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Is That Chicken or a Garnish?
When Protein Portions Quietly Destroy Your Margins
5/28/20251 min read
We lost over $120,000 in one month — and nobody noticed.
One day procurement said:
“We ran out of chicken! Why have you consumed 1 week’s chicken in 3 days?”
Then finance reviewed and asked:
“Why does it look like we’re feeding first class chicken breast in economy?”
And the chef answers:
“It is the spec”
Here’s what happened:
The airline chefs developed a stunning new dish. Juicy chicken, elegant plating — it looked great in the photos.
But once it landed on Commercial’s desk…
“Too expensive. Cut 20 grams of chicken.”
So, the weight was trimmed to fit the budget.
Then it reached production.
What they saw on the tray looked just wrong!
The protein looked like a pigeon wing. The vegetables towered over it.
So, what did the kitchen do?
They started over-portioning — not to rebel, but to fix what felt wrong.
Nobody wanted to plate something that looked like it belonged in a CHML.
The Hidden Cost
20g of extra chicken × 25,000 meals/day = 500kg/day
At $8/kg, that’s $4,000/day, quietly escaping
$120,000/month, all unapproved, all invisible
What We Changed
· Chefs now cost recipes from Day 1 — no photo without grams
· Commercial signs off also on visuals, not just costs
· Production gets a visual standard — if it doesn’t look right, it gets addressed properly
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