What are the advantages of portion control, or is it best to freehand?

The biggest advantage of portion control is definitely food cost control. This is an area that many foodservice workers miss out on. Over-portioning can account for a large part of high food costs second to food waste. You obviously want to start with portion control on your bigger ticket items such as cheese. Sometimes some lower cost items may take too long to portion sending the labor part of your P& L too high. It really is a balancing act. The other important factor with portion control is that your food will be consistent. This is critical in today’s business environment. Customers want consistency every time. They want to know what they can expect.