I can give you examples of where Panera are hitting 20% FC.
Their plain bagels price here in Canada is around $2.09 each. Cost in ingredients for a dozen bagels is less than $2 (.55 in flour, yeast, sugars, oil, egg for glaze ~$1. Total is $1.55/dozen or $.13 each. That around 6% food cost. Add another $.45 in ingredients and FC raises to 8%. Lower items like this will offset higher FC items.
Their full Steak and White Cheddar sandwiches are $15.09. They use tenderized round or sirloin for the meat, 6oz portions ($1.50), cheese 3oz ($.94), Ciabatta (.25), onion/sauce (.30). Total cost $2.99. Food cost is 19.8%.
I could go on with more. These raw product costs are here in Canada and reflect a mix of currant wholesale prices and retail. I do know that if you have 2100 restaurants all buying the same ingredients their costs will be much less as they deal directly with the manufacturers and just pay a food distributer to deliver. Maybe the US prices are higher?
20% food cost doesn't include waste, donations, theft ect. This is a calculation of raw cost. All other costs (waste, donations, theft ect) are factored in by themselves as a percentage of total sales. Before owning my own restaurant I worked for corporate restaurants and would train their management on food & labor costs and understanding P&L. My skillset is old-school. New thought in corporate is less on FC but rather on Gross Profit.
