One Simple Restaurant Ordering and Receiving System to Save Money

 In 1. David Scott Peters, Food Costs, Inventory, Video Blog

There’s a place in your restaurant where you’re losing thousands of dollars… your back door. Your back door is where you do a very important segment of your business – it’s where you order and receive your product. One simple restaurant ordering and receiving system can save you around $500 per week. In this video, David offers a step-by-step system that will help you stop bleeding cash.

A lot of restaurant waste results from poor receiving procedures. For example, do you look at the bottom of that box of tomatoes to make sure they’re just as fresh as the ones on top? Do you check to make sure the meats you’re putting in our cooler are at the right temp? Do you double check that you’re paying for what you’re getting in terms of weight?

Your distributor is not in business to make sure you’re profitable. They’re concerned with their own profits and count on delivery efficiencies and getting rid of the food they have on hand. Don’t give your distributor the benefit of the doubt and trust that everything is fresh or weighed right. Even if your distributor is the most trustworthy business in the world, everyone makes mistakes.

The goal of following the restaurant ordering and receiving receiving system is to ensure you don’t have restaurant waste and lost money. Protect yourself.

To stop bleeding cash at your back door, when checking in your delivery, follow these steps:

  • Check invoices for accuracy against your PO (hung at the back door) for each item, quantity and prices. This is your opportunity to make any adjustments to your bill before you pay more than your were quoted.
  • Weigh products: Have a large scale in your receiving area if you don’t have one… go get one!) and check it routinely for accuracy. Remove products from packaging and/or ice before weighing and compare to the invoice weight. If there are any discrepancies or problems with products that have to be returned, have the driver make note on the invoice or fill out a credit memo immediately, before signing the invoice. Remember that once you sign an invoice, you are responsible for payment as shown on the invoice.
  • Check temperatures of any refrigerated products to make sure they are not out of the safe zone. The most expensive chicken wings in the world are those you accepted that have already turned.
  • Check products for quality and condition. For example, you’ll want to open the case of tomatoes and dig down to the bottom. This way you can make sure the bottom of the box wasn’t packed with bad product before you accept them.
  • Train a few key people on these important receiving procedures, and you can save up to $500 per week on deliveries.

For more systems like this restaurant ordering and receiving system, read our free special report, Breaking Away from the Insanity: How to easily take control of your restaurant and make more money. Download it here

Recent Posts
good food cost for a restaurantBest Restaurant Software Solution