Rant: Hand deboning vs machine deboning for profit margins

Been going back and forth with a buddy who runs a shop near Kansas City. He swears by the electric deboning machines, says it saves him 2 hours a day and cuts waste. I've been doing it by hand for 15 years and feel like I get better yield, especially on chicken thighs. My numbers show about 4% less waste by hand but it takes way longer. Last month he showed me his spreadsheets claiming 12% more profit with the machine. What do you folks see in your shops? Is the speed worth losing a bit of meat?

2 comments

2 Comments

skyler_anderson651mo ago

Have you tried timing yourself on a busy day to see how much you're actually losing by hand? I ran a similar test and my numbers were almost identical to yours, the machine just couldn't match my yield no matter how much I tweaked it.

the_max1mo ago

@skyler_anderson65 sounds like a lot of math for chicken.