Intro

One of the most important tasks when managing a store is Stock Handling. Keeping a tight stock control with Delivery and Count is fundamental, as it creates the foundation for a well-functioning store. This area is controlled by the tool called Store Task. It is at all times the Bar Manager’s responsibility to execute the tasks, but the Shift Manager should be able to fill in for the Bar Manager, following the exact same structures. As a part of the SM Junior training, the prospect should do a minimum of 2 deliveries and 2 counts with the Trainer.

Store Task Deadlines

When dealing with counts and deliveries there are some crucial deadlines that have to be kept at all times. The reason being that orders have to be placed for the store at certain times. Worst case, if deadlines are not being kept, wrong orders of goods can be made for the store. When initiating the training, your trainer will take you through all Store Task deadlines. Write them down, make a sheet, or come up with a way to remember them. If you for some reason have trouble keeping the deadlines, the Purchasing Manager should be informed by email.

The Importance of Correct Counts

To have a well-functioning stock handling, we have created a count system. Basically, you count how much you have left in the store, and based on what you ideally should have in stock, new goods will be ordered and delivered to the store. However, this system relies on that the counts are correct!
Executing a count with many mistakes can affect the following week’s workflow. Worst case, if a major counting mistake has been made, the delivery will be wrong according to the ideals for the specific bar. Generally, two outcomes can happen:

• Count too much: Too much of a specific good has been counted compared to the real stock amount = This good will not be delivered as the stock count made it seem like there was enough. This can lead to the store running out of ingredients and essentially not being able to make specific products leading to unsatisfied guests.

• Count too little: Too little of a specific good has been counted compared to the real stock = Too much of the item will be delivered compared to what is needed in the store. This can lead to the store having to waste and throw out goods.

The Importance of Structured Deliveries

The second part of stock handling is structured delivery procedures. Executing a sloppy delivery, not placing the goods in a structured way can ruin the workflow of the store. Furthermore, sloppy structures can increase your waste as the goods won’t be used in the right order (FIFO). Following up on the delivery and filling out the Delivery Reporting in time will make sure that the store will receive all needed goods. If this is not done correctly, the Purchasing Manager can’t make sure all needed goods get to the store in time resulting in a situation where certain products can’t be made.

Essentially, the basic goal of stock handling, in general, is to never run out and newer throw out goods!

Store Task Explained

Counting, confirming orders, and confirming deliveries all take place in our internal website Store Task. Your trainer will make sure to have created a user to access the website. Go through the Store Task Guide with your trainer in order to know how to navigate and use the website.

Delivery

When taking delivery, there are three important tasks besides distributing the actual goods in the stockroom:

1. Temperature
Check the temperature of the received goods to make sure the temperature is within the allowed temperature range.

2. Quality
Check the packaging is not damaged or broken and the goods are not in any way rotten or moldy (if so, this needs to be noted in the Delivery Reporting).

3. Amount
Make sure that all goods have been delivered according to both Store Task and the invoice. Store Task has to be aligned so our internal system is up to date with the stock status. The delivery has to be aligned with the invoice, so we do not pay for the goods we haven’t received.

*Check out the Hygiene Manual (EU) or Hygiene Manual (US) to get information about correct temperatures and guidelines about how to store different goods correctly.

FIFO

FIFO is fundamental when maintaining a healthy stock. FIFO means “First In, First Out”. To maintain a healthy stock, you need to establish a FIFO structure in your bar and uphold it with your team.
Important areas of FIFO should be followed:

• Make sure the structure in the bar and stockroom makes it obvious for the Juicers to see where to take goods and items from – written paper notes, pictures, group updates can be used.

• Make sure that all goods and items are only stored in one place to prevent Juicers from taking goods “from the wrong stock”. This applies both in the stockroom and in the bar.

• FIFO is often forgotten in displays. Always take from the display first and then re-fill.

• When prepping, make sure to place the oldest food items prepped at the top of the canteen.

