There is a few things to keep in mind: The cost of flats ( that's just the whole bottom) How much profit your making off of just selling roast. If you can get a good cost on the flats, just sell the roast, your dollar amount will take care of your gross. If your cost is where your just breaking even, you have to think about your labor and trim. (High gross merchandising will make up for it).
Here's what I do alot. I cut around 4 inches off the tip of the rump ( I use that for stir fry, or cubed steaks) (I cut a few thin center steaks if I need them) Then the flat side of the bottom ( I cut 3 inches from the end for cubed steaks or stew) I cut the sides off the flat end to square up the roast. (I use that for cubed steaks or round chunks).
So I end up with stir fry, stew, round chunks, a few steaks, 1 rump squared ( and I tie that ) (We get 50 cents lb more from the rump), 2 bottom roast squared, a bunch of cubed steak material, and a little trim. (People like their oven roast evenly cut, so when they cook it, one end it isn't well, and the other rare).
Everyone should know you make most of your money from the bi-products, so what I do, is make a bunch of cubed steaks, and display them in a 4 by 4 roll around case, usually in the entrance of the store, ( my cubed steaks on the bottom, and the other 2 shelves, I display mushroom beef gravy in a jar, and fresh packaged cut onions). Next to it I have a display round of instant mashed potatoes. A display round of canned corn, and a basket full of fresh baked bread or rolls from the bakery.
I make sure I have a 4 foot banner on the front of the case ( beef cubed steaks) and I make sure to put signage on the rest of the stuff to go along with the meal, and all the bi-products I have in my fresh meat case. ( I make the signs from a program the store has on their computers). I also put stand up signs outside the 2 doors, with the regular retail of the cubed steaks stated.
We usually make a killing from the bottom sales (advertised) You just have to use your imagination, and make it happen.
i came up with this one myself as far as i know lolol
skin your bottom down, top and bottom, cut off a small rump or cube meat . then lay bottom on side cut long ways three slices about good inch thick, score and put in 25's tray call it a GRILL ROAST first time i did this i was looking to get shot the next week. never had a bitch and still selling them every day!!! you figure it.
the good old flat what i like to do in my store is take a chunk maybe 2 inches or so off the rump for stirfry from there i will take another 2-3 inch chunk off for the allmighty medallion steak which is better the closer you go to the rump end ( marbling rules ) from there ill take a few steaks off and then cut the tail or flap portion off for tenderized hip steaks and a little roast off the remaining portion of the flat. any comments on this process of merchandising? this works great when outsides are advertised. for more merchandising tips give me a holler. cheers
I now use this . Thankyou! All my cutters use it too. We are totally amazed how cube steak,stew,sales have increased. Must remember keep the gristle out. If they take home one bad one they will think twice before they buy again! Must be lean!Thanks again!
If the flats come really well trimmed you can ALWAYS make more than your bottom dollar...no pun intended. Seriously though, flats are one of the best deals out there right now (if your cost is good). Stew meat, ground round, roasts and steaks are no brainers. So long as you have good cutters you should never lose a dime on a flat...even the heal. If you have a smoker you up the ante even further...
Not sure how you guys do it today but back in the 80s and 90s I was unique in my company in using the computer features of our Hobart scales to do cutting tests. I would merchandise the bottom in various ways and print the results from the scales. Then I would put the cutting tests into spreadsheets. Back then I used SuperCalc but nowadays the spreadsheet of choice is MS Excel. So I then had several methods of merchandising a sub-primal. Then I would just import the week's price list when the item went on sale into the spreadsheet so it was obvious the most profitable way to merchandise that sub-primal, be it a flat, a gooseneck, an Inside round, or whatever. This gave me the best yeiled and least shrink. Of course, when you put bottom round roasts on sale there's a limit to how much stir fy orLondon Broils you can sell but at least you know what you want to max out.