Stonegate Stock Action Plan

Stock Storage Section• Fridge plans.• Bar plans.• Top and tailing.• FIFO and rotation.• Limiting storage areas.• Cellar Management.

Fridge Plans

When completing a fridge plan you must ensure that you have considered the following:Are all products clearly displayed?Do the fridge layouts assist speed-of-service?Are they stored in a uniform amount ie 6 bottles deep?

The fridge plans should be designed, agreed and retained in the office.

The fridge plan will enable you to value the total products on the bar, assist with your ordering requirements, assist with bottling-up, and quickly review products which are missing. It will be easy to identify when a bottle has been taken from the fridge without it being paid for.

Top Tip

No more bottling-up lists. You can simply use the Consolidated Z reads. If you have sold 3 bottles, and there are 4 missing you can quickly identify the problem

Staff top tipRotating stock on the bar is just as important as in the cellar as the slow sellers will always have old stock at the back. So when you bottle up ensure you put new stock to the back.

Rotating stock means putting the new stock at the back of the old stock

Bar PlansWhen completing a bar plan you must ensure that you have considered the following:Are all products clearly displayed?Do the spirit/wine layouts assist speed-of-service?Are the displays impactive and using the appropriate bar area?

Make sure your displays are secure. Displays on high-level shelving can be disturbed by loud music, making bottles move and sometimes fall.

Top TipWhere it’s not necessary to have full bottles on display why not use dummy bottles?

Bulk displays are

much more impactive, look

better and much

easier to count

accurately.Where ever possible reduce the number of product lines. Query is it necessary to have 6 different types of Vodka?

Eye-line, Buy-line

Topping and TailingAt the end of each night. Top and tail your spirits. Pour all your part bottles into one. Take your time and be careful not to spill any!!!!!!!

Ensuring that you do not have numerous part bottles, will make counting easier, and will high-light stock losses more quickly.

Top Tip

If you have floor sellers. Give them one bottle at a time, and ask them to come back to a Manager for a new bottle. If it’s a £1 a shot, they should have £28, and this can be rung through straight away as the correct product.

You need to make sure that

your optics, pourers and

nozzles are kept clean.

Make sure open spirits all have lids and are covered. You will lose ABV from uncovered bottles.

Speed of Service/Perfect Serve.Is your bar set-up to give the perfect pour and the best speed of service. You may think this doesn’t help your yield but it does.

If staff cant reach it or its not made easy they can be lazy!!!! and are more inclined to make mistakes.

Check Race Reports for cross ringing.

Work station – This is an area in which the staff work on a busy session and everything should be within a metre to help speed of service. Make sure your bar is properly stocked up on the below at all times.Ice Optics FruitStrawsBeer PumpsGlassesPopular Bottles and wine

Top Tip

Why don’t you try product

knowledge quiz's at your team

meeting?

Do all your team know

what they are selling, what

the products are, and how

to serve them?

You must ensure that your team are servicing the

products as per the Caterwide set-up/Recipes. You will

lose stock otherwise.

Make sure your bar specs match the specs that Caterwide is set-up for. Ask your Auditor if you need help with this.

FIFO and RotationFirst In First Out – The first products delivered should be the next product sold.

Take an extra few minutes to check the dates on products, and ensure that all products are within date. Best Before dates should be checked every week whilst completing a stocktake.If you have a product nearing it’s best before date, contact your Area Manager ASAP and Products and Pricing can reduce the retail price to help you sell it through.

Out of Date products must be removed from sale, stored away from the other stock, and clearly marked “Not for Sale”.

Top Tip

Change your displays regularly. Move the display bottles into the fridge, and put new bottles on the display. This will keep your displays fresh, clean and within the best before dates.

Limiting Storage AreasAll stock should be locked away. Keys should only be issued to authorised team members who have signed the stock policy.

You should only have stock stored in the following clearly defined areas:BarCellarBottle/PPP roomSpirit room/cupboardRemove any stock that is unsecured under the front bar, or in cupboards not defined as the Spirit Cupboard.

Top Tip

Use a glass carrier to carry spirits to the bar. You can carry more, and are less likely to drop one.

Organise your stock in the storage

areas into count sheet order. This will

save time when counting the stock.

Cellar ManagementThe cellar should be locked at all times whilst not in use. This ensures that stock is secure, and that doors are properly closed for the coolers to work more efficiently.

Make sure your cellar is well lit.

Cellar floors should be keep clean, and free of stale beer, barrel caps and empty boxes.Remove empty barrels to ensure that you can easily move around your cellar. This will help with changing barrels and counting stock.

Dip sticks for cask, and keg

checkers are a very useful

tool to ensure accurate

counting. Make sure the keg

checker is calibrated.

Do not stack cases more than

5 high. This is dangerous for

your back lifting them on and

off, and they may fall resulting

in a stock loss.

