How does a restaurant know how much food to make each day?

Question

I watch random food shows like “Food Paradise” on Travel channel, and “Triple D” by the Mayor of FlavorTown himself. When they speak to the owner/cook, they say things like “oh we cook 400 lbs of BBQ a day” or “about 3000 pancakes each day” or whatever. How do they know that’s what they will use? Seems like a guessing game.

In: Other

Answer 1

Pancakes are made to order. When a restaurant knows they sell a lot of pancakes, they have huge batches of batter ready to go.

BBQ- they might cook 400 lbs of brisket a day but guess what, the brisket still gets sold the following day if there is extra from the day before.