A pallet behind a pallet
At stocktake someone moves a pallet of the new batch and finds cases of the same beer from months earlier behind it. The hop aroma has faded and the date is close. It goes to the taproom at a discount, to staff, or down the drain. Meanwhile trade customers had the fresh batch, which is what they want, and the older stock sat there.
For hop-forward beers the window is short, and freshness is part of why people buy from you rather than from a supermarket shelf.
Why old stock hides
Stock figures are by product: so many cases of the pale. Nobody records which batch is where. Pickers take whatever is easiest to reach, which is usually the newest pallet in front. Webshop and trade sell from the same figure without regard to date. Nobody looks at dates until a stocktake.
- Stock is counted by product, not by batch and date.
- Picking is by convenience, not first in first out.
- Cold store space means new pallets go in front.
- No alert when a batch approaches its date.
- Sales do not know there is older stock to move.
What finding it late costs
Beer poured away or sold at a heavy discount. Cold store space taken by stock that should have gone. Customers who get tired beer and do not reorder. And the quiet cost: the team loses trust in the stock figures and starts over-ordering packaging runs just in case.
Your approach to dates and what you sell is your own decision. What we fix is knowing what you have and when it needs to go.
It also clouds the brewing plan. If the stock figure includes cases that will never sell at full price, the plan thinks you have more of a beer than you do, and the next brew of it is scheduled later than it should be. The fresh beer then arrives just as trade customers have gone elsewhere for it.
Stock by batch and date
- Each packaging run creates stock by beer, pack format, batch and best before date.
- Cold store locations are simple: bays or pallet spots, labelled.
- Picking lists and the webshop packing screen tell staff which batch and location to take, oldest first, unless an order asks otherwise.
- A dated stock view shows, per beer, how much is in each batch and how long until its date.
- Alerts go to sales when a batch reaches a threshold you choose, with a suggestion: push to trade, taproom, a web bundle or a mixed case.
- Web bundles and mixed cases can be set to draw from the oldest batch.
- Monthly counts are done by batch, which keeps the figures honest.
| View | Who uses it | What they do with it |
|---|---|---|
| Picking list by batch | Warehouse | Take oldest first |
| Dated stock | Production and sales | See what needs moving |
| Approaching date alert | Sales | Push to trade or taproom |
| Bundle rules | Webshop | Use older stock in mixed cases |
| Batch count | Warehouse | Correct the figures |
A cold store with no surprises
Older stock goes out first without anyone thinking about it. Sales hear about an ageing batch while it still tastes right. Stocktakes stop producing discoveries. Packaging runs are sized from real stock, not a feeling, so less is made that cannot be sold in time.
Is this your cold store?
- Stocktakes find older batches behind new ones.
- Stock is counted by product, not batch.
- Pickers take the nearest pallet.
- Short-dated beer gets poured or heavily discounted.
- Sales do not know when a batch needs moving.