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Your Losses From Receiving May Be Greater Than You Think
Every BOH manager or head chef I've ever dealt with understands that there is the potential for high losses when they receive goods. And every operator or GM I've spoken to on this subject says they expect their kitchen managers to keep a close eye on all goods entering their loading dock.
But we all know the real story. When it comes to the unpredictable, hectic pace of real-world day-to-day operations, management does little more than a rushed, cursory "check and compare" of boxes to invoice. Then they quickly scrawl their signature, and off they go, to more "pressing matters." Pressing matters? Industry studies show that this widespread reluctance to expend adequate attention and labor dollars on proper receiving procedures costs restaurants dearly; to the tune of about 2% of an average operation's sales. "This is the only industry I can think of that is dependent on the constant inflow of goods, that doesn't employ actual receiving departments," says restaurant consultant Irene Cruickshank. "The sad fact is, even my little consulting firm has a more formalized procedure for receiving office supplies, than most of my clients have for taking in thousands of dollars of goods!" But offices face very different day-to-day challenges than restaurant operations. Through much of the day, the focus and attention of managers are tied directly to the level of activity on the floor. And-- try as they might-- suppliers are only able to accommodate a limited number of requests from operators to deliver only in their "off-peak" hours. Yet despite these real-world realities, restaurant operators and GMs are reluctant to spend precious labor dollars on adequate goods-receiving procedures. But consider this; if your operation is losing anything close to that industry-wide average of 2% of sales, that's a significant number of dollars to work with. For an operation doing $800,000 in sales, for instance, we're talking $16,000 in losses. Let's say one of the restaurant's existing kitchen employees is assigned two hours of their day to focus only on receiving, storing the product, and rotating the stock. At $8.00 an hour those two hours a day have cost the operation less than $6,000 a year. That leaves over $10,000 that falls to the bottom line. But are these kinds of numbers relevant to your operation? With potential savings this great, it's well worth testing the above scenario. Remember, though, that proper receiving procedures involve more than just the undivided attention of an employee. Teach them the correct receiving methods: Show them how to weigh each appropriate box or item, and require that they record their counts on their own log, not the invoice. And make sure they inspect the delivery invoice only after they have recorded their own figures. This will prevent check-in mistakes caused by an expectation that the invoice list is correct. By the end of the quarter, you'll have more than enough data to determine if your food cost savings have been significant.
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