average up on those days.

Then we get into quality, The 'Rancher Select" looks real good on price, but the quality sucks donkey dong. Do you wnt world class prime rib, or just a decent chunk of beef on a plate to fill the most varocious appetite?
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Just remember that the toes you may step on during your climb to the top will also be attached to the a$$es you'll be forced to kiss on your way back down!

[Pit Boss]

I'll say this...when I did prime rib I bought USDA Choice boneless loins. We pealed them and cut the lip off. My menu called for a 10oz. Prime Rib and the price was $14.95...I wasn't getting rich fast at that price.

Say a 13# loin turns into 9# after prep and cooking. That loin cost me...say $5.85/#. I would have just over $76 in the loin. Portions for 10oz. steaks would yield me 14 cuts. That gives me a food cost of ~$5.40 per steak. Forget about a baked potato, salad, or any other sides you may serve with the steak. Let's use just the steak cost to figure our plate price.

A LOW markup factor is 3. Multiply my food cost of $5.40 x 3 = $16.20

A MEDIUM markup is 3.5. $5.40 x 3.5 = $18.90

A HIGH markup is 4. $5.40 x 4 = $21.60

If I used just the protein as my food cost (not adding in sides or condiments), I would certainly use the HIGH factor of 4 to make up the difference.

As you can see...I SHOULD have been charging $21+ for my 10oz Prime Rib. BUT WHO IS GOING TO PAY THAT?!? Some items must be price competitively. By charging $14.95 I was under the markup factor of 3, but the public was outraged even at that price.

Unless you are a steak only business, or if you sell alot of steaks, there isn't much profit in it. Not in my opinion...and I've been there & done that.
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Somewhere in Kenya...a village is missing their idiot.

[BobbyT]

I think from the sound of it I will skip the prime rib night.For now at least. I think I am doing better with my sales each week and that was mainly a panic option. I think for now I'll stick with the prime for the house. Thank you guy's for the quick response and the great advice as usual.

[Harry Nutczak]

[quote="cape_fisherman"]

A LOW markup factor is 3. Multiply my food cost of $5.40 x 3 = $16.20

A MEDIUM markup is 3.5. $5.40 x 3.5 = $18.90

A HIGH markup is 4. $5.40 x 4 = $21.60

quote]

To clear it up for those unfamiliar with determining proper foodcost ratio's;

Capes LOW markup of using "3" as a multiplier equates to a 33.3% projected foodcost

His Meduim markup of multiplyng by 3.5 equates to a 28.57% projected foodcost ratio

His High markup of using 4 as the multiplier equates to a 25% projected foodcost ratio.

If I really wanted to do a roasted rib-eye just to give the customers an option once in a while and I only wanted to break even on it (Just covering my costs and building popularity) I would use 2.5 as a multiplier for a 40% projected foodcost to figue the cheapest customer cost I could afford to do and not lose money on the deal.

So using Capes $5.40 per portion cost, I would need to charge $13.50 per a 10oz portion for the meat alone. lets figure the normal sidies with that, add it up and we still have a menu item that would be considered overpriced by many patrons.

The major problem with beef is that the market is almost as volatile as the oil market, and usually follows the gasoline prices in upwards trends.

This last fall I saw the cost of choice beef rib-eye double in price in one week, and drop down to it's previous level a month later. Even if an average cost is determined (most likely not without the aid of a fortune teller) you still have a high priced item that is very difficult to get customers to pay what you need to charge.

I am not trying to talk you out of offering beef, just backing up what Cape Fisherman stated previously.

What I did was put an item on the menu that stated "Steak Special" for $16.95, That was my "Give Away" item to get more of them in the door.
The first month I was able to serve a 16oz choice ribeye for that cost, then I had to switch to a 14oz Ny strip or a 20oz sirloin to meet my price-point for that item. I was able to keep a nice large steak on the menu, but the size and cut differed as the market rose and fell. And by offering a wood grilled steak, I was only cooking what was needed at the time of the customers order as opposed to cooking a whole roast and hoping it would sell. Beef will stay fresh and wholesome in the original cryovac package for almost 4 weeks after delivery, (7-8 weeks after slaughter) once that package is opened you got about 7-10 days to use it up or it will get funky. Minimizing bare hand contact and only cutting on sanitized boards with a clean knife will also help keep it nice and red instead of getting greenish-grey and stinky.

if properly smoked, you may still be able to serve a select graded or No-Roll ribeye and get a tender succulant piece of meat for a substantial savings and still make a few pennies on the item instead of just breaking even or showing a loss.
_________________
Just remember that the toes you may step on during your climb to the top will also be attached to the a$$es you'll be forced to kiss on your way back down!