QSR Venture Development — Module 2

TOURM 3xx — QUICK-SERVICE RESTAURANT (QSR) VENTURE DEVELOPMENT

MODULE 2
Recipe Standardization & Prep/Line-Build SOPs

Duration Weeks 3–5 (9 hours)

Standardize recipes and prep/line-build SOPs with accurate costing, CCPs, and
Course Outcome
holding standards.

Delivery Mode Kitchen laboratory, costing workshop, HACCP briefing

Module Learning Outcomes (MLOs)

By the end of this module, students will be able to:

5. Write standardized recipes (yield, weights/measures, plating spec) for every menu SKU.
6. Cost each recipe to a target food-cost percentage using an ingredient cost sheet and portion control.
7. Build a prep list and line-build (assembly) SOP that sequences mise en place to a target cycle time per order.
8. Identify Critical Control Points (CCPs), critical limits, and time/temperature holding standards for each menu
item and apply corrective-action logic.

Content Outline
The topics below expand the module's content outline into teaching content for kitchen-laboratory and workshop
delivery. Each topic feeds directly into the corresponding learning activity.

2.1 Standardized Recipe Cards

A standardized recipe card is the single source of truth for how a menu item is produced, so that any trained crew
member reproduces the same product, yield, and cost every time. In this module, every SKU carried over from Module
1's menu board must be converted into a recipe card before it can be costed or sequenced into a line-build SOP.

• Yield — the exact number of servings or portion units a batch produces, stated so that scaling the recipe up or
down is a simple multiplication.
• Weights vs. volume measures — dry and protein ingredients are specified by weight (grams/kilograms) wherever
precision matters for cost and consistency; volume measures (cups, tablespoons) are reserved for liquids and
items where weighing is impractical on the line.
• Plating/portion photos — a reference photo showing exact portion placement, garnish, and container fill line, so
that visual consistency is trainable without relying on verbal description alone.

2.2 Recipe Costing: Ingredient Cost Sheets and Yield Loss

Once a recipe is standardized, it can be costed. Recipe costing translates the ingredient list into a peso figure per
portion, which is the foundation for both pricing and food-cost control.

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An ingredient cost sheet lists every component of a recipe with its as-purchased (AP) cost — the price paid per
kilogram, liter, or unit as bought from the supplier — and, where trimming, peeling, or cooking loss applies, its edible-
portion (EP) cost, which is always higher than the AP cost because it accounts for the usable yield after loss.

Yield or trim loss is calculated as the percentage of an ingredient's original weight lost during cleaning, trimming, or
cooking (e.g., peeling calamansi, trimming chicken, reducing a sauce). The EP cost formula is AP cost divided by yield
percentage. Students apply this to every ingredient with meaningful loss so that the recipe cost sheet reflects real, not
theoretical, ingredient consumption.

The target food-cost percentage is the ceiling set in Module 1's unit-economics work; every recipe's theoretical plate
cost is checked against this target before the item is finalized for the line.

2.3 Menu Item Costing: Theoretical Plate Cost vs. Selling Price
Theoretical plate cost is the sum of all EP-costed ingredients in a single serving, including garnish, sauce, and any
packaging component that is item-specific (a branded sleeve, a special lid). Dividing this figure by the item's selling
price gives the item's actual food-cost percentage, which is then compared against the target set for the concept.

Items that land above the target food-cost percentage are flagged for one of three corrective paths: reformulate the
recipe (adjust portion size or substitute a lower-cost ingredient without compromising the brand's quality standard),
renegotiate sourcing (find a better AP price or a make-vs-buy switch from Module 1), or reprice the item if its role on
the menu (hero vs. anchor vs. add-on) can support a higher price point.

2.4 Prep List Design and Batch-Prep Scheduling

A prep list translates the full standardized-recipe set into a daily production plan: what needs to be prepped, in what
quantity, and by when, so that the line has everything it needs at open without over-producing perishable components.

• Par levels — the target quantity of a prepped item that should be on hand at any point in service, set from
expected volume and adjusted by day-part or day-of-week demand patterns.
• Prep-ahead items — components with stable shelf life once prepped (sauces, marinated proteins, chopped
vegetables with longer hold windows) that are batch-prepped before service to protect line speed.
• Cook-to-order items — components that must be finished at the moment of order to protect quality or food safety
(items that degrade quickly once cooked or assembled), which are excluded from batch-prep and instead built into
the line-build SOP directly.