Delivery Reporting

The delivery reporting is the Purchasing Manager’s tool to follow up on each delivery and make sure that

1. It was delivered on time.

2. No goods were damaged.

3. All goods were received.

4. No extra goods were received.

Delivery Reporting must be filled out after every single delivery, even when everything in the delivery was correct. This way the Purchasing Manager knows that no further actions are necessary.

Sequence Of How To Take a Delivery

When taking delivery this sequence should be followed:

1. Take the delivery starting with frozen goods, meat products, and milk products in order to keep the correct temperature. These are goods such as berries, counter products, chicken, turkey, serrano, mozzarella, and milk.

2. Have the invoice next to you and tick off with a pen every time you distribute a good. It is very important that you count each good making sure we received the correct amount.

3. Distribute other goods going in the fridges such as dill, spring onion, and other fruits/veggies.

4. Take dry stock goods and other goods that need to be placed at the transport wagons.

5. When the delivery is done, go to Store Task and tick off each good in the ordering section for the correct day.

6. Now fill out the Delivery Reporting letting the Purchasing Manager know if something was wrong with the delivery. Compare the invoice with what you actually received.

7. Clean up after the delivery. Discard trash and cardboard. Do not place pallets anywhere in the Customer Area.

8. Start normal opening procedures.

Evaluating the Stock & Give Feedback

Before distributing the goods from the delivery, it is the appropriate time to evaluate the amount of stock. Do you have a lot left in the stockroom of a specific good? Are you low on some goods? Or did you run out of something? It is at all times the Bar Manager’s responsibility to control the ideals in the store (how much the store gets delivered compared to what is being counted) but it is the Shift Managers responsibility to help inform the Bar Manager about the status and come up with ideas to have a more ideal amount of stock.

Count

The count is the most important assignment concerning waste because it determines the store’s overall usage for the entire week. Therefore, it is vital that you are extremely thorough with your count. All HQ reporting is taken from your count data. This means that any inaccuracy from your counts will cause misleading reports.

The ground principles of counting:

1. Don’t stress when you are counting as this causes you to be unstructured and unfocused = unnecessary mistakes.

2. Keep your stockroom and bar organized and clean. Make sure the Juicers are aware and uphold your structure to prevent items from being misplaced causing incorrect counts.

3. Check that you are entering the correct unit when counting an item.

4. Once your count is completed, make sure to double or even triple check what you entered. Use the ordering as a tool to check if there are any mistakes in the count (e.g. you have a lot of apples, but the order on apples is 25 boxes – then you know something is properly wrong).

5. Compare the count with the one you did last week to see if any of your counted goods look incorrect.

The rules of counting:

• The same person has to complete the stock count every week.

• Always count at the same time of the day each week.

• Always count in the same sequence: Stockroom – Back of House – Bar.

• You can begin the count in the stockroom 1-2 hours before close, as long as no goods are taken from there afterward.

• Do not count the Bar stock before the store is closed!

• Don’t estimate – count!

Re-count

After the count is completed and confirmed, the Purchasing Manager will give feedback regarding which quality of count was done in each store. The reason for this is to identify possible mistakes and correct them before it is too late when these mistakes will have an impact on your delivery and waste percentage. The re-count sheet consists of 5 different types of mistakes:

1. No Usage = If the same quantity of a good has been counted as last week. This cannot be true as a whole week of sales and usage has passed.

2. Zero Stock = When you have no stock left of a specific good. Either it is out of stock or you forgot to count the item. Both outcomes are not good.

3. Type in Mistake = A clear mistake which is normally due to wrong quantities typed in (example 120 boxes of avocado instead of 120 pcs).

4. Recount = Significant over or under usage. This can be due to Juicers not following recipes or a poor type in culture.

5. Negative Usage = You have more in stock of a specific good this week compared to last week’s count + delivery. This should not be possible.

Final Remarks

Fixing a bad streak of either waste numbers or incorrect counts takes time. It cannot be done in just a week. Two consecutive perfect counts are required in order to create the foundation for accurate numbers. Furthermore, keeping nice structures and following the type in culture on both employee meals and waste consistently is key to success!

