A fridge that empties mysteriously
Your front desk sells protein shakes, drinks, bars, a couple of supplement ranges, gym gloves and branded water bottles. Sales go through the till, sometimes as a 'misc' button because the product is not set up. Staff take a drink from the fridge after a shift. A PT takes bars for clients and promises to pay later.
When the fridge is empty, someone orders more from the wholesaler's website. Every few months, someone counts stock and finds it does not match the till. Nobody knows whether retail makes a profit after wastage, staff use and expired items, or whether it is worth the shelf space.
Sales are recorded, stock is not
Gym retail is a side line, run by front desk staff whose main job is members. It gets just enough attention to keep going.
- Products are not all set up on the till, so 'misc' sales hide what sold.
- Stock deliveries are not recorded against the till's product list.
- Staff and PT use is not recorded.
- Expiry dates on drinks and bars are not tracked.
- Reordering is done when someone notices, not from stock levels.
A side line with unknown results
Without knowing stock, you cannot know margin. Some products may lose money after expiry and shrinkage. Some may sell well enough to deserve more space. Staff and PT use may be a sensible perk, but it should be a known cost.
Running out of popular items loses sales at the moment members want them, just after a session. Overstocking ties up cash and leads to expired stock being thrown away.
And when stock goes missing, it creates an uncomfortable atmosphere, because nobody knows whether it is theft, mistakes at the till or unrecorded staff use.
Supplement brands complicate things further. They change flavours, pack sizes and prices often, and a product that sold steadily can be replaced by a similar one at a different cost. If the till still has the old price and cost, every sale of the new version is recorded wrongly, and nobody notices because the button still works.
Short-dated stock is a quiet cost of its own. Protein drinks and bars have limited shelf lives, and a slow-selling flavour at the back of the fridge is found only when someone clears it out.
Till, stock and reorders connected
- Every product is set up on the till with its cost price, so no sales go through 'misc'.
- Deliveries are booked in on a tablet by scanning or selecting products, adding to stock with expiry dates where relevant.
- Till sales reduce stock automatically. Staff and PT use are recorded with a quick 'staff' or 'PT account' button at the till.
- PT accounts can be settled monthly, or deducted from trainer rent if that is your arrangement.
- Reorder points are set per product, and a weekly reorder list is produced for the wholesaler.
- A quick weekly count of fast-moving items catches differences early, and a full count happens on your schedule.
- Reports show sales, margin, wastage and shrinkage by product.
| Question | Answer comes from |
|---|---|
| What sold this week? | Till by product, no misc |
| What do we need to order? | Stock against reorder points |
| Does retail make money? | Margin after wastage and staff use |
| Where did stock go? | Differences in weekly counts |
If your gym management system has a point of sale, we use it and add the stock side where it is missing.
A desk that sells what members want
Popular items stay in stock. Expired stock is spotted before it is sold or wasted. Reorders are a quick weekly task from a list. You know which products earn their space.
Staff and PT use is recorded, which removes suspicion and turns it into a known perk. And when counts differ from expectations, you find out in a week rather than a quarter.
It also becomes easier to try new products. A new drink or bar can be stocked for a month and judged on its real sales and margin, rather than on whether the fridge looks emptier.
Is this your front desk?
- Some sales go through the till as misc.
- Stock counts do not match sales.
- You reorder when someone notices a gap.
- Staff and PT use is not recorded.
- You do not know if retail makes a profit.