A fridge full of whole milk and no oat
Monday morning, the milk delivery arrives: crates of whole, some semi, a case of oat, a few barista soya. By Thursday lunchtime the oat is gone and you are sending someone to the supermarket for cartons at retail price, which foam differently and annoy the baristas. On Friday, two crates of whole milk are close to their date and end up in the sink.
The order was placed from a quick look in the fridge on Saturday and last week's order sheet. Nobody really knows how many litres of each milk go through the machine on a Tuesday.
Why milk orders are guesswork
- Milk usage is hidden in drink modifiers on the till, not tracked as stock.
- The mix of alternative milks changes with seasons, trends and new regulars.
- Dairy has a short life, while alternative milks keep longer, so they need different ordering rhythms.
- Deliveries come on fixed days with order cut-offs the night before.
- Waste from steaming too much milk, and from out-of-date cartons, is not recorded.
What milk mistakes cost
Dairy poured away is money in the sink. Emergency supermarket runs cost more, take a staff member off the floor and give inconsistent results at the bar. Running out of a customer's preferred milk loses sales or sends regulars elsewhere. And fridge space is tight, so over-ordering one milk means less room for food and everything else.
How we turn till data into a milk order
- We read drink sales and milk modifiers from your till, so every oat flat white or skimmed latte counts towards that milk's usage.
- Each drink size has a set milk quantity, which you confirm, so usage becomes litres per milk type per day.
- Before an order is due, staff count what is in the fridge on a phone, which takes a minute with the milk types listed.
- The system suggests an order for each milk to cover the days until the next delivery, allowing for the day of the week and the date on the dairy you already hold.
- You adjust and confirm, and the order is emailed or sent to your supplier's portal before cut-off.
- Poured-away milk and out-of-date cartons are logged with a tap, so you can see whether the orders are getting better.
| Milk | Life once delivered | Ordering approach |
|---|---|---|
| Whole and semi | Short | Smaller, more frequent orders |
| Oat, soya, almond | Longer unopened | Keep a buffer, order less often |
| Specialty or seasonal | Varies | Order to demand, watch trends |
If you use a stock system already, such as your till's own inventory module, we set up milk as stock items there first, and only build what is missing.
A normal week afterwards
On Saturday afternoon, the supervisor counts the milk in the fridge on a phone. The suggested order appears: less whole milk than you have been ordering, more oat, a little more soya because it has been creeping up. You tweak one line and send it. On Thursday there is still oat in the fridge. By the end of the month you can see how much milk you are pouring away compared with before.
Does this happen in your cafe?
- You run out of oat or another alternative milk mid-week.
- Dairy goes past its date and is poured away.
- Someone goes to the supermarket for milk during the week.
- Orders are based on a look in the fridge.
- Nobody knows how much of each milk you use per day.