This has also left a short supply of salad leaves available for the market and leaves, such as rocket and mesclun, are scarce.

Zucchini supplies have also been hit by the conditions.

Be alert as prices are sure to rise and that deliveries may be smaller than expected.

Best Fruit Buys
• Pears
• Pineapple
• Queensland Strawberries

Best Vege Buys
• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Beans

Cauliflower has decreased 15% and quality and supply are excellent.

Both regular and roma tomato supplies have improved. The price of tomatoes has improved accordingly.

Sweet potato prices have increased by 44%. Again this is due to limited supplies. Green capsicums have increased 10%.

Herbs such as parsley and sage have also increased in price with curly parsley up almost 30% in Queensland although NSW prices don’t seem to have changed.

Queensland strawberries are at market. They are excellent quality and taste delicious.

The grape season is now over but blood oranges are available for a short time. Pears are in season and good supplies are available at a reasonable price.

1. Create a new buffet/ function menu.
2. Enter how many people the menu is for.
3. Add as many recipes as you like.
4. Enter how many portions of each recipe you require. If you had a function for 100 people with two main choices, MenuCoster allows you to serve overs. So you could allow for 70 portions of each main.

MenuCoster will automatically calculate the cost of this menu and by entering a desired food cost, you can quickly see what you need to sell for to meet your desired profit margin.

You can even print recipe/costing cards and order lists our automatically scaled.

Both watermelon and honeydew have increased by 30% however rockmelons are a little less. Mandarins, pawpaw and lemons have decreased.

This weeks best fruit buys

* Pawpaw
* Mandarins
* Red Apples
* Valencia Oranges

This weeks best vege buys

* Caultflower
* Carrots
* Corn

While demand (predominantly international) continues to be strong, a significant fall in the Australian flock (approximately 40%) drives the prices up.

The only other country that exports as much lamb as Australia is New Zealand and you only have to make a fleeting visit to our Eastern cousins to see that their flock is also decreasing. Instead of the traditional paddocks full of sheep, the success of Fonterra has lead to many farmers converting to dairy cows.

The good news is both poultry and pork seem to have remained relatively stable.

The price of eggs has increased by 5%. Not a dramatic increase but as it doesn’t happen too often it warrants a note.

Better growing conditions have eased the pressure on herb supplies so you can expect them to be more readily available and a little cheaper.

Ginger is now available at around 5.00 from 14.00 last month. Red chillis have increased by 30% as have capsicums.

Take a photo of every dish and make it readily available. They say a picture is 1000 words and when your profit margin is at stake, those 1000 words are vital in maximising consistency in your kitchen. By photographing every item on your menu and using these on recipe cards, every staff member will be able to refer to this to ensure the item is produced the same each time.

Ensure recipes are documented using the easy to use measuring units. While a recipe that uses 60g of eggs is very accurate, it’s hard for a chef in a hurry to follow. Use logical units like we have available on MenuCoster e.g. “each” to make sure your recipes are easy to follow. When using units like this MenuCoster automatically displays the weight in grams also alongside.

Training new staff members becomes a breeze and this also sets a standard to be adhered to which can be easily enforced. Everyone will always know how items are to be prepared and how they should always look when plated or presented. Consistency in portion sizes means consistent profit. Portion sizes should never be changed without the chefs’ approval.