Your stock controller plays such a huge role in your food inventory management process. As a business owner, it’s essential you and they are clear on their brief, but it’s also your responsibility to support your people in being able to do their work and achieve their goals. Providing them with the tools they need is essential for this. So, what should your stock controller have in place? Here are our top five necessities.
1. A standard list of products and prices from suppliers
This is a must. Your stock controller must have the details from suppliers when it comes to products and pricing. And it also needs to be easily accessible. The reason this is so vital is that it will standardise pricing across all of your sites. Consistency and cohesion are required here.
2. A system that controls your margin weekly
Getting your systems right is key. From smoother operations to the best use of everyone’s time, your stocktaking process needs to match the rate of progress you want to achieve. When it comes to choosing, we say go for one that controls your margin on a weekly basis. This will give you both the oversight and insight you need to make the best decisions for your business, and this is your number one KPI for profitability.
3. Separate your coffee margin and your food margin
This is important. Your coffee margin is substantially higher than your food one. They should not be together. When they are, you risk a poor food margin masked by coffee, which we want to avoid. Keep them apart for clarity and results.
4. Track your food waste on each site
This sounds obvious but has never been more important. A recent study by the World Wildlife Fund and Tesco shows that 40% of food grown is uneaten. With these incredibly high levels of waste, it’s clear efforts need to be made at all levels of the food production chain to ensure this figure dramatically reduces. By your stock controller tracking food waste on every site, it will show you what is being wasted and what could be lowering your food margin. Better still, you’ll have the knowledge you need to intervene and reduce waste.
5. Know your day’s stock on hand
As deliveries are made daily, are some sites being overstocked? We would recommend not having more than five days of stock on hand. Sure, there might be products on your order that could last up to ten days, but in the food and beverage industry, where we value freshness, there are many products that have a short shelf life. We want to limit waste, and it’s playing with fire to order for more than five. Keep it manageable.
When it comes to your stock controller fulfilling their duties and finding fulfilment in their work, ensure they have what they need to do it. With all the changes that have happened, now more than ever it’s important to check in on them and for all of you in shop deli’s, catering, and hospitality groups to understand your site’s wastage and how you can boost your gross profits. It’s never too late to take control of your food business, no one wants their operations disrupted when instead you can be prepared with the information you need to support the best performance, productivity and process possible.
