A high food cost percentage tells you to investigate. It does not tell you what went wrong. Start by checking that inventory, purchases and sales cover the same period. Then trace the difference to items you can count, invoices you can verify and kitchen practices you can observe.
Avoid assigning the whole gap to waste, portioning or theft. Keep each possible explanation open until the records support it. Price changes, recipe assumptions and count errors deserve a check alongside what happened in the kitchen.
Choose a closed period and save the reports used to calculate food cost. Confirm the treatment of transfers, supplier credits and deliveries around the count cutoff with whoever maintains your books.
For the items you want to investigate:
Restaurant365's inventory count review documentation, checked September 22, 2026, calls for current transaction data and investigation of count differences before approval. Use that same discipline when reviewing your own records, whatever system holds them.
If the count is wrong, correct it with a record of who checked it and why. Keep a data correction separate from a change that reduced future food usage.
Start with an item whose records you can trace. Compare what arrived, what remained and what the kitchen recorded. Ask the receiving manager to check the invoice against the order and delivery. Ask the kitchen manager to review the recipe and how portions were prepared.
Use a short review sheet:
Keep recorded waste separate from an unexplained inventory difference. Nory's waste reporting guide, checked September 22, 2026, distinguishes logged food loss from stock variance. A lower waste log total alone is not evidence that less food was wasted.
Review sales mix before assuming that the same food cost percentage should hold every period. Check the items sold and their recipe costs. Do not attach lost-sales dollars to an unavailable menu item without evidence of what guests would have bought.
Give the manager a concrete action: correct a pack conversion, verify a supplier charge, check a portion tool or change a prep quantity. Record who owns it and when the result will be reviewed. Recheck the same item using comparable records.
Keep an identified discrepancy, a requested credit and an issued credit as separate statuses. They represent different stages of the work.
Marty's paid Cash Recovery Plan starts with agreed access, scope and fee. Optional ongoing managed follow-through can be discussed separately. Bring the records behind the percentage so the review can focus on what can be verified.