Knowing how much to cook?

Question

I always had a passion to start my own restaurant. One of the dilemmas i am facing and none of the books that i have read about the restaurant business mentions this, is that how would i how much to cook or a certain dish? For example, a lasagna, if i were to make a huge dish and only sell some or not sell at all, it means the rest is wasted. How do the restaurants prevent wasting food and saved it for a day two and still be fresh?

Answer 1

At most of the places I've worked, there is a huge amount of waste, no matter what you do.  You might have to make a huge lasagna and half of it might go to waste, but that's just gonna happen sometimes.  

The least wasteful way of cooking that I've seen so far was at a Mexican restaurant.  Why?  Because you can use the same ingrediants for multiple dishes.  Shredded cheese, lettuce, tortillas, tomatoes, sour cream, jalapenos, chicken, beef...eight seperate ingrediants, but you can make nachos, burritos, tacos, salads, etc from them very quickly.  Plus, you can make each plate individually and lower your risk for waste!  It's easier to replace one container of shredded cheese than an entire lasagna!