What does yield factor express in recipe costing and why is it important?

• A. The usable portion relative to as-purchased; used to adjust recipe cost to actual yield.
• B. The ratio of usable product to waste, used to set selling price.
• C. The time required to cook a portion to its final temperature.
• D. The shelf life of raw ingredients.

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is that yield factor shows how much of a bulk purchase will actually become usable, edible product. It compares the portion you can serve to the amount you buy, capturing losses from trimming, cooking, shrinkage, and other waste. This is essential for recipe costing because it lets you translate the amount of edible product you need into the real quantity you must purchase, so the calculated cost per portion is accurate.

For example, if a recipe requires 10 pounds of edible chicken but trimming and cooking reduce the yield to 60%, you’d need about 16.7 pounds of raw chicken to start with. Using the yield factor makes that conversion explicit, ensuring you price menu items correctly and plan purchasing without underestimating or overestimating ingredient needs.

The other options describe unrelated or secondary ideas—cooking time, a simple ratio of usable product to waste used for pricing, or shelf life—which don’t define what yield factor expresses.