Cooking- No more an art.

This article is exclusively for my Mom and whosoever cooked for me till now.

I addressed some of the business models (inventory, 12 sigma etc.,) in cooking in this blog. I just try to relate the different business skills required for the cooking.

Many people think it’s an easy job to cook rather than doing a business but cooking is related to lots of business skills. There are so many variables to maintain in cooking.

Inventory
A good cook should always maintain low inventory to reduce the cost on the storage. Here inventory includes both raw material as well as cooked food. In addition to that, high inventory is always a threat to the shelf life of the food product.

First comes first out
People used to pack lots of things in fridge and they mess whole thing out there.
Clear whatsoever left in the fridge and give importance to the shelf life of the food.

12 sigma
Cooking is a most sensitive business where one should have a good control over rejection. The food rejection will not only impacts the cost but also impacts the relationship with customer. Cooking sigma levels are always high and many are achieving it.
In a way, I personally felt cooking is the only manufacturing process where many are operating at 12 sigma levels.

5S
You may often come across kitchens (especially bachelors) which looks messy. 5s is a handy tool to improve the efficiency in the cooking process. It also helps one to have a hygienic food.

As like any other business, some key cooking process includes

1) Raw materials sourcing
2) Manufacturing
3) Marketing

A customer (person who eats the cooked food) always wants three aspects in food.
1) Cheaper in cost (will it be a home made or hotel made)
2) Healthy (proper amount of proteins+curbs+ carbohydrates+ minerals)
3) Quality (No harmfull bacteria+taste+Not to effect the health due to quality)

Raw materials.

To have a good recipe always you need better raw materials. Quality depends on the ingredients which we add to the food. When it comes to raw materials, there are many variables to be considered

Cost- Cost is a prime factor even though if some one cooks tasty,healthy food and if it is not cost effective, then there is no use in cooking at home. Instead one can buy food from the hotels.

Health- The basic aim of eating food is to give energy to the body to do work. The ingredients itself should have proteins etc.

Taste- Taste is not only an attribute of raw material but it also depends on the manufacturing process.

Odor- Human beings are susceptible to taste and odor, therefore whatever be the food you need to have some ingredients which should console your taste and odor buds.

Shelf life- Each raw material have its own shelf life and it should be used before its shelf life period. Many people waste the food because of improper handling of raw material inventory and on time usage.

Manufacturing
Manufacturing is a key in cooking which includes

Equipments- one should invest sufficient amount of fund for equipments.
How long will it takes to cook rice without a pressure cooker?
As like any manufacturing process, equipments (grinder, mixer etc.,) and technology (the way one should cook) plays vital role in determining the quality of food.

Time- Time is money. A proper technology with good equipment always takes care of the time. One should not make the customer to wait too long for food.

Post cooking process- Most of Indian food takes lots of post cooking process. For example; Dosa mix takes a day to prepare. I think that’s why these days’ people prefer ready made mix from the shop.

Operating cost- One should always control operating cost. It includes electric bill, Gas usage etc., Thanks to people who are still using wood for cooking. As our coal deposit will be vanished in 150 years, they are the one who are using renewable resources’ in India now.

Marketing
When it comes to marketing, the cooked food should pull the people towards it.
A final product should looks good to the eyes too. It should not look like a piece of shit. People always go for a food which looks good for first instance.

Manufacturing process should abide to strict ISO policy. No ants or cockroaches allowed.

You can name any business model, am sure it will definitely related to cooking.

On mothers day, am really proud that my mother have a really good business skills and she thought me lots of business models through cooking itself. Cooking is no more an art and it’s a business.
Opinions welcome.
Reference:
Mrs.Saraswathi selvaraj,
Mrs.Dorothy wagner