2.5 Line-Build / Assembly SOPs

The line-build (assembly) SOP is the step-by-step sequence a crew member follows to turn prepped components into a
finished, plated or packaged order within the target cycle time established in Module 1 (90 seconds per ticket).

• Station layout — the physical arrangement of prepped components and tools along the line, ordered to minimize
crew movement and cross-traffic between stations.
• Sequence of assembly — the fixed order of steps (base, protein, sauce, toppings, closure/packaging) that every
crew member follows identically, so that build time and product consistency do not depend on who is on the line.
• One-piece flow — building one order at a time through to completion rather than batching multiple partial orders
across the line, which reduces the risk of mixed-up or cold components during a rush.
• Target build time per station — each station is timed individually so that the slowest station, not the average, is
identified and addressed, since the line's total throughput is capped by its slowest step.

2.6 HACCP Fundamentals: The Seven Principles, Applied

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) is the food-safety framework used to identify where a menu
item's production process could introduce a biological, chemical, or physical hazard, and to build controls into the

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process at those specific points rather than relying on end-inspection alone. This module applies the seven HACCP
principles directly to the standardized recipes and line-build SOPs developed earlier in the module.

• Principle 1 — Conduct a hazard analysis: for each recipe, identify hazards that could occur at each step (e.g.,
bacterial growth during holding, cross-contact with an allergen, foreign-object contamination during prep).
• Principle 2 — Determine Critical Control Points (CCPs): identify the specific steps where a control can be applied
to prevent, eliminate, or reduce an identified hazard to an acceptable level (commonly cooking, cooling, and
holding steps in a QSR line).
• Principle 3 — Establish critical limits: set the measurable threshold (e.g., minimum internal cooking temperature,
maximum holding time in the danger zone) that must be met at each CCP.
• Principle 4 — Establish monitoring procedures: define who checks the critical limit, how often, and with what
tool (e.g., probe thermometer readings logged every two hours).
• Principle 5 — Establish corrective actions: define the exact action a crew member takes when a critical limit is
not met (e.g., discard, re-cook, or re-chill product; retrain crew member; adjust equipment).
• Principle 6 — Establish verification procedures: define how the team confirms the whole system is working as
intended (e.g., supervisor spot-checks, periodic calibration of thermometers).
• Principle 7 — Establish record-keeping: define the logs (temperature logs, corrective-action logs) that document
the CCP was monitored and controlled, which is also the venture's evidence of due diligence.

2.7 Holding Standards: Hot, Cold, and Time-as-a-Control

Holding standards protect food safety after a product is cooked or prepped but before it is served. Hot-holding
standards specify the minimum internal temperature a cooked item must maintain while held for service; cold-holding
standards specify the maximum internal temperature a chilled item must stay at or below. Both standards exist to keep
product out of the temperature danger zone, the range within which bacteria multiply most rapidly.

Where continuous temperature monitoring is impractical for a given item or format (e.g., a food cart without a working
hot-holding unit), time-as-a-control is used as an alternative: the item is tracked against a maximum allowable time out
of temperature control, clearly logged from the moment it leaves temperature control, after which it must be discarded
regardless of how it looks or smells.

2.8 Allergen and Cross-Contact Controls at the Line

Because a QSR line often shares tools, surfaces, and cooking equipment across multiple menu items, allergen
management is treated as a line-build design issue, not just a labeling issue. Students identify every menu item's
declared allergens (from the recipe cards built earlier in the module) and design the line-build SOP so that allergen-
containing components are stored, prepped, and assembled with dedicated tools or a validated cleaning step between
uses, with any residual risk clearly disclosed to the customer at point of order.

Learning Activities

Activity Format Expected Output

Full set of standardized recipe cards for the

Recipe card build-out Kitchen lab
menu

Cost-sheet workshop Spreadsheet exercise Ingredient cost sheet + plate cost per SKU

Line-build SOP with target build time per

Line simulation & time study Kitchen lab, timed runs
station

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Activity Format Expected Output

CCP flow diagram with critical limits and

CCP mapping exercise Group workshop
corrective actions

Kitchen lab, temperature

Holding-standard trial Hot/cold holding log with variance notes
logging

Activity 1 — Recipe Card Build-Out

• Purpose: Convert every menu SKU from Module 1 into a standardized, reproducible recipe card.
• Procedure: In the kitchen laboratory, students prepare each assigned menu item exactly once at documented
quantities, recording exact weights/volumes, method steps, yield, and a plating photo taken at the moment of
completion.
• Output: A complete, formatted recipe card for every SKU on the menu board, ready to feed directly into the cost-
sheet workshop.

