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Management Restaurant Inventory Wisely
Feb 1, 2010 Inventory Management software Leave a comment
Inventory management is a necessity in all businesses, but more and more restaurants are realizing that they can be the difference between success and failure.
Inventory management is the process of controlling costs and waste through the effective use of the hand in the product. Combine this with a reliable forecasting model and restaurants can realize a dramatic reduction in your monthly expenses.
Every company faces the sad reality that employees steal from their employer. An effective inventory management combined with secure storage and locking of the procedures will result in less loss due to employee theft.
In the restaurant industry that there are mainly three types of inventory management systems: POS Integration Manual or limited, mixed or partial integration and fully integrated.
Manual or limited integration
Manual inventory management refers to the process of physically counting each item every week for restaurant costs. This system is more suited to small, independently owned operators who purchase fewer items and maintain record keeping easier.
Once all the counting is completed, then the data can be transferred to the accounting system of the restaurant. If no errors, the inventory is complete. If there are errors but the whole inventory process must start again to find the errors.
POS mixed
Mixed Point of Sale (POS) or partial integration, the system combines the restaurant outlets with manual inventory procedures. Point of sale refers to the system used to order food and drinks as well as resolution of all controls.
Each time an item is ordered through the outlet is removed from the current inventory. When items are counted during the inventory on-hand value must match the inventory listed in point of sale. However, if there are discrepancies between the two lists, one physical inventory count should begin.
This method of inventory management is more effective than the limited system, and when combined with strong loss prevention procedures may result in large cost savings per month.
Fully integrated
A fully integrated inventory management implemented three different elements in your system. Combine the system with a restaurant POS system / ordering shipping, and an electronic system for physical inventory. This is the most sophisticated and accurate of the three systems and results in the fewest monthly losses and general product and benefits.
Some suppliers of restaurants offering major restaurants with an online ordering system. This system is integrated with the restaurant point of sale and can accurately predict what is in inventory, and forecasting the size of the next supply order.
Once a week or even every month there is a physical inventory conducted with portable electronic bar code readers and electronic scales. All data are automatically sent to both the supplier and the restaurant.
Some are so sophisticated that incorporate the breakdowns of the recipe for ingredients and then calculate the inventory. This type of system allows you to save money in the long term, but also help you run a restaurant business more agile and efficient.
What You Need To Know About Windows 7
Jan 26, 2010 Microsoft Leave a comment
Since Windows 7 has been released back in October (22nd October 2009) it has had quite a lot of bad criticism. A fair amount of people and newspapers have said that Windows 7 is not complete. Others say it is to expensive, complicated and even not finished! Shops that sell the OS like the DSGi group (PC World, Currys, Dixons) have told the public that the peoples favourite package is Windows 7 family premium update. Microsoft have also installed Windows Media Centre into most of their Windows 7 packages! The new Media Centre enables you to watch live and on-demand TV!
What are the pros and cons? Windows 7 not being finished is not really an issue but in some peoples eyes it might be! It doesn’t really matter because with every new OS they released there comes updates! Even though they might be annoying, taking time when you shut down or when you are in a the middle of a project the automatic updates window comes with the restart later button is blanked out. With seconds ticking down to shut down time. Yes it will probably be tedious at times. But it is just to make it better for you. Also it is said to be expensive but that’s what you expect when a new product comes out. Other problems include it being complicated, but please it was said that it is the simplest yet what with the new taskbar which some people see as hard to use, but from what I have seen it looks simple. There could be alternatives say some critics, but whenever has their been a match for Windows? Apple might look good and might be able to run Windows on a non Windows PC where as Apple does not run on PC’s but Windows is till better. You can run programs in Windows that do not run in OSx. OSx needs boot camp because you always still need Windows but Windows does not need OSx so it does not have anything like boot camp because it is far superior.
