If you don’t actually order by the different sizes (because all you care about is getting King Salmon and the size is irrelevant) then there is no need to have:Īdding the size to the item name only clutters and confuses the process, unless you specifically have a use for 2 or more sizes and regularly purchase those different sizes for different recipes. If you regularly order King Salmon Fillets then you may receive a range of sizes.Name items according to how you will identify it in a recipe…but stop short of over-specificity.Same thing if you only use one species of salmon…”Salmon Fillet” is all you need Salmon Coho Fillet Frozen (if you only serve fresh salmon then there is no need to use the word “Fresh” because it is redundant. Salmon Sockeye Copper River Fillet Fresh.ALWAYS name items in the system by category from general name to specific name They therefore enter info into the system incorrectly, creating product names with errors (or misspellings), creating unnecessary duplicate items, combining items which should be separate, and assigning units of measure which are wrong. And s/he will know best how to differentiate between similar products.Īccountants/Purchasers think differently than chefs do and do not understand the products as chefs do. S/he knows best what units of measure will be used both in recipes and for inventory taking. This is important because the Chef is the one searching for the info in the system to create recipes, do menu analysis, and take inventory. Data entry and naming of items MUST follow the Chef’s direction To make matters worse, they seldom have much culinary background in regards to costing recipes and taking inventory. Sounds obvious, but too often the data entry people are simply trained to enter the data…not how to enter it in a logical, consistent, “foodservice intelligent” manner. Properly train all personnel…especially in each of the following steps 7 Ways to Better Manage your Foodservice Recipe & Inventory Software They are often data entry people who are very good at most of their job but were not properly trained on how to name new items into the system in a manner which makes culinary sense. But in every establishment I’ve been at it is multiple people who enter new items, and they do so with no understanding, no food knowledge. Only a chef should decide how to name an item into the system. And all the fresh herbs may use a different variation depending on who created it…WTF?! No…depending upon who created the item name it could be under “Fresh Tarragon”, “Fresh Herb Tarragon”, “Herb Tarragon”, or perhaps “Herb Fresh Tarragon”. For instance, if I am inventorying my produce walk-in I would think that Tarragon would be found under “Tarragon” when sorted alphabetically. But people put names into the system without intelligent thought. The inventory and order sheets generated by these programs will usually sort alphabetically, which is very helpful. Here is an all too common consequence of improperly trained people entering new items into the system, creating names for items which are not logically designed. With so many hands in the pot it is inevitable to create inconsistencies. Someone (often a person in Accounting) enters the physical counts into the system which calculates the food cost. At the end of the budget period Chefs (or their staff) take their period end inventory. Chefs enter recipes into the system which are automatically updated with current prices from the info the Invoicer has entered. Invoice prices for all products are entered (sometimes by someone other than the person who created the PO) on a daily basis. Then they transmit those orders either via the software or through traditional methods. The Chefs give their food orders to Purchasers who create PO numbers in the system for orders placed. Here is a typical scenario for a larger operation with multiple staff. The more people with “hands in the system”, the more problems you will have with the effective functionality (and frustration level) of the software. Some also have the ability to give nutritional analysis, sync with your POS system, provide current pricing bids and synchronize all of your ordering with your vendors.Īlthough these foodservice software programs are powerful, the old adage “too many chefs in the kitchen” certainly impacts how efficiently (or chaotically) the software works. This type of software package typically includes recipe & menu costing analysis along with inventory control. Popular programs include Red Rock, ChefTec, EGS (Enggist & Grandjean Software), and IT Chef (note: I am not necessarily recommending any of these, they are simply a few of the programs available). Most medium to large food service operations now use some sort of professional restaurant software which allows multiple users to accomplish a variety of tasks, all of which can help in controlling the financials of a restaurant.
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