Stop loss panic button

As experienced stocktakers to the catering industry, we have seen examples of stocktaking and stock management done right. We have also seen many examples of stock taking and stock management done wrong – very wrong!

In this blog post we would like to share with you just 3 of the ways that you lose money through poor stock management;

Purchasing

You can lose money on purchasing if you have poor stock management. This is because your inward goods are not being constantly updates. Your prices also may not be regularly updated to reflect what you are actually paying for stock and how much you are charging the customer. You could be missing out on really important information by having poor stock management, and this missing information could be costing you a lot of money!

It is essential that you know then impact of your cost price change. This enables you to make timely sale price decisions. By having good stock management you can do this before they adversely impact the cost of goods to your business.

Wastage

All catering and hospitality business owners believe they have no or very little wastage. They believe this until they start recording it. This is called being faced with the brutal facts. You can’t control what you don’t measure and this could result in losing money through wastage. Knowledge is the key when it comes to wastage.

It could be very simply explained wastage such as the pints of beer you will lose when cleaning the lines. However recording your wastage could also help you see if there is missing stock and how this can be resolved in the future.

Shrinkage

We say shrinkage, you say theft! It’s the same thing really. The way to deal with the tricky matter of theft is to reduce the risks of poor stock management. If employees or customers think they can get away with thieving from you then they will. By having good stock management you can nip the thief in the bud before it gets to serious.

Good stock management will also mean that you are deterring potential thieves from stealing from your business as they know you’ll be able to see it. If stock taking isn’t happening then you are creating a laid back and weak culture for your team. This is not the message you can send out as this will encourage internal theft.