Down to the last two sacks of rye
It is Wednesday night and the rye is almost gone. The miller delivers on Mondays and Thursdays, and the Thursday order went in without rye because the store looked fine on Tuesday. The sourdough rye loaf will be short for three cafes tomorrow, or the night manager will change the recipe mix and hope.
The week before, the butter order was doubled for a croissant order that was then cancelled, and the chiller has been full ever since.
Why ingredient ordering is a guess
Orders in a wholesale bakery change daily, but most of the volume is standing orders, which are predictable. The link between those orders and flour, butter, seeds and yeast is in your recipes, but nobody has time to multiply them out every week, so ordering is done by eye.
- Usage per product is in recipes, but not added up across the week.
- Special flours and seeds are used by only a few products.
- Suppliers deliver on set days with cut-offs.
- Butter and cream are short life and take chiller space.
- Holiday weeks and one-off large orders change usage sharply.
What guessing costs
Products short or changed because an ingredient ran out. Emergency trips to a cash and carry at retail prices. Money and space tied up in stock bought to feel safe. Short-life ingredients thrown away. And the night manager improvising at 2am.
Ordering we build
- Your recipes are held per product, including dough, laminating butter, toppings and fillings.
- Expected production for the coming days is worked out from standing orders, known changes and any one-off orders already booked.
- Ingredient usage is calculated from that production and your recipes, including scrap and allowances you set.
- Stock on hand comes from a quick count screen on a phone for the ingredients that matter, weekly or before each order.
- Each supplier's delivery days, cut-off times and pack sizes are held, and a draft order is prepared per supplier before their cut-off.
- You approve and send each order by email or through the supplier's ordering portal, and the approved order is recorded as due in.
| Ingredient | Typical constraint | How the tool handles it |
|---|---|---|
| Bread flours | Sacks, set delivery days | Rounded to sacks, timed to deliveries |
| Specialist flours and seeds | Used by few products | Tracked per product that uses them |
| Butter and cream | Short life, chiller space | Ordered closer to need |
| Yeast | Short life | Ordered in small, regular amounts |
A store room that matches the orders
You know on Monday whether the rye will last to Thursday. Orders are placed before cut-offs, at normal prices. Short-life ingredients arrive nearer when they are needed. And when a big one-off order comes in, the tool shows what extra it needs from each supplier straight away.
Price changes are easier to spot too, because each order is recorded with its price. When the miller's letter arrives, you can see what it means for your usage rather than guessing.
The night manager stops improvising. If the tool shows the seeds will run out before the next delivery, the choice of what to do about it is made in daylight, by the owner, rather than at 2am by whoever is on.
The weekly count is short: only the ingredients that matter are on it, in the order they sit on the shelves, so it takes minutes rather than an hour with a clipboard.
Is your ingredient ordering like this?
- Ingredients are ordered by looking at the store.
- Specialist flours or seeds run out mid-week.
- Butter and cream get thrown away after over-ordering.
- Someone has made an emergency cash and carry run.
- Big one-off orders catch the stores short.