CCC Menu Planning & Kitchen Management 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A restaurant's food cost percentage target is 30%. If a dish costs $4.50 in ingredients, what should its menu price be?
- $12.00
- $13.50
- $18.00
- $15.00 (Correct answer)
Correct answer: $15.00
Menu price equals food cost divided by target percentage: $4.50 / 0.30 = $15.00.
Question 2: In menu engineering, an item with high popularity but low contribution margin is classified as a:
- Dog
- Puzzle
- Plowhorse (Correct answer)
- Star
Correct answer: Plowhorse
Plowhorses sell well but earn little per sale, so they are candidates for repricing or cost reduction.
Question 3: Which scheduling approach best controls labor cost while maintaining service quality during fluctuating business volume?
- Fixed 8-hour shifts for all staff
- Letting staff choose their own hours
- Scheduling maximum staff every day
- Staggered shifts based on forecasted covers (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Staggered shifts based on forecasted covers
Staggering shifts to match forecasted covers aligns labor hours with actual demand.
Question 4: A cycle menu is most appropriate for which type of operation?
- A fine-dining tasting-menu restaurant
- A food truck at festivals
- A hospital or institutional foodservice (Correct answer)
- A pop-up dinner series
Correct answer: A hospital or institutional foodservice
Cycle menus rotate on a set schedule, which suits institutions serving the same guests daily.
Question 5: When calculating a recipe's cost, the yield percentage of raw produce is used to determine the:
- As-purchased (AP) weight
- Menu selling price
- Labor cost per portion
- Edible portion (EP) cost (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Edible portion (EP) cost
Dividing AP cost by yield percentage gives the true edible portion cost after trim loss.
Question 6: Which practice most directly reduces food waste in a production kitchen?
- Cooking the full menu in bulk each morning
- Preparing all items to order without any prep
- Ordering extra product as a safety cushion
- Producing to par levels based on sales history (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Producing to par levels based on sales history
Par-level production tied to sales history matches output to demand and minimizes overproduction.
Question 7: A chef notices the walk-in cooler is at 45°F (7°C). What is the correct first action?
- Lower the thermostat and wait until tomorrow
- Discard everything in the cooler immediately
- Check and log the temperature, move TCS foods to a working unit, and call for repair (Correct answer)
- Ignore it since the door was recently opened
Correct answer: Check and log the temperature, move TCS foods to a working unit, and call for repair
TCS foods must be kept at 41°F or below, so protecting product and documenting the issue comes first.
CCC Menu Planning & Kitchen Management 2
A restaurant's food cost percentage target is 30%.
If a dish costs $4.50 in ingredients, what should its menu price be?