Should you bide you time? Why should you. If you wait for the price to come down Microsoft might bring a new Windows out. Then you need to upgrade again. For the pros. Windows 7 is said to use less resources. Like battery life, where Vista on an Asus UL30 lasted for 11 hours and Wndows lasted for 12 hours. It also uses less ram. Vista needed 2GB where Windows 7 only needs 1GB. They have also made a special version of Windows 7 for touch-screen enabled PC’s. Sales of the OS have been booming. On the night of release there were over 500 people stood outside the main PC World in London all waiting for a copy. There was a huge serge through out the DSGi’s servers because of the amazing amount of people that bought it online! Most laptops are now being sold with Windows 7 and some that people have already bought will have free upgrades. Installing Windows Media Centre on most packages was a good idea because so many people have an Xbox 360 and do not have XP or Vista Media Centre to hook up to the Xbox. So that’s it. You can’t do it! But now having it it in most packages is a real improvement. Also being able to watch live and on-demand TV was a great idea as well. But unfortunately you have to have a sky subscription to be able to watch the TV.
What do you think? I posted a question on Yahoo Answers asking what you thought! The first question I asked was ‘do you think it is finished?’. 50% said yes. But one stood out which I featured earlier on in the article. There will be updates. There always is! My second question was ‘Is it expensive?’. Not many said it was! Then I asked “Which package would you buy?”. Most people said the ultimate package or the Home Premium. Finally I asked what people would give as a rating out of 5. From the answers I got, there were only 3,4 & 5’s. So it must be a pretty good new OS. Finally, I think the new snap feature is brilliantly simple. Windows has been missing and edge like that where you can make windows site next to each other so quickly. They have also removed the taskbar and the side-bar. So this should be an amazing OS and The Guardian’s Tech Weekly have said that Microsoft have already started working on the new Windows OS. Well, got out and buy your copy of the new OS and enjoy an amazing new OS from Microsoft
Dining Reservation Software Helps You Provide Great Customer Service
Jun 11, 2009 Microsoft, catering Software 2 Comments
Dining Reservation Software Helps You Provide Great Customer Service
For many restaurateurs and catering services today, dining reservation software has become one of the most important tools they use for providing great customer services to all those that visit their establishments. Dining reservation software comes equipped with a variety of tools that can help you give your customers an experience they’ll never forget as they return to your restaurant again and again.
You can easily create all of your reservations using dining reservation software. You can even insert important details about your customers and their reservations, too. For example, if you have a party of twelve coming to your restaurant to celebrate the engagement of a prospective bride and groom, you can be ready to provide them with your best champagne for a congratulatory toast. If you have a customer that catches cold easily, you’ll be able to know before they arrive that their party should sit in the middle of your establishment away from windows, doors, and potential cross breezes.
You can also edit the information you place in dining reservation software instantaneously and within a matter of moments. Perhaps one of your customers called needing to increase his reservations to seat twenty six instead of sixteen. Maybe another customer requested a specific dish to be served to her entire party. Some customers have specific instructions on how they prefer their food to be prepared or even specific servers that have given them excellent service in the past. These are all details that are important for you to know and track in order to provide your customer with the best experience possible while they visit your establishment. This will help your business remain steady and even continue to grow in an unpredictable economy such as this.
Another benefit of dining reservation software is your ability to communicate effectively with your customers. Sometimes the telephone isn’t the most reliable source of communication, especially on the busiest nights at your restaurant when you’re likely receiving multiple calls at once. With dining reservation software, though, your customer can contact you easily and quickly via email and other online resources. This means that you can have all of your customer’s last minute details and preferences to refer to right on your computer, so you won’t forget anything when the moment comes to prepare for their reservation. You can also email your customer confirmation notices that will ensure that you and your staff are all clear on the specifics of the upcoming event.
With the online marketing tools available in dining reservation software, you can keep track of all your customer referrals in one simple program. Nothing is better for a restaurant than positive word of mouth advertising, and incentives for referrals to either your customers, concierge services, or both can significantly help your establishment flourish. In addition to simply tracking these referrals, however, you can also create those important incentive programs using reservation software. Email and traditional marketing campaign tools are available on the software as well, so you’ll have everything you need right at your fingertips to advertise your establishment and services successfully.
Thomas Wilford / Restaurant & Catering Software
