5 ways to reduce food waste and stock loss in your cafe

In a cafe, profit is often lost in small amounts: an extra spoon of sugar, milk that goes sour, a packet of biscuits that is never billed. Each one looks tiny. Over a month they can add up to more than your rent. Here are five habits that help.

1. Write down a recipe for every item

Decide exactly how much goes into each item: grams of coffee, millilitres of milk, spoons of sugar. Put the recipe where staff can see it. When everyone makes the same cup the same way, quality is steady and you know your real cost per cup.

2. Count your most expensive items every day

You don't need to count everything daily. Choose the five to ten items that cost the most or go missing most often (milk, coffee, cheese, meat, cold drinks) and count them at closing time. Compare the count with what your sales say should be left. A difference that keeps appearing is a problem worth looking into.

3. First in, first out

Put new stock behind old stock, in the fridge and on the shelf, so the oldest is used first. Write the date on opened packets. This one habit cuts a lot of spoiled food.

4. Keep a waste book

Ask staff to note anything thrown away and why: burnt, spilled, expired, returned by a customer. It isn't about blame. After two weeks you will see patterns, such as too much milk ordered on Mondays, or one item that is often returned.

5. Buy from your sales numbers, not from habit

Look at what you actually sold last week before you order. If you sell far fewer pastries on weekdays, order fewer on weekdays. Your POS reports should show daily sales by item to make this easy.

How a POS helps

A POS system with recipe and stock management does much of this for you: every sale reduces stock using the recipe, low-stock warnings tell you what to buy, and reports show what is selling and what is being lost. You still need to count, but you'll know exactly where to look.

Want to see it with your own menu? Book a free demo of NicePOS.