Count overview illustration:

As shown in the illustration, counting is done to determine the number of goods necessary for the next delivery, as well as showing us how much leftover stock we have when starting the week. The count you do the following week will then have two purposes:

1. It will function as an ending of the week figuring out how much there is left after a week of sales calculating your store’s Waste Percentage.

2. It will function as a starting point for the coming week, allowing us to use the data for the next week’s count once again. This is why it is so crucial to do accurate counts consistently over time.

TEACH THE TEACHER
Recap by the end of the module using “teach the teacher” (see description). The SM Junior needs to explain what each sentence or word means.

• Explain/show how to use and navigate Store Task incl: Count, Order and Receive – as well as filling out a Delivery Reporting and a DOC Reporting Typeform in the correct and adequate way.

• Explain why structured deliveries are important.

• Explain the 3 important tasks when taking delivery as well as the sequence of taking delivery in the right order.

• Explain why correct counts are essential.

• Explain the ground principles of counting and why they are important.

• Explain the Rules of Counting.
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• Explain the 5 different types of re-counts, what they mean and how to deal with them. The Prospect has to come up with an example for each type of mistake.

• Explain the “Count Overview Illustration”.

Training Week

The following schedule is the training plan for the SM Junior. Some stores do not get deliveries on Tuesdays and Fridays, which is why the actual days are not important, but the theme of the day is!
You can change up the days as long as each block in the training week gets done.

Training Areas

If you break up the days in the Training Week, there are smaller tasks the need to be done as a part of the training. The Training Area Overview consists of training areas that need to be reviewed and executed. It is the Trainer’s responsibility to take the SM Junior through both the Training Week and the Training areas.

Training Areas: SM Junior
Following is an overview of all main tasks the trainer will take you through as a part of the Count & Stock Management Training.

STORE TASK DEADLINES

The Trainer will have a seat with you and take you through all Store Task Deadlines.

• Figure out a solution together on how to remember and visualize the deadlines

• Memorise the deadlines, talk about them, why are they important? The Trainer will make sure that you will never forget them.

DELIVERY

The Trainer will make sure that you always check Temperature, Quality, and Amount when receiving delivery. Show the Trainer on the second delivery how you manage the areas:

• Temperature

• Quality

• Amount

If any guidelines or procedures are not being followed, the Trainer will take you through them once again.

FIFO & FRIDGE STRUCTURE

The Trainer will show you how to do FIFO and create a tidy Fridge Structure to perfection at first delivery:

• On second delivery you need to show the Trainer what you have learned and that you can manage to do it without any help.

The Trainer will then correct you when needed and correct any misunderstandings.

DELIVERY SEQUENCE

Before both deliveries the Trainer will make you say out loud the Delivery Sequence:

• Practice it beforehand.

• Figure out a way to remember the sequence, so you can execute it easier when doing the delivery.

Delivery training cannot be initiated before you can explain the Delivery Sequence without help.

DELIVERY REPORTING

The Trainer will take you through the Store Task Manual and the Delivery Reporting.

• After both deliveries have been received, sit down with the Trainer, and fill out the Delivery Reporting according to how it is done in the manual.

The Trainer needs to look it through before submitting it. If any mistakes are done, the Trainer will correct them with you.

PRINCIPLES OF COUNTING

Before the count will be initiated, the Trainer will make you explain the Rules of Counting and why they are important.

• Counting cannot be initiated before the 5 principles have been mentioned.

• Make sure to also incorporate the principles when counting.

RULES OF COUNTING

Before the count will be initiated, the Trainer will make you explain the Rules of Counting and why they are essential.

• Counting cannot be initiated before the 5 rules have been mentioned.

• Make sure to also incorporate the rules when counting.

RECOUNT

The Trainer will sit down with you and explain to you all of the important knowledge regarding the Recount Report made by the Purchasing Manager. The Trainer will explain to you:

• Re-count

• No Usage

• Zero Stock

• Type in Mistake

• Negative Usage

The following week, you will need to explain all your re-count (mistakes) to your trainer and why they appeared as

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