The gap between the fridge and the till
You work out that the cafe used more milk and beans this month than the drinks sold on the till would need. A lot more. You think about it. Staff have a drink or two each shift. The barista made a flat white for the window cleaner, and one for the delivery driver who is always friendly. Three drinks were remade because the customer asked for oat after it was made. A regular got a free brownie on her birthday. None of these went through the till.
You do not mind any of it. You mind that you cannot tell whether anything else is going on, because the gap is always there and always unexplained.
Why freebies stay off the till
- There is no quick way to ring through a free or staff drink on the till.
- Staff drinks policy is unwritten or loosely followed.
- Remakes and mistakes feel like something to hide, not record.
- Goodwill freebies are the owner's or manager's call, made on the spot.
- Nobody looks at the gap between stock used and stock sold, so there is no reason to change.
What the gap costs
The drinks and cakes themselves cost money, but that is often a cost you choose to carry. The bigger problem is that the gap hides things: over-portioning, waste that is never logged and, rarely, theft. It also makes your ordering less accurate, because usage does not match sales. And when a staff drinks policy is unclear, it can cause friction between staff who follow it and those who do not.
How we get it all through the till
- We add a small set of till buttons: staff drink, goodwill, remake and waste, each recorded at zero or at your staff price.
- Each needs a reason picked from a short list, and staff drinks are recorded against the person, so it takes seconds.
- Your staff drinks policy, whatever you decide it is, is written down and shown on the till when a staff drink is rung in.
- Remakes are recorded with a reason, such as wrong milk or customer changed mind, which also shows where orders go wrong.
- A weekly view shows stock used against stock sold, and how much of the difference is explained by staff drinks, goodwill, remakes and waste.
- Whatever gap is left after that is the part worth looking into, and it is usually much smaller.
| Type | Recorded as | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Staff drink | Zero or staff price, by person | Whether policy is followed |
| Goodwill | Zero, with reason | What generosity costs you |
| Remake | Zero, with reason | Where orders go wrong |
| Waste | Zero, with reason | Prep and ordering problems |
What your staff drinks policy is, and how you handle it with your team, is your decision and your employment adviser's. We only make it easy to record.
The weekly check
On Monday you open the weekly view. Staff drinks, goodwill and remakes account for most of the difference between the fridge and the till. Remakes for wrong milk are higher than you thought, which points to the till layout rather than the baristas. What is left unexplained is small, and you can stop worrying about it.
Does this sound like your cafe?
- Staff drinks are not rung through the till.
- Freebies and remakes are not recorded.
- Milk and bean usage never matches sales.
- You cannot tell if stock is going missing.
- Your staff drinks policy is unwritten.