Deciding the fridge at 7am
The kitchen person arrives at 6:30 and starts making the day's sandwiches. How many chicken pesto? How many vegan wraps? They go from what they remember of yesterday and a feel for the day. By 12:45 the fridge has nothing but egg mayo left, and the lunchtime office crowd walks back out. At close, six egg mayo sandwiches go in the bin because they are dated for today.
The next morning the kitchen makes fewer egg mayo and more chicken, and on that day, everyone wants egg mayo. It feels random, but it usually is not.
Why the prep numbers never settle
- Prep is decided from memory, not from sales by product and day.
- Till reports show daily totals, not when each line ran out.
- Leftovers are binned without being counted.
- Office days, school holidays, weather and local events all move lunchtime demand.
- Ingredient orders are based on the same guesses, so the kitchen may not have what the prep needs.
This is different from bought-in pastries. Your own grab-and-go is made the same morning, with labour and ingredients, which makes every binned sandwich more expensive.
What guessing costs
Each binned sandwich cost ingredients, packaging, a label and kitchen time. Empty fridge shelves at lunch mean customers go to the supermarket meal deal. The kitchen person feels blamed either way. And because ingredients are ordered on the same guesswork, you also run short of fillings or throw away open packs of ham and salad.
How we build the morning prep list
- We read grab-and-go sales from your till by product and time of sale.
- Staff tap sold out on the till or a tablet when a line runs out, so you know what might have sold.
- At close, leftovers by product are logged on a phone in a minute.
- The system suggests tomorrow's prep list by product, using recent sales on the same weekday, sell-out times, leftovers and notes you add, such as a nearby office being closed.
- Each line on the prep list shows the ingredients needed, scaled from your recipe cards, so the kitchen can check stock before starting.
- Ingredient totals for the week feed your supplier order, so fillings and bread match what the prep list will need.
| What we record | How it changes tomorrow's list |
|---|---|
| Sales by product and hour | Base quantity for the day |
| Sell-out time | Adds a little to lines that ran out early |
| Leftovers at close | Trims lines that were over-made |
| Your notes | Adjusts for events, closures or weather |
Labels and allergen information stay with your existing process. If you want the prep list to print labels too, that can be added, but what goes on the label is for your own food safety process to decide.
The kitchen at 6:30 now
The kitchen person opens the tablet and sees today's list: twelve chicken pesto, eight egg mayo, six vegan wraps, four of the special. Ingredient amounts are listed below. At 12:30 there is still a choice in the fridge. At close, two sandwiches are left, logged in a few taps. By the end of the month you can see waste falling on the lines that were over-made and sales rising on the ones that used to run out.
Is this how your fridge works?
- Prep quantities are decided from memory each morning.
- Popular lines run out before the end of lunch.
- Sandwiches go in the bin at close most days.
- Leftovers are not counted.
- Fillings run short or go to waste.