Cooking By the Numbers

Convenience products are pushing scratch cooking out of the noncommercial kitchen

By Margaret Sheridan, Senior Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, 5/1/2003

For years, soups at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., were made from scratch. So popular were the signature menu items that one cook earned the nickname “Soup Queen.” Seminarians consumed 60 gallons a week, a respectable amount for the 800 enrolled, according to Deborah Kuehl, director of foodservice. “Dining was pretty homey and family-like. Customers connected soups, other foods and baked goods with specific cooks.’’

Though such sentiment remains, scratch-made soups do not. Challenged by rising labor costs over the past few years, all school departments were asked to control expenses and work more efficiently. Soup making and baking, the most labor-intensive kitchen activities, faced elimination. To pare costs, Kuehl switched to more prepared products. By using ready-to-serve soups, she saved two hours daily in ingredient prep, dishwashing and cooking.

The introduction of a self-service soup kiosk with two choices delighted students, who found it was fun and more time-efficient to serve themselves. And no one remarked about a change in quality.

“Ultimately, it didn’t matter,’’ says Kuehl. “How many mothers these days make everything from scratch? The customer has changed.’’ So has food technology, she learned, after finding many excellent prepared products on the market.

SAVING HOURS
Kuehl’s experience is not unusual. As foodservice directors face pressure to reduce costs and staff and to increase efficiency, they’re accepting the convenience and discovering the benefits of prepared products.

Luther Seminary’s switch allowed Kuehl to reduce four full-time chef positions to one. For special occasions, cooks make tortes, cookies and coffee cakes from recipes. Kuehl recently introduced presliced deli cheeses and luncheon meats and prebaked muffins. An added value of the latter is consistent quality. “The quality of house-made muffins depends on who is making them. Baking requires certain skills. If a cook forgets pepper in a soup, it’s easy to correct. But if batter is overmixed or baking powder is misused, you could end up wasting product,’’ she says.

SIGNS OF THE TIME
In many noncommercial foodservice operations, where skilled labor can be in short supply, cooking and baking entirely from scratch is a memory. Few operators mourn its passing. The abundance of quality prewashed produce for salad bars, sized and sliced meats and cheeses, and an array of prepared soups, baked goods and entrées result from advances in food technology, says H. David Porter, a foodservice management consultant from Crofton, Md.

“The promise of reduced labor costs often triggers the switch [to buy prepared foods],” he says. “Smart operators take advantage of timesaving products, using staff and hours more efficiently. An operator might save money by [breaking down] his own meat or baking everything in house, but can they afford time to train employees? Can they even find trainers?’’

NUMBERS GAME
In 2001, Peggy Kearns spent months analyzing recipes and studying new food products. Then director of food and nutrition at 250-bed Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, she faced major financial and staff cuts. Food-budget reductions exceeded $100,000, while staff headcount was trimmed to 64 from 107.

Complicating Kearns’ budgeting was a long tradition of house-made items. Until 1994, all vegetables were processed on site, with baked goods made from scratch. She gradually introduced convenience items, approved by taste panels, and calculated savings in cost reductions. New products minimized waste and produced better portion control.

Kearns saved $1,500 on labor by switching from house-made Swedish meat patties to precooked meatballs. Buying precooked 3-ounce burgers rather than forming hamburgers in the kitchen sheared $1,000 from staff costs; precooked meatloaf requiring only reheating banked another $1,000. The switch from brewed ground coffee to freeze-dried granules saved $195 a month on coffee and $315 a year on coffee filters.

SHELL SHOCK
At the University of New Hampshire, Durham, budgets and customer preferences influence which convenience products are used and when items are made from scratch, says Cheryl Krantz, bakery manager.

Pizza is a favorite with the college’s 12,000 students, and buying bulk pizza shells for $1.36 each is cost-efficient. The commissary kitchen tops them with sauce and cheese while cooks in the dining halls and retail units finish the pizzas with fresh toppings. Sales run 100 daily at an average cost of $2.62 each.

Though Krantz tried frozen cookie doughs and batter products, the time and labor required to make scratch cookies is worth it, she says. On average, the bakery produces 300 dozen weekly, with a dozen different batters providing impressive variety. “Cookies are one of our signature items; they reflect on our reputation,’’ Krantz says. And in another move away from prepared product, her cost analysis of submarine-sandwich rolls prompted a switch from commercial to scratch. The school uses 1,000 rolls a day, and Krantz discovered that her kitchen could produce rolls at 13 cents each versus premium prepared products costing $1.20 per roll.

Last fall, she introduced proof-and-bake doughs for Danishes, scones and turnovers. Quality and taste win praise, and so does product versatility. Cooks customize the doughs with fillings, glazes and flavors, and students like the aroma and texture of a warm product, Krantz says. In addition, the doughs offer portion and waste control because cooks use only what is needed for that service.

By adding more convenience products and consolidating some cooking and baking responsibilities, she cut four full-time positions yet maintains kitchen efficiency and menu variety. In fact, the second baking shift often pitches in to make salads, sandwiches and fruit cups for grab-and-go counters.