Frozen food represents better value for pubs than making dishes from scratch, claims new research.
Commissioned by the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF) and conducted by the Manchester Food Research Centre (MFRC), the 'Cost Comparison' study looked at the difference between frozen dishes and identical dishes made on on site.
In most cases, 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.
Colin Rodgers, technical project manager at the MFRC said: "On the whole the study considered it was more cost effective to buy ready-made 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."
The study compared two starters - canapés and breaded camembert, two main courses - lamb shank and salmon en croute, and two desserts - strawberry cheesecake and profiteroles.
Each frozen and 'fresh' dish was made to exactly the same recipe and specification. Cost implications were calculated taking the cost of raw materials
- energy, wastage, washing and manpower in account.
The research found: :
- Mixed canapés cost 66 per cent more to make from scratch than their frozen counterpart
- Profiteroles cost 65 per cent more to make from scratch than frozen
- Lamb shank cost 27 per cent more to make from scratch than frozen
- Strawberry cheesecake cost 24 per cent more to make from scratch than frozen
- Salmon en croute and breaded camembert frozen versus fresh dish costs were negligible
Colin Rodgers, technical project manager at the MFRC said: "On the whole the study considered it was more cost effective to buy ready-made 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, said: "We have long known that frozen offers a better value option for the caterer. We now have independent research to statistically support this.
"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.."