CRP Restaurant Operations & Staff Management 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A restaurant's prime cost (food cost + labor cost) is 68% of sales. Industry target for full-service restaurants is typically:
- Below 55%
- Below 60%
- Below 65% (Correct answer)
- Below 75%
Correct answer: Below 65%
Most full-service restaurant benchmarks target prime cost below 65% of sales to allow adequate margin for other operating expenses and profit.
Question 2: Which type of inventory method values remaining stock based on the most recently purchased prices?
- FIFO (First In, First Out)
- LIFO (Last In, First Out) (Correct answer)
- Weighted average cost method
- Specific identification method
Correct answer: LIFO (Last In, First Out)
LIFO assigns the cost of the most recently purchased items to cost of goods sold, leaving older purchase prices in ending inventory.
Question 3: An employee reports being harassed by a coworker. The manager's FIRST obligation is to:
- Counsel both employees to work it out between themselves
- Take the complaint seriously, document it, and report it per company policy (Correct answer)
- Wait to see if the behavior repeats before escalating
- Separate the employees by changing their schedules without documentation
Correct answer: Take the complaint seriously, document it, and report it per company policy
Managers are legally and ethically required to take harassment complaints seriously, document them, and follow established reporting procedures immediately.
Question 4: Which training method is most effective for teaching new servers proper tableside wine service technique?
- Assigning reading material from the wine list
- Classroom lecture on wine varietals
- Hands-on demonstration followed by supervised practice (Correct answer)
- Shadowing a peer server without structured feedback
Correct answer: Hands-on demonstration followed by supervised practice
Psychomotor skills like tableside service are best learned through demonstration followed by guided, supervised practice with corrective feedback.
Question 5: A restaurant introduces a new POS system. Which operational change is MOST likely to occur in the first two weeks?
- Immediate increase in check averages due to upsell prompts
- Temporary slowdown in service speed during staff adjustment (Correct answer)
- Reduction in food waste because of better tracking
- Automatic improvement in guest satisfaction scores
Correct answer: Temporary slowdown in service speed during staff adjustment
New technology typically causes a temporary slowdown as staff learn the interface, making training and floor support critical during the transition period.
Question 6: Which metric measures how efficiently a restaurant converts its seating capacity into revenue?
- RevPASH (Revenue Per Available Seat Hour) (Correct answer)
- Average party size
- Table turnover rate per server
- Covers per labor hour
Correct answer: RevPASH (Revenue Per Available Seat Hour)
RevPASH measures revenue generated per available seat per hour, accounting for both capacity utilization and the amount spent per seat.
Question 7: A sous chef consistently fails to update prep lists before leaving at 4 PM, causing the night team to over-produce. The best long-term solution is:
- Assign night team to create their own prep lists independently
- Add prep list completion to the sous chef's end-of-shift checklist with manager sign-off (Correct answer)
- Hire an additional prep cook to absorb over-production cost
- Document and terminate after the second offense
Correct answer: Add prep list completion to the sous chef's end-of-shift checklist with manager sign-off
Embedding the task in a signed checklist creates accountability and a verifiable record, addressing the behavioral gap systematically.
CRP Restaurant Operations & Staff Management 3
A restaurant's prime cost (food cost + labor cost) is 68% of sales.
Industry target for full-service restaurants is typically: