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French to English translations [PRO] Bus/Financial - Tourism & Travel / Catering / Finance
French term or phrase:coût plateau
Could someone please explain the meaning of the term "coût plateau" in the following sentence?
en suivant précisément les instructions de ce guide et en mesurant les pertes, chaque site veillera à ne pas dépasser le coût plateau de xx
This is in a guide for staff working in a hotel chain who are revising their buffet selection and obviously this is to do with keeping costs down. However, I have been unable to find this phrase in any of the normal sources for this context. I also don't know the number XX. There is no more helpful context to explain the term further.
Explanation: If this is talking about buffet catering, then I can only guess that it refers to the total cost per person, given that what they eat is basically a selection of items (as might be collected on a tray) Usually, a customer booking (say) a cocktail recpetion will pay a 'per head' price, but of course with a buffet, it's always difficult to "polices" (!) how much people actually take, so it is necessary to over-cater; hence the actual COST price per head will be thte toal cost of the buffet divided by the number of guests paid for; naturally, the former figure needs to ba a lot less than the price per head being charged to the hosting client. I am not aware of a 'standard' term for this in the industry, though there may very wll be one.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 4 hrs (2018-11-05 13:23:01 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Note that in catering we do talke about things like 'average ticket price', which is pretty much the 'per-head spend', and is useful in business analysis; but the key point here is are we talking about 'cost' or 'price'? FR has a nasty habit of using 'coût' for 'price' as well as cost — and sometimes v-v! Cf. 'prix de revient' = 'cost price' (but as distinct from selling something at 'prix coûtant' = 'at cost'!)
I have been saying it has nothing to do with the final price to the customer from the start That is EXACTLY why you can't use cost per head, which is used by caterers to quote customers.
Your last remark seems to suggest you may be missing the point here — in this context, it is nothing to do with the final price to the customer, and everything about "cost cutting" for the caterer; one might even look at it that the overheads you mention are fixed (heating, lighting, car-parking, etc.) however much someone eats — the only way costs can be saved is by ensuring that the buffet is produced at the lowest cost price, while still looking generous!
I concede the point that if this FR text is referring to an AMERICAN hotel chain, it could be talking about 'the cost of a serving dish of sausage rolls' or whatever; but if it is a European hotel chain, I still feel, like BDF, that the 'plateau' being referred to is the amount of food being consumed by the guest. It's all the skill of buffet catering — to make sure there is enough to go round, but with as little waste as possible.
So when you ask a caterer for the cost per head(guest), you think he is going to give you the cost to him and not the cost to you ??? This is a guide for staff for keeping costs under control so "cost per platter or similar" It is not a caterer's prices to customers (cost per head/guest)
In the catering industry, as I have been at pains to explain below, and when referring specifically to the FOOD element (which appears to be the case here), we talk about the COST (NOT "price") per head in terms of the food on the plate — the 'overheads' you mention are taken into account when calculating the 'margin' required to arrive at the 'PRICE per head' (that we are going to charge the customer).
We can replace "platter" with 'dish' or 'plate', that I can understand even if "platter" is used in this context
But when it comes to getting it right, "price per head" is way off. As I explained, that can weigh in many other factors like waiting on tables, and why not car park spaces if customers roll up in cars
This term refers stricty to costing what is on the customer's plate while cost per head is normally the price the customer pays and is therefore GREATER than "cost of the platter".
As you say yourself, "getting it right" is important!!!
One important extra bit of context you surely must have is: does this document relate to the UK or to the US? This is clearly going to make quite a difference to the interpretation here!
Surely there are (at least) two parts to a translation: 1) Getting the idea right 2) Getting the wording right ?
I don't imagine anyone looking at this question is having too much problem with the underlying idea... but in this instance, I feel Asker is probably most seeking support in finding the right wording.
Would you really, in say a self-service cafeteria, say "Please take your platter to the checkout" or "Please clear you table by putting the platter into the rack"?! I suspect these days the term is possibly used more in EN-US — but even then, refers to a serving dish, rather than an individual portion.
As far as I (a catering professional) am aware, the term is quaint and dated and used either in a jocular sense: "He placed an enormous platter in front of us laden with delicacies." or on something like a menu, where you might see 'platter of cold cuts' or 'cheese platter' — usually where they're trying to make it sound more 'grand' than a mere 'plate'.
Surely that would be either 'plafond' or 'plancher', depending on which way round? And it also depends on context whether this means 'cost' (i.e. cost to the supplier to produce) or coût = price, as is so often the case, referring to the end-user retail price. I feel sure Asker's wider context probably does make this clear...
I'm thinking more in terms of not exceeding a "platform price" in a "race to the bottom", which seems all the rage nowadays in a bid to keep costs down just about anywhere
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
46 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +3
cost per head / per capita cost
Explanation: If this is talking about buffet catering, then I can only guess that it refers to the total cost per person, given that what they eat is basically a selection of items (as might be collected on a tray) Usually, a customer booking (say) a cocktail recpetion will pay a 'per head' price, but of course with a buffet, it's always difficult to "polices" (!) how much people actually take, so it is necessary to over-cater; hence the actual COST price per head will be thte toal cost of the buffet divided by the number of guests paid for; naturally, the former figure needs to ba a lot less than the price per head being charged to the hosting client. I am not aware of a 'standard' term for this in the industry, though there may very wll be one.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 4 hrs (2018-11-05 13:23:01 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Note that in catering we do talke about things like 'average ticket price', which is pretty much the 'per-head spend', and is useful in business analysis; but the key point here is are we talking about 'cost' or 'price'? FR has a nasty habit of using 'coût' for 'price' as well as cost — and sometimes v-v! Cf. 'prix de revient' = 'cost price' (but as distinct from selling something at 'prix coûtant' = 'at cost'!)
Tony M France Local time: 03:24 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 119
Grading comment
Thank you!
Notes to answerer
Asker: That's great Tony, thanks! I was leaning in that direction but was a bit puzzled by the fact that I couldn't find a translation for such a straightforward phrase anywhere!
peer agreement (net): +3