After losing one of your best prep cooks 2 months ago, you finally get someone hired to replace them. The new person is good. You have had your staff train them over the last couple of weeks and business is good. You notice they are a little heavy handed when making the salads, but overall, customers are happy.

Just when you thought you could get back to focusing on the operation side of things, there is an unseasonably cold week and a freeze in California! Your lettuces and strawberries have almost doubled in price, and the produce rep says this will likely be the case for a few months until the market can recover.

What are you likely to see over the next one to two months as far as food cost?

Is there anything you can do to help?

What specifically can you do?

When should this be done?

How do you ensure that changes you make will not only help the operations of the business, but also keep your customers happy?