| A just-in-time inventory system (JIT) can keep a lid on losses through spoilage or obsolescence of goods, because deliveries are received only when needed. Such as system is reactive, not predictive like its converse, the just-in-case inventory system.
To ensure you do not run out of anything, schedule your big weekly delivery just before the weekend – say, Thursday, as this is the earliest evening people could mark the beginning of their weekend. Friday and Saturday, you might have twice as many customers as a weekday. The total number of orders on Friday, as indicated by your point of sale (POS) system’s daily sales report, is a useful indication of Saturday’s customer numbers. Week to week, additional factors such as the weather, or public holidays, might feed people’s desire to eat al fresco, or out in public. Or your own publicity campaign might drive a surge of new guests through your doors. Budget for this.
Upon delivery, put a selection of perishable ingredients such as meat and fish in the freezer. You can arrange for another delivery on Monday or Tuesday as and when these stocks prove insufficient. Ensure that by Monday morning you have defrosted what you feel will last you till Thursday – probably most of your remaining stock. You should keep a constant record of each menu option’s contribution to total sales percentage, so if you take the first three weekdays’ customer numbers as roughly half of those at the weekend, you will have an estimate of how much of each ingredient will be required. Because naturally, you have accurately quantified food measurements and costs for each menu item as a matter of principle.
For core items which don’t go off easily – grains, condiments, jarred goods and so on – you must also keep track of the rate they are used at. On your Microsoft Excel inventory list, have a column containing the date of each item’s last delivery, from which you can derive exactly how long it has lasted. Save permanent weekly records of your inventory with the date in the file name. The spreadsheet should include the full roster of menu items each ingredient is used in and in what quantities. These you can compare with your separate spreadsheet showing the number of meals prepared and sold, which data you can import from your POS system. Transform these into graphic form if it is of visual aid, – and quickly spot any anomalies to pinpoint unnecessary wastage (or over-generous helpings.)
Appoint two people to oversee orders and maintain categorized lists of inventory. It is too weighty a responsibility for an individual bean-counting alone, even the restaurant manager. They might be tempted to take a ‘just-in-case’ mindset which would upset the symmetry of your accounts; or to under-order to control costs, which could lead to a disastrous scenario where your staff must inform the client you have run out of the thing, or things, they want to order. Nothing more upsets the consumer-waiter relationship than the phrase “I’m sorry sir/madame but we’re out of that starter. As well as mains numbers two, three and four.” |
