Is Your Restaurant Losing Money by Making Fresh Pasta In-House?

While making fresh pasta in-house can seem cheap, you have to consider other, non-monetary factors when it comes to your restaurant turning a profit. You have put a value on your restaurant’s time, training for employees and resources. If you do not have some or all of these components when making fresh pasta, you could actually be losing money.

Time

Making fresh pasta can be a time-consuming process, as the ingredients have to be mixed into dough, the dough has to be kneaded, which then has to be rolled and cut, all before the pasta has to rest. Unless your restaurant has a specific pasta artisan whose only job is to make the pasta, this could take time away from your talented sous chef who is trying to make money for your restaurant in other ways. Plus, fresh pasta made in house is the number most “86” product of a restaurant. Keeping up with the quantity needed for every night service is always an issue.

Training

When considering the process of making fresh pasta, it could be a good idea to implement a training program to teach your employees how to make this specific product. If the recipe or the process is improperly executed, it is possible that the pasta would not turn out well. If that is the case, then you could lose customers due to the lower quality of food. So if you do not opt for a professional artisan or a training program in order to make high-quality pasta, it is possible that you could lose money in the process.

Resources: Tools and Space

Along with having the knowledge of making fresh pasta, you also need the proper resources. In order to make a high-quality product, you will need the proper tools. An example of these tools would be a pasta extruder, which can be a costly item to buy and maintain, if you were to purchase a high-end product. However, a pasta extruder is not the only tool you would need to buy, and depending on the caliber and amount of tools you purchase, it could be a while before your restaurant breaks even on the investment.

Space is another resource that you would need in order to make fresh pasta. If you chose to produce fresh pasta in house, you would most likely need more space then anticipated to ensure the best quality. Most restaurants don’t have this space readily available, so it is possible that you would have to build on to your store, or take space from other areas, in order to have the room you would need to make fresh pasta.

When your restaurant starts the process of adding fresh pasta to the menu, weigh your options. Buying fresh pasta from a reputable local vendor will most likely be the most efficient and economical choice.

If you are looking for a more cost-effective and reliable source of fresh pasta, check out our wholesale options and give us a call today!