Stock per store with batches and use-by dates
Keep the stock of your main store, kitchen store and outlet stores apart, with each batch and its use-by date. Stock that expires first goes out first, and each store asks for more by itself when an item falls below its reorder level.
PLANSScale only
The problem it solves
- The storekeeper finds a sack of expired rava at the back of the store, after the newer stock was used.
- The kitchen runs out of oil at 11 in the morning because nobody noticed the store was low.
- You cannot say what the kitchen store holds today, only what the main store bought.
- Milk and paneer are written off every week, and nobody can say which delivery they came from.
How it works
- Set up your stores under Food Service > Configuration > Places > Stores. Add a Main Store, a Kitchen Store for each kitchen and an Outlet Store where a counter sells packed items. Each store gets its own stock location.
- On each store, choose Indents from (the store that supplies it) and add a Stock Level per item: Reorder at, Par Level and Maximum.
- Goods come in with their batch and use-by date, from a purchase receipt, a quick purchase or the Store app.
- When stock leaves a store (an issue to the kitchen, cooking, a sale, wastage), the batch that expires first goes first.
- Tick Suggest Indents Daily. Once a day each store asks its source store for the items below their reorder level, enough to reach the par level.
- Every day the storekeepers are told which items are low and which batches expire within three days. Food Service > Reports > Stock and Purchase > Stock Value and Expiry shows the whole picture.
Everything it does
Stores
- Three kinds: Main Store, Kitchen Store and Outlet Store; Main Store to start with
- Each store has its own stock location, made with the store in its Entity's warehouse; two stores never share one
- A store keeps its Entity: it cannot be moved to another
- Storekeepers named on each store; they get its stock alerts
- A kitchen and an outlet each point to their store
Batches and use-by dates
- Items you track by batch carry a batch number and a use-by date on every receipt
- When no batch number is typed at receipt, the system names it after the order and the day
- Every store takes stock first-expiry-first-out: the batch with the nearest use-by date leaves first
- Batches keep their number and use-by date when stock moves to a store of another Entity
- Stock counts and wastage are recorded per batch
Stock levels and suggested indents
- Per store and item: Reorder at, Par Level and Maximum; one level per item and store
- Below Reorder at, the suggestion asks for enough to reach the Par Level, or the Maximum when there is no par level
- Suggest Indents Daily: a daily job makes a draft indent to the source store
- Suggest an Indent Now on the store does it at once
- Only one suggested indent is open per store at a time
What takes stock out
- Issues, returns and transfers between stores (indents)
- Production orders: the ingredients used leave the kitchen store
- Packed items sold at a counter leave the outlet's store; a reversed sale puts them back
- At an outlet with Dishes Made to Order, a sold dish takes its recipe's ingredients
- Wastage written off, and stock counts that find less
- A sale is never blocked because the stock figure is too low
Report: Stock Value and Expiry
- Per store and item: quantity, value at cost, oldest stock date, age in days, next use-by date and days left
- Filters: Expiring within 7 Days, Expired, Below Reorder Level, Older than 30 Days
- Built every night; Refresh builds it at once
Who uses it
StorekeeperSets the levels of their store, receives goods with batches, watches low and expiring stock.
Kitchen Manager / ChefSees what the kitchen store holds and asks the main store for more.
Food AdministratorSets up the stores and their supply; gets the alerts of a store with no storekeeper named.
AccountsReads the stock value per store.
Where you use it
- Web: Food Service > Stores > Stores and Levels; Food Service > Configuration > Places > Stores; Food Service > Reports > Stock and Purchase > Stock Value and Expiry
- The SmartMy Feast Store app (a tablet in the store): stock with batches and use-by dates. Low items are marked, with Ask for more and Ask for what is low. Built and in testing, not in the app stores yet
- Not in the SmartMy Feast Manager app: stock is seen in the back office and on the Store app
What you control
Settings
- Store kind: Main Store to start with
- Indents from: none to start with
- Suggest Indents Daily: off
- Stock Levels per item: Reorder at, Par Level, Maximum (none until you add them)
- Storekeepers per store: none; the Food Administrators get the alerts until you name them
- Dishes Made to Order, per outlet: off
Approvals
- Indent: a suggested indent is approved through the Indent chain, as any indent; see Store issues, stock counts and wastage
Notifications
- Food Stock Below Reorder Level: once a day, to the store's storekeepers (else the Food Administrators of its Entity), in the app and by email. App push once the apps are in the stores. Sent at once
- Food Batches Expiring: once a day, batches expired or expiring within three days, to the same people on the same channels
- Each person can switch off a channel, such as email, for themselves; in-app notices always arrive
Questions
Can we keep the kitchen store apart from the main store?
Yes. Each store has its own stock. The kitchen store asks the main store for items with an indent, and the main store issues them.How does the system know which packet to use first?
Each batch has a use-by date. Every store gives out the batch that expires first, whether it is an issue, a production order or a sale.Do we have to enter a batch number for every delivery?
Only for items you track by batch. If the storekeeper leaves the batch empty, the system names it after the order and the day, and keeps the use-by date typed.Will we be told before stock expires?
Yes. Every day the storekeepers of each store get a list of batches expired or expiring within three days. It also lists items below their reorder level, in the app and by email.Does the counter stop selling when stock shows zero?
No. A sale is never blocked by the stock figure. The difference shows up in the next stock count.Which plan has stock?
Stores, batches, stock levels and suggested indents come with Scale, together with purchase and kitchen production.Related features
STORES AND PURCHASEStore issues, stock counts and wastageThe kitchen asks the main store for what it needs with an indent, the store approves and issues it, and every movement is recorded. Stock counts show what is really there, and wastage is written off with a reason, with an approval when the value is large.STORES AND PURCHASEPurchasing, rate contracts and vendorsBuy for your stores with purchase requests, approval above a value, orders at the prices of your rate contracts and receipts checked at the gate. Vendor bills that do not match the order and the receipt cannot be posted, and vendors with an expired food licence cannot be ordered from.KITCHEN PRODUCTIONRecipes, forecasts and production plansWrite each dish as a recipe with its yield, preparation loss and cost. Each meal gets a forecast of how many will eat and what to cook. The kitchen's day becomes a production plan with the raw materials it needs. Any shortfall goes to the store in one click.KITCHEN PRODUCTIONCentral kitchen dispatch to outletsOne kitchen cooks for several outlets: each dispatch records what left, in which vehicle and at what temperature, and the outlet records what arrived. When the outlet belongs to another Entity of your group, the received food is billed between the two at cost plus your markup.PORTAL AND APPSChef and storekeeper appsA tablet in the kitchen lets the chef start and finish production, record leftovers and plate waste, log fridge temperatures and keep food samples. A tablet in the store lets the storekeeper issue indents, receive deliveries with batches, count stock and write off waste.ACCOUNTING AND REPORTSFood service dashboard and outlet scorecardsOpen Food Service and see the day's sales, bills and reversed bills at once, in every plan. On Scale a nightly scorecard per Entity adds food cost %, waste, stock value, items to reorder and what you owe customers. It has charts per outlet and analyses of stock, purchase, production and discounts.
See it with your own menu.
Tell us how many outlets you run and how people pay today. We will show you a day in your mess or canteen on SmartMy Feast.