36 gallon kegs are difficult to move and count. Before ordering them ensure that 22’s simply wont do.

Ensure that you check your flash coolers once a week for any leaks, ice well, water level and your internal and external fans are working.

Top Tip

When you hose down your cellar be careful not to hose off the labels from the barrels. Or get the cardboard boxes wet.

Clean your Ice Machine.

Delivery and Order Section• Par Levels.• Stock holding.• Placing an order.• Accepting a delivery.

Par Levels.Par Levels are the average amount you sell. You can get daily or weekly par level details from the Stock Product Sales report on Caterwide.

Using Par Levels ensures that you have adequate product onsite, and are not over stocked. Par Levels also mean that you can stock-up the bar sufficiently for service, and are not constantly running to the store rooms for more product.

Too much stock onsite makes counting, storing and ordering more difficult. A uniform amount of products makes high-lighting shortages easier.

When completing Business Plans for large events make sure you consider your stock ordering requirements.

Top Tip

Maintain a consistent number of spirit bottles in your store. Ie 20 bottles of Vodka. Replace empty bottles for full on your spirit store shelves. You can easily identify if one bottle has gone missing, and you know exactly how many to order next time

Stock Holding.The expected company wet stock holding is 14 days.

You can get your stock holding figures from the Entry Audit Report on Caterwide.

Stock holding relates to the value of the products.

If the product does not sell at your site, why not ask another site if you can transfer it to them?Keeping your stock holding days low, will help you manage your storage areas, and make counting easier. Low stock days equal increased profit

Top Tip

You can create your own cocktails to get rid of slow moving stock. But you must ensure that these are properly costed and agreed by your Area Manager who can then arrange for a till button to be set-up.

Placing an order.It’s good practice to use a stock onsite and order sheet. This will record what you have onsite, what your par level is, and your required order.Give yourself plenty of time to place your order in full and accurately on Tradesimple.

Only order what you need.

Don’t get excited about new products available to purchase from Tradesimple, ensure that you can sell the product, and that you have sufficient space.You must ensure that you have all “Must Stock” products available. Top tip

Keep a copy of the Tradesimple order

just in case you have a problem with the wrong product

delivered, or something missing from the delivery.

Tradesimple and Caterwide are different systems. But they do talk to each other.

Accepting a delivery.Time and care must be taken when accepting a delivery. You must check that all stock is: Undamaged Within reasonable best before

dates. What you ordered. What is on the delivery invoice.

Make sure that each product is correctly marked off the delivery invoice, before signing the delivery note.

Don’t let the deliveryman/dray determine how quickly the transaction is completed. They must be patient whilst you ensure the delivery is correct.Immediately after putting the delivery away, ensure that Tradesimple is receipted.

Ensure that the delivery is

put away immediately!

Controls Section• Cash and Stock Policy.• Caterwide.• Yield and GP%• Daily line checks.• Voids, Error Corrects, Void Transactions and Refunds.• Line Cleaning.• Wastage.• Till functions• Team eating and drinking.• Training

Cash and Stock policy.You must make sure that everyone has read and signed the cash and stock policy.

Keep a copy of the sign-off sheet, signed by all relevant management and team members in the safe.

If you don’t understand something in the policy, ask your Regional Auditor immediately.

Top Tip

The Cash and Stock policy is a comprehensive

guide which can be used for

training the whole team.

There are various other polices which are relevant to stock. These include HACCP and Risk Assessments.

A copy of the Cash and Stock Policy can be found on Bookshelf and on Elsa

Caterwide.Caterwide is an in-house stock management tool.

If you don’t understand something on Caterwide, ask your Regional Auditor immediately.

Top TipIf you don’t understand

Caterwide, you will not

necessarily have a bad stock.

However if you cannot track your stock you are not

in control.

You need to separate wet and dry invoices.Ringing the incorrect product in the till

(cross ringing) will effect your stock.

If you are missing a till button, you need to log a call with Torex. Autocall@torex.com

All deliveries need to be declared to Caterwide to correct your stock. Some will Electronically download (EDI), others must be manually entered.

Delivery notes should have Delivery Receipts attached and filed in date order.

All non-EDI invoices must be sent to PTH, keep a copy onsite.

Bottles of spirits are counted in tenths of a bottle.

10th’s of a bottle

Shots in a bottle

Why not mark an empty bottle like this at your site to help your counts?

Yield and GP%.Wet stock is reported as a cost variance and a yield. Yield is calculated as a % of consumption @ cost.

Wet stock audits results are coded. Red, Amber and Green.Green = 104% - 99.75%Amber = 99.74 – 98%Red = more then 104% or less than 98%

Equation for calculating a yield:

Cost surplus/deficit ÷ Consumption @ cost x 100 = AThen if result is a surplus 100 + AIf result is a deficit then 100 - A

Food stock is reported as a cost variance or a GP% against the theoretical GP%.

