The Food Production Process - Part 1

Purchasing:

The character of the product the resulting product cost begin with the purchasing of the raw materials. Although poor preparation practices may destroy the quality of a good product, good preparation practices cannot instill quality where it never existed. The best menu merchandising policies cannot compensate for purchasing that is not alert to new products, new markets, and new trends. And cost control cannot be wholly effective in production or service if buying is inefficient.
Buying must always be judged by its overall effectiveness and never by price comparison alone. An item’s purchase price is only as important as the item itself; it may be five cents less per pound or 15 percent cheaper by price but 30 percent more expensive in actual yield. The buyer should be interested in the lowest price only when the items are comparable in quality and yield. Good buying procedures provide a food operation with the products most suited to its merchandising policy at the most economical price.
“Buying” is not to be confused with “ordering”. Buying involves making decisions and setting policies about what products to buy and how to buy them, approving the vendors to be used and determining the frequency of the purchases and the quantities to be bought. Ordering is clerical activity which is done within the buying policy.
There are two approaches to commercial food buying: the needs of the operation and the availability of products in the market. When the food service operation is located at some distance from a food distribution point, the buyer may have to begin with what is available to him and make adjustments in the menu and preparation accordingly. When product availability is not a problem, the buyer first analyses the needs of the operation and searches out the products he needs. Most often, the products ultimately purchased are a compromise between need and availability. Whatever the approach, the food buyer should have some understanding of the market in which he/she is dealing.
(Next Part 2- Structure of the Food Market)