Activity 2 — Cost-Sheet Workshop

• Purpose: Translate each standardized recipe into an accurate, defensible plate cost.
• Procedure: Using a spreadsheet template, students enter AP cost, yield/trim loss, and EP cost for every ingredient
in each recipe, then compute theoretical plate cost and compare it against the target food-cost percentage carried
over from Module 1.
• Output: A completed ingredient cost sheet and a plate-cost-per-SKU summary, with any item exceeding the target
food-cost percentage flagged with a proposed corrective path.

Activity 3 — Line Simulation & Time Study

• Purpose: Validate that the menu can actually be built within the 90-second target cycle time under realistic
conditions.
• Procedure: In the kitchen lab, students set up the proposed station layout and run timed simulations of order
assembly, recording build time per station across multiple repeated runs to identify the slowest (bottleneck)
station.
• Output: A written line-build SOP (station layout, sequence of assembly, per-station target build time) revised
based on the time-study results.

Activity 4 — CCP Mapping Exercise

• Purpose: Apply the seven HACCP principles to the concept's actual recipes and line-build process.
• Procedure: In groups, students trace each menu item's process flow from receiving through service, marking each
Critical Control Point, its critical limit, monitoring method, and corrective action if the limit is not met.
• Output: A CCP flow diagram per menu item (or per shared process where items overlap), with critical limits and
corrective actions clearly labeled at each identified CCP.

Activity 5 — Holding-Standard Trial

• Purpose: Confirm that hot- and cold-holding standards are achievable with the concept's actual equipment.
• Procedure: In the kitchen lab, students hold representative hot and cold items under service conditions, logging
internal temperature at fixed intervals (or elapsed time, where time-as-a-control is used) and noting any variance
from the critical limit.

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• Output: A hot/cold holding log with variance notes and, where a variance occurred, a documented corrective
action taken.

Assessment Tasks

Task Type Weight

Standardized recipe card set Practical output 10%

Costing sheet (target food-cost %) Written/spreadsheet output 10%

Line-build SOP with time study Practical demonstration 10%

CCP & holding-standard plan Written output 10%

Module 2 Total 40%

Note: Module 2 assessment tasks total 40% of the course grade, consistent with the four practical/written outputs listed above.
Weighting of subsequent modules is specified in the master course syllabus.

Suggested Scoring Rubric (applies across the four outputs, 15 pts total per task, scaled
to task weight)
Criterion Description Pts

Recipe cards specify exact yield, weights/measures, and plating

Recipe standardization 4
spec; reproducible by another crew member

AP/EP costs and trim loss correctly applied; plate cost checked
Costing accuracy 4
against target food-cost %

Station layout and sequence achieve the target build time in the
Line-build feasibility 3
timed simulation

CCPs, critical limits, monitoring, and corrective actions are

HACCP application 3
correctly identified for each item

Holding-standard Hot/cold holding log shows standards met or variances correctly

1
compliance actioned

Standards & References

This module situates recipe costing and kitchen SOPs within recognized food-safety and food-service standards
frameworks:

• The Codex HACCP framework provides the seven-principle structure applied to CCP mapping, critical limits,
and corrective action throughout this module.
• Department of Health food safety and sanitation guidelines provide the baseline regulatory context for holding
standards and allergen control in a Philippine food-service setting.
• Time/temperature-control-for-safety conventions (danger zone, time-as-a-control) are drawn from established
food-code practice and applied contextually to campus-based QSR formats.

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• ServSafe-aligned costing and portion-control conventions inform the ingredient cost sheet and plate-cost
methodology taught in the Cost-Sheet Workshop (Activity 2).

Reference List
Codex Alimentarius Commission. (2020). General principles of food hygiene, including the HACCP system and guidelines
for its application (CXC 1-1969, Rev. 2020). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations / World Health
Organization.

Department of Health. (n.d.). Food safety and sanitation guidelines for food establishments. Department of Health,
Philippines.

Food and Drug Administration. (2022). FDA food code. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Used for reference
on time/temperature control for safety and danger-zone standards; applied contextually to Philippine food-service
settings.)

National Restaurant Association. (n.d.). ServSafe manager and food handler guidelines. National Restaurant Association
Educational Foundation. (Used for reference on standardized recipe costing and portion-control conventions.)

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