A case of avocados that never existed
Friday, 5pm. The kitchen at one site has run out of avocados and the supplier cannot deliver until Monday. The head chef rings the sister site across town, and a runner drives over and brings back a case. Later that evening the bar at the same site borrows two kegs from a third site. Nobody writes anything down. It all evens out, everyone says.
At month end it does not even out. The site that lent the stock shows high food cost and a stock count short of what the till says it sold. The site that borrowed looks unusually efficient. The area manager spends a meeting trying to explain two GP figures that are both wrong.
Why transfers go unrecorded
Transfers happen in a hurry, usually when a site is about to run out during service. Recording them is nobody's priority at that moment, and in most groups there is no easy way to do it.
- The stock system, if there is one, makes transfers a back office task few site staff know how to do.
- Paper transfer notes get lost in the van or the office tray.
- Nobody agrees the value, so finance cannot post it even when it is recorded.
- The receiving site has no reason to record something that makes its figures worse.
- Central production and commissary kitchens add more transfers every day.
What the missing records cost
Wrong GP at two sites is the obvious cost. The bigger one is that transfers hide real problems. A site that borrows every week has an ordering or par level problem that never gets fixed, because the shortage is covered by a sister site. Kegs and high-value items that move without a record are also where genuine loss can hide, and without a trail there is no way to tell the difference between a borrowed case and a missing one.
How we make transfers easy to record
- We build a transfer screen that runs on any phone, with the group's product list, units and cost prices already loaded.
- The sending site picks the receiving site and the items, and takes a photo if it wants to. It takes less time than a phone call.
- The receiving site confirms receipt, or notes a difference, from its own phone.
- Each transfer is costed at the group's current cost price, so there is no argument about value.
- Confirmed transfers are posted to both sites' stock records, and a weekly journal is prepared for finance to move cost between sites.
- Unconfirmed transfers, or transfers with differences, go to the area manager to resolve.
- A monthly report shows which sites borrow most, which items, and from whom.
| What gets recorded | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Sending and receiving site | Cost lands at the right site |
| Items, quantities and cost | No debate about value |
| Time and person on each side | A clear trail for high-value items |
| Reason, such as ran out or central prep | Shows ordering problems |
If you already have a stock system with transfers, we can post into it rather than replacing it. The phone screen is the part that gets people to record the move.
Month end with the transfers in
Both sites' GP reflects what they really used. The site that keeps borrowing lemons gets a conversation about its par levels. Kegs moving between bars have a trail from one cellar to the other. Finance receives a single transfer journal rather than a pile of notes and messages. Area managers spend their visits on what the numbers show rather than on explaining them.
Is stock moving around your group unseen?
- Sites borrow from each other during service every week.
- Transfers are agreed by phone or message and not written down.
- GP at neighbouring sites moves in opposite directions.
- Nobody can say which site borrows most.
- Your central kitchen sends food to sites without a costed record.