Foundations of Cost Control

For courses in Culinary Cost Control.

Cost Control: A Fundamental Approach inspires students to learn cost control as an essential skill for any future chef or foodservice manager. Students begin by mastering key culinary math basics, making subsequent cost control equations easier to understand and compute. Balancing real-world industry challenges with cost control theory, the text covers topics such as recipe costing and sales price determination, purchasing and storeroom control, labor control, revenue management, and income statements and budgeting. Throughout the text, author Daniel Traster encourages students to think critically about the material, promoting a deeper understanding of cost control.

Chapter 2, “Basic Math,” gets students up to speed on math.

• By taking the time to learn basic math skills first, students will find the text’s subsequent equations much easier to use and compute.
• Students can spend the rest of the course focusing on cost control content without getting bogged down with simple math calculations. 

Coverage begins with cost control material critical to cooks, then that relevant to purchasers and chefs, and finally to the content essential for senior managers and owners.

• Students learn cost control in the order in which they would naturally experience it in the industry.

The text covers cost control concepts using straightforward, easy-to-understand language.

• Students learn complex college-caliber content that would otherwise be incomprehensible. 

Students are provided balanced coverage of theory with real-world examples.

• Helps students understand how to apply theory to the real world, so they see how relevant and important cost control is to their future careers.   
• The text discusses many of the most recent advances in technology available to today's cost control managers—from POS systems to smart phones. 

The text provides comprehensive coverage of the ACF cost control competencies.

• Meets the needs of any ACF accredited program and does not sacrifice comprehensive coverage to ease student learning.   

Each chapter is fortified with learning features to help ensure students master the material.

• Each chapter opens with a list of objectives that provide students with an outline of key concepts to be covered.
• Math examples and answers embedded throughout the chapter explain the mathematical equations provided in the text, so students can see how those equations are applied.
• Numerous figures and charts illustrate complex content.
• Comprehension questions test student learning to ensure that they have mastered the chapter material sufficiently to apply it to mini case-studies and questions. 
• Discussion questions at the end of each chapter ask students to go beyond traditional equation application and fact regurgitation. The discussion questions do not necessarily have a single correct answer but rather invite students to share their insight and opinions on complex cost control challenges. These types of questions aid an instructor who wishes to challenge students to a deeper understanding of cost control.
• Discussion questions also foster classroom interaction and group learning.  
• End-of-chapter summaries recap each chapter’s essential elements.  

The author provides a balanced approach to the use of technology in the classroom.

• The book teaches students culinary cost control math, so they understand the conceptual foundations of cost control, while the teacher's manual provides Excel spreadsheet activities, so students can gain some practice on computers.
• This dual approach allows teachers to determine the level of computer activity to present based on the school's facilities.