| |
Commissioned by The British Frozen
Food Federation (BFFF) and conducted
by the Manchester Food Research
Centre (MFRC), a new ‘cost
comparison’ study concluded it was
more cost effective for foodservice
establishments to buy in prepared
frozen alternatives, rather than
manufacturing identical dishes on site.
In nearly all cases during the research,
dishes made to a duplicate recipe
from scratch cost more than 24 per cent
more than their frozen counterparts.
This rose to 66 per cent with more
labour intensive dishes which
involved a high skill level.
Colin Rodgers, technical project
manager at the Manchester Food
Research Unit, said: “On the whole
the study considered it was more
cost effective to buy readymade
frozen alternatives than manufacturing
the food fresh from ‘scratch’,
particularly the more labour
intensive dishes which involve a
high skill level at a considerable cost.”
Brian Young, director general of the
BFFF, commented: “We have long
known that frozen offers a better
value option for the caterer. We
now have independent research
to statistically support this belief.”
The research revealed:
Mixed canapés cost 66% more
to make from scratch than their
frozen counterpart
Profiteroles cost 65% more to
make from scratch than frozen
Lamb shanks cost 27% more to
make from scratch than frozen
Strawberry cheesecake cost 24% more
to make from scratch than frozen
Mr Young added: “In this tough
economic climate there is a compelling
business case for using frozen food.
Buying frozen will save money because
of competitive and stable food prices,
the ability to control portion sizes and
wastage, plus the opportunity to cut
kitchen labour costs. This will help
businesses reduce their overheads,
produce more accurate pricing
models and protect their profits.”
|
|
|
|
