Want to buy butter in Japan? Good luck!

The shelves in Japanese supermarkets that normally hold butter are turning up bare these days.

Wheat Falls Below $8 as Investors Expect Rate Cut Will Be Last

April 30 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat fell below $8 a bushel for the first time in five months as investors speculated the U.S. will slow the pace of interest-rate cuts, boosting the dollar and reducing grain exports that surged as the currency weakened.

UN sets up food crisis task force

The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, is setting up a task force to tackle the global food crisis.

UN chiefs hold food crisis summit

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is due to announce details of new measures to tackle the global food crisis.

Recession? McDonald's is Lovin' It

Winds may decide red tide outbreak

New England's seabed has all the ingredients for a severe red tide outbreak this year – but

Ingredient Spotlight: Piment d'Espelette

One of my favorite spices.

Amazon has it for a great price

Wheat Production World Map

Map from 2005
scale is 1 million metric tons
more information here

Salt takes a lickin'

The 20 saltiest foods in America

Calamari Anyone?

Colossal squid out of the freezer

Environmental Cost of Shipping Groceries Around the World

Cod caught off Norway is shipped to China to be turned into filets, then shipped back to Norway for sale.

Flour Price Drop

Last week we were paying 34.50 (50 lb bag). This week we are down to 23.99.
Nowhere near the 11.88 back in May 07



Futures wheat prices has dropped to 8.55 per bushel from over 12.50 in march

Grease Car

Check out chef Jose from Taranta and his cool ride

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6dqKz0fmdM

Just added TarantaGreen blog to the site. you can scroll through different blogs with the arrow keys.

Jose is one of the leading chefs "going green" at his restaurant.

Serious take on Biofuel and how it affects food shortages

The Biofuels Scam, Food Shortages and the Coming Collapse of the Human Population

U.N. chief calls food price rise a global crisis

World Food Program faces 40 percent increase in food costs, new requests

Dollar rises most vs. euro since 2004

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/category/economic-data/

2 cents.....
wooooo!

Gasoline could hit $7 a gallon in four years: CIBC

Crude predicted to top $200 by 2012 on tight supplies, pushing gas higher

(RR K8) Rice prices hit record highs, purchase limits at some stores

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1310ap_wal_mart_rice.html?source=mypi

Whats with all the quotes??

Being a chef, we mostly are not concerned about economic cycles and how the economy is. And that is not such a bad thing in some ways because it sucks. With commodity prices hitting new highs and the dollar hitting new lows, it can be frustrating to hear about our current state.
But because of this reason, I have decided that now is the time to be more involved than ever to keep tabs on what our current status is.

Im breaking it down like this:
Do you want your sales reps or purveyors telling you about the economy and why your paying so much for a bag of flower or imported olive oil?

Or would you like to be telling them on what the euro is or what the trends are for wheat prices.
Plus , I think it looks good be able to know factual data when it comes to the products we handle.

This is a piece of the pie that comes with being a creative chef. This knowledge can help you barter for your item prices.

I am not a futures expert and am quite new to it. I hope to mold this website according to the new knowledge that I learn.
Please feel free to email me or send me a message with website ideas, resources and suggestions.

Videos and more spreadsheets to follow soon

Fish Calculator

Here is a a nice tool that we use in our restaurant to calculate how many pounds of fish we need to order to cover ourselves for the day.
Information needed is in the colored columns except for pounds needed which is in red.
Type in the portions needed and price and it will calculate the pounds needed for you.
The key column on the spreadsheet is the yield percentage. These are averaged yields in which we have fabricated tested.
You can add your own items, prices and yields.
F and W indicate whole and fillet.

Spreadsheet is here:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pOg8VeP2diI7g0VotrlyCJA&hl=en

Google docs are free and can be used by all!
You can save or export into excel or other formats.

New Website

ChefCosting.com is a new site dedicated to chefs around the world who are interested in learning how to run a more efficient, cost effective kitchen business. The site is run by me, Chef Ross of Lucca and Sasso restaurant. I have over 15 years of experience in the kitchen and 5+ years of executive chef.
This site is for anyone who is thinking about getting into the restaurant business all the way from experienced executive or corporate chefs.
This site will also be an exchange for people to share their templates and expertise as well.
I will also post videos that will demonstrate food cost tips.
Posting times in which i will be available for questions via the meebo communicator will be listed.
I cant write everything about the site in one post so there is so much more to come!
Get your sous chefs on this!
Please spread the word about OUR new website.
Thank you