2. The Project: Buffet costing audits and F&B analysis
We completed two detailed costing audits: one on the breakfast buffet and one on the hotel’s VIP level tapas offering. These followed ongoing monthly beverage and food stocktakes already performed at the site.
The buffet includes inclusive drinks and snacks throughout the day, while the tapas level buffet operates during peak evening hours.
Breakfast for VIP guests also includes premium items such as salmon and honeycomb. The client needed cost-per-eater calculations, COS% analysis, product movement insights, and trend comparisons to ensure revenue covered the cost of the upgraded offerings.
Venners’ team collected, analysed, and interpreted the data, providing operational recommendations and professional insights that allowed the hotel to make small but impactful adjustments.
3. The Results: Instant insights and operational clarity
Although the engagement was recent, the hotel group gained:
- Immediate answers on buffet profitability – understanding whether revenue aligned with food costs.
- Operational insights – identifying overstocked products and high-cost items with low consumption.
- Waste reduction potential – projected £56k annual breakfast overproduction savings and £11k end-of-session waste reduction.
- Easy wins – substitution of high-cost items like hash browns saved an immediate £5k.
- Professional benchmarking – insight into how other hotels manage similar offerings.
4. The Future: Long-term support and optimisation
Following these audits, the hotel decided ongoing food stocktakes were no longer required, satisfied with the data collected. Venners continues to provide monthly beverage stocktakes and remains a trusted partner for operational advice and cost management.
The insights gathered also set the foundation for future optimisation of buffet offerings, ensuring a balance between guest experience and cost control.
In addition, the hotel has since engaged in more support with our newly introduced Stock Excellence Workshops, designed to further enhance staff capability and maintain strong stock control practices.
Want expert support with F&B costing, buffet audits, or stock control for your hotel or hospitality group? Complete the form on this page, or learn more about our consultancy services here.