Minimising waste not only helps your business, but it also helps the environment too
It is shocking to hear that more than 900 million tonnes of food is wasted every year, according to a global report. A large portion of this is wasted before it gets to the consumer due to issues with the supply chain process such as bad weather, processing issues, excess production, poor planning and more.
This not only incurs steep costs for F&B businesses, but it also incurs a heavy price on the environment and sustainability. Both of which are significant reasons that the F&B industry needs to put new processes in place to minimise the waste seen worldwide.
F&B businesses require a solution that can help optimise the inventory management and forecasting of food products, such as NetSuite ERP software.
Below we look at 4 tips for minimising waste and managing food inventory more effectively.
Monitor your inventory in real-time
Food products are highly perishable; therefore, it is essential to keep an eye on products that might have to go off the shelf as soon as possible. The sale of food could vary a lot depending on location and seasonal availability. Hence, you must continually monitor your stock in real-time, especially when there is a large demand for your products.
Real-time visibility is made possible with the help of automated inventory management systems like NetSuite. These systems can provide you with regular reports and alerts when required as well as giving you the confidence that the data you are looking at is accurate.
Provide training in food inventory management
If you have implemented an inventory management solution the next step is to ensure its users have sufficient training. To get the most out of software like this, users need to feel educated and confident they know how to use it daily.
A one-off training session might not be enough if users have no previous experience, instead looking at ongoing support and training might be the best option.
Use forecasting to inform future orders
By taking the time to study inventory across a designated time period, you can find out which food products are more in demand, which ingredients were over-utilised and those food items that were not so popular.
With this information, you will be able to carry out forecasting – made even easier if you use sophisticated tools such as NSPB. Forecasting will enable you to make informed decisions in the future, businesses thrive on being prepared.
These insights can help you make more optimal purchasing decisions to reduce waste as well as spotting new opportunities to take positive and pre-emptive action.
Integrate your POS system
To automate a large amount of tracking of your inventory levels businesses need to integrate their Point-of-Sale (POS) system with a compatible ERP software, such as NetSuite.
This integration ensures that you get real-time updates on sales at all your customer-facing retail spaces. This monitoring will let business leaders quickly identify which products are best-selling, and those that are not performing so well.
This information is invaluable when making decisions about continuing/discontinuing a product, or providing deals based on inventory levels or customer preferences – all of which increase chances of sales and minimise waste levels.
NetSuite SuiteSuccess for restaurants and hospitality
Optimise inventory management to minimise waste in your F&B business
There is a particularly delicate balance of demand and supply when it comes to managing inventory in the F&B industry.
Being unable to access real-time data or forecast demand levels could have a severe impact of probability and the levels of food going to waste. Solutions that can help optimise food inventory management, such as inventory modules in NetSuite, gives you the insight you need to gain control and ensure you’re equipped to deal with future fluctuations – with the least food wastage as possible!
