To help restaurant managers identify and eliminate extra food expenses, Cornell's Center for Hospitality Research has released a set of free training materials, "The Eight-Step Approach to Controlling Food Costs" by J. Bruce Tracey.

The information includes a trainer's manual, a participant's guide and a self-assessment workbook.

"I designed this program so that managers of all types of restaurants can use it. Each step builds on the previous one, so that the manager can gain full control of food costs," said Tracey, an associate professor of management at the School of Hotel Administration. "The key point of this program is to involve all employees in watching for waste and controlling costs. This is the most effective way to make sure that food costs don't get out of hand."

Using handouts and exercises, the program helps participants gain expertise in each of eight steps of food-cost control -- ordering, pricing, receiving, storing, issuing (handing out linens, cutlery, and other items for staff to use during their shift), producing, portioning and collecting cash. The training program also explains the critical step of how to enlist all employees in the effort to control food costs.

Exercises include how to determine the cost of each item in a recipe, how to store food properly (and identify storage issues) and how to ensure proper cash control. Once the program is complete, participants work with their supervisors to improve daily operations based on the cost-control principles that they have learned.