CPFS Cost Control 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which scheduling approach best controls labor costs during periods of unpredictable customer volume?
- Fixed schedules posted four weeks in advance
- On-call or flexible scheduling based on forecasted sales (Correct answer)
- Scheduling maximum staff every day to avoid shortfalls
- Hiring only full-time employees to avoid overtime calculations
Correct answer: On-call or flexible scheduling based on forecasted sales
Flexible or on-call scheduling allows staffing to align with actual demand, minimizing labor cost during slow periods.
Question 2: What is the primary risk of using a FIFO inventory rotation system incorrectly?
- Increased storage costs due to excess ordering
- Older product remains in storage and may spoil before use (Correct answer)
- Vendors are paid out of sequence
- Labor costs increase due to restocking time
Correct answer: Older product remains in storage and may spoil before use
If FIFO is not followed, newer stock gets used first while older product sits at the back and eventually spoils, increasing food cost.
Question 3: A foodservice operation's revenue per available seat hour (RevPASH) is used to measure:
- Average food cost per guest
- Revenue efficiency relative to seating capacity and time (Correct answer)
- The number of seats occupied during peak hours
- Total revenue divided by number of employees
Correct answer: Revenue efficiency relative to seating capacity and time
RevPASH measures how effectively an operation generates revenue from its seating capacity across time periods.
Question 4: Which of the following is an example of a variable cost in foodservice?
- Equipment depreciation
- Manager salary
- Cost of food ingredients (Correct answer)
- Building insurance premium
Correct answer: Cost of food ingredients
Food ingredient costs rise and fall directly with the number of meals produced, making them a variable cost.
Question 5: A manager discovers that the receiving clerk has been signing invoices without verifying quantities. This violates which cost control principle?
- Menu engineering
- Separation of duties (Correct answer)
- Perpetual inventory management
- Contribution margin analysis
Correct answer: Separation of duties
Separation of duties requires that the person ordering, receiving, and paying be different individuals to prevent fraud and errors.
Question 6: What does a declining sales mix percentage for a high-margin item indicate to a foodservice manager?
- The item should be removed from the menu immediately
- Guests are ordering it less frequently relative to total covers, reducing overall profitability (Correct answer)
- The item's food cost has decreased
- The item has become more popular than other menu items
Correct answer: Guests are ordering it less frequently relative to total covers, reducing overall profitability
A falling sales mix for a high-margin item means fewer customers are choosing it, which reduces total contribution margin and hurts profitability.
Question 7: Which action should a foodservice manager take first when food costs spike unexpectedly at month end?
- Immediately raise menu prices across the board
- Review receiving records, portion logs, and waste reports to identify the source (Correct answer)
- Cut all discretionary spending until the next accounting period
- Terminate the most recently hired kitchen employee
Correct answer: Review receiving records, portion logs, and waste reports to identify the source
Investigating records first identifies the root cause—whether purchasing, portioning, waste, or theft—before taking corrective action.
CPFS Cost Control 5
Which scheduling approach best controls labor costs during periods of unpredictable customer volume?