GP% means Gross Profit

percentage.

Theoretical GP% is calculated using the exact sales mix, using the GP% for each product and working out what GP% you should achieve.

GP% and theoretical GP% can be found on the Stock Product Sales report.

Equation for calculating a GP%:

Net sales – consumption = GP in £’s

GP in £’s ÷net sales = GP%

Consumption means – Opening stock + deliveries, + transfers in. – transfers out, - returns – closing stock.

Daily Line ChecksTop Tip

Line checks can be completed at the end of shifts using the race

reports.

You should complete daily line checks on high risk lines.

High-risk:• products with historically

large deficits .

• products with a large cost

value. • Products with a large

variance.Check daily variances on some or all of your stock.

Variance = consumption – till

sales.

Consumption = opening stock + deliveries – returns – closing stock.You can use Caterwide to complete daily line checks, but remember to change the PDE date, and DO NOT close the stock period.

Inform your Area Manager

and Auditor of any large

variances.

Daily line checks should be completed in addition to your weekly MOS.

Voids, Error Corrects, Voids Transactions and Refunds

.

Use your Race reports. They are on your back-office computer.

The Electronic Journal is a fantastic tool for investigating. There is lots of detail on the function.

The Weekly House Cash report will give a summary total of the voids, EC, VT and refunds.

The company expectation is that

Error Corrects, Voids, Void

Transactions should not exceed

2% of the sales.

Top tip

Why not produce a weekly report of

the individual staff totals. Naming and

shaming where necessary.

Line CleaningTop Tip

Make sure you don’t leave water in the lines if you

have flash coolers.

.

Cellar bouys are designed to prevent air from getting into the lines when there is no beer in the lines.

Where ever possible clean the lines when the barrel is empty.

Once you understand your

Par levels, you will be able to

pop your barrels, sell

whatever is in the line prior

to cleaning without affecting

trade or losing beer.

Make sure you have the correct equipment.

Consider if the routine that you use is actually increasing your stock loss. Are you cleaning lines which don’t need it, because you always clean all the lines on a Tuesday morning?

Are you wasting beer pulling the lines through in the function room, whereas if you cleaned the lines after trading on a different day, wastage would be reduced?

WastageTop Tip

Drip trays contain a large amount of wastage. At the end of the night, the total amount lost in drip trays can be measured back into pints and recorded.

It is good practice to keep a wastage record behind the bar. Write down the date, the product and a reason. This can then be consolidated at the end of the week, and should match your MOS result.

There is no company allowance for wastage.

You must define the reason for the wastage and deal with this appropriately. Theft? Training need? Faulty equipment?

Any products which have exceeded

their best before date must be clearly

marked “Out of Date”, and put to one

side and not counted on the Manager

Own Stock.

Till functions.

Cross ringing products will affect your result and make reviewing your stock more difficult.

Have you got all the till buttons that you need?

If you are missing till buttons you need to log a call with Micros.

You will need to high-light team members who are incorrectly ringing products through the till.

Staff must use individually

assigned till cards.

Team members must not be given “Management Only” functions.

Door income must be correctly rung through the till at the time of the transaction and not bulk rung at the end of the night.

Top tip

Why not email Torex (Autocall@torex.com) rather than phoning

them. You can be very clear of your

requirements, not spend ages on the phone, and

copy your Area Manager and auditor in at the

same time

Skim your tills where necessary and safe to do so.

Where possible allocate team members to specific tills.

Team, eating and drinking.

All staff food and drink

should be rung through the

till by a duty manager. Payment must be taken before food or drink is consumed.

Delisted products may need to go on as specials or amendments to staff menu . These need to be correctly set-up on the till. You need to contact your Area Manager to process these.

Off duty staff must be treated

the same as customers, drinks

paid for and no staff menu

discounts allowed.

If necessary you may need to bar all staff from being on the premises when they are not working.

Top tip

Drink or food given as team

incentives or as a thanks for a job

well-done must be processed

correctly through the till, and

claimed back on PEV.

TrainingMake sure you holding regular team meetings, and include stock variances and till issues.

Top Tip

It may be difficult for your team to

understand the stock variance in terms of variance quantity or cash value. So why

not show them what it looks like. Stack bottles of Bud or

Vodka to the equivalent value on

the table?

Make sure that if you use any products during training courses, for example cocktail training, that all products are processed through the tills.

Complete regular updated training on the basics, like pouring pints or perfect serve on Post mix.

Your team members should be encouraged to inform you immediately of till issues.

Your team members should

be encouraged to inform you

immediately of any wastage.

Make sure that the entire management

team including your chef can complete

accurate stocktakes. This requires them

all to be able to interpret the variance

reports.

Let your Area Manager or Auditor

know if you require help in your

training courses.