[phaedrus]

Am I the only one here that finds taking inventory to be incredibly depressing? I can't explain it but it's the loneliest experience in the world. Whenever possible I do inventory late at night after the restaurant is closed; if I can do it without anyone distracting me it takes me half the time. So you'd think doing it alone in an empty building would be depressing but that's not it, it's the same no matter when I do it. For some reason I feel like I'm on an alien planet alone, or like the sole human survivor of some apocalyptic disaster!/img/vbsmilies/smilies/redface.gif It's really bizarre but I feel like the last human on Earth while I'm counting row after after row of cans, stack after stack of boxes, etc.

It's been this way for 25 years, too. Not just a recent development. Strange.

 

[rndmchef]

Not something I look forward to when I'm the chef one day, that's for sure.

It's gotta be slightly easier if you have a superb farm to table setup, with your own (large) garden on site, where you change the menu daily based on currently available ingredients. This along with a nice garde manger program, with delicious cured and preserved proteins as well as lots of braised meats....
This is beginning to describe my dream restaurant.. I don't think it would require quite as much daily inventory...

 

[chefross]

.

I feel you Phaedrus......

Corporate jobs I held made us take inventory each and every Friday.

As the Chef I knew what I had and what I didn't have.

Unfortunately I had to utilize the boys to help with the counting and that was a disaster.

Here I sit in the office doing extentions and found discrepancies in the amounts.

Turns out I knew my pricing had changed mid month but the cans and boxes were not marked with the correct dates, so I didn't know how many cans were the new price and how many cans the old price. AMONG OTHER THINGS......

Not something I look forward to when I'm the chef one day, that's for sure.

It's gotta be slightly easier if you have a superb farm to table setup, with your own (large) garden on site, where you change the menu daily based on currently available ingredients. This along with a nice garde manger program, with delicious cured and preserved proteins as well as lots of braised meats....
This is beginning to describe my dream restaurant.. I don't think it would require quite as much daily inventory...

Meanwhile back at reality..........

Sorry but everything you buy, or grow, or cure, must be inventoried. Perhaps not daily but at least monthly.

 

[chefbillyb]

Inventory, is a great reminder of all the stupid things I have bought. When I formed my own business I set it up with a small amount of shelving so I used what I ordered. In my older operations the dry storage area would get larger and larger. When I walk into other kitchen I see dry storage with a lot of cans that I bet don't get used for months. I also hated doing inventory and would do anything to shorten the ordeal. I organized my walk-in freezer and refer so I could order by just having all the produce in one area, dairy in another and so on. My order sheet and my inventory sheet we pretty much alike. I always try to find ways around doing something faster if I really hate it. 

 

[phaedrus]

Yeah, there's always a few tail ends of something you got on a whim and didn't completely use up. I certainly realize the value of doing it, it just sucks to actually do the count!

Best thing is when inventory falls on the day right before I do the order./img/vbsmilies/smilies/cool.gif

 

[Iceman]

I'm sorry ... did I find some kinda "Gennie in a Bottle"?!? The place I'm in right now has the cash register do inventory every nite. Push some buttons and it tells you what went out and what should get ordered because of that. Once it's set up ... it's set up. Is this some kinda big scam I'm using here?!?

 

[phaedrus]

I'm sorry ... did I find some kinda "Gennie in a Bottle"?!? The place I'm in right now has the cash register do inventory every nite. Push some buttons and it tells you what went out and what should get ordered because of that. Once it's set up ... it's set up. Is this some kinda big scam I'm using here?!?

How does it know what is in the walk-in or dry storage? Do you have to enter a waste sheet into it?

 

[cfood047]

The Computer is only as smart as the operator.  You can use it as a guide but you will never get away from physically doing an inventory.  As an example we just received pickles in an order.  I was being shown the inventory tracking system in the POS machine which can be updated by the people given the permissions.  the Person because we had a whole new bucket of pickles entered 1500 servings and hit enter.  We were unable to go back and edit tis so until the 1500 is 0 we cannot change it.  My point being it is only as smart as the person updating it initially.  Don't let yourself get burned by running out..

 

[Iceman]

I didn't set it up. At the end of the nite it tells us what we went through. We look at stuff and see what we need when it tells us our supply is close to gone. We order every 3-4 days and everything is skippy.

We've got a "pop" cooler that holds everything that is brought in personally, for "specials". That works nice too because it's easily visible. For "My" specials, if anything is left after the second day it gets used for staff meal. I never keep anything longer. I never buy more than I know I'm gonna serve. Experience has given me that. 

 

[someday]

Just don't do it at all guys, come on.

http://www.cheftalk.com/t/89189/fallacy-of-food-cost-and-monthly-inventory

/img/vbsmilies/smilies/lol.gif

 

[chefross]

I didn't set it up. At the end of the nite it tells us what we went through. We look at stuff and see what we need when it tells us our supply is close to gone. We order every 3-4 days and everything is skippy.

We've got a "pop" cooler that holds everything that is brought in personally, for "specials". That works nice too because it's easily visible. For "My" specials, if anything is left after the second day it gets used for staff meal. I never keep anything longer. I never buy more than I know I'm gonna serve. Experience has given me that.

Question.....

Does this miracle of technology also tell you how many pounds of flour you used, or how much of a 5 pound bucket of chicken base was used that day as well?

I know the system works for food that is portioned in a box. (example: box has 50 pieces and should match the POS inventory as pieces are removed for sale.)

I am well aware of how those POS systems work but they are not full proof.

 

[Iceman]

To answer your questions ... I don't know. When stuff gets down to, as I would put it ... "You're gonna need sommore of this." levels ... it lets us know. The place I'm working isn't that big that even the lowest guy wouldn't know if we needed flour. The really big bags are in a really big stack. You see it when it needs to be purchased. The guys(me) that would use any chx base are smart enough to know when to say ... "HEY ... We need some chx base.". We're professionals, not idiots. NO ... nothing is fool-proof. New and improved fools come along each and every day. It's just a really good idea to have a professional or two around at the same time.

 

[phaedrus]

My place isn't huge, about a million dollars a year in sales. But enough inventory that I don't like counting it all./img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif