As professional independent stocktakers we would recommend that a stocktake is completed at least once a month. For many catering and hospitality businesses this tends to be completed at the end of the month.

The reason that a well-structured stocktaking process is required is because this is when you find can identify any stock discrepancies, between the stock you have and the stock you think you should have.

Hospitality and catering businesses that complete regular, monthly stocktakes find they are able to maintain healthy stock levels, prevent stock losses and ensure that the data is correct for inventory and accounting records – but only when they have a well-structured stocktaking process.

If a well-structured stocktaking process is not in place, then it can result in under-counting or over-counting human errors, which can lead to lots of stress and hours of time trying to find the mistakes so they can be resolved.

To maximise the efficiency of your stocktake you need to put a well-structures stocktaking process into place. The points below will tell you how to do this;

• You need to schedule your stocktakes to times and days that will minimise the impact on the business
• You need to clean and organise all areas where stock is held, such as bars, kitchens, lazy waiters, cellars and stock cupboards so the stock is easy to see and count
• You need to ensure that you have all the right stocktaking tools in place
• You need to check that the data you are using is the most up-to –date and recent data that you have
• You need to make the time goals, expectations and requirements clear to all employees involved in the stocktake
• You need to be aware of the stock that you are counting, and how the stock is to be counted; eg – per bottle, per litre, per box or per individual item
• You need to make sure that every item of stock is counted correctly, and not guessed
• You need to value your wet and dry stock appropriately
• You need to discuss with your team or lines managers ways that you can minimise broken, stolen or slow-selling stock
• You need to get feedback after every stocktake to see if improvements can be made to increase the effectiveness of your stocktakes

Alternatively, you can call in a professional and independent stocktaker to do the hard work for you!