Did you ever think that inventory control software could help your business prevent theft? It’s true, according to a Q&A in The Register Guard, entitled “Inventory control essential for eatery.”
For food distributors, it can be a constant temptation for an employee to take unused or expired food that is going to be thrown away anyway. And once an employee gets in the habit of doing that, he or she might justify taking food elsewhere.
With inventory control software, food distributors can use several tactics to reduce the temptation for employees to fall into these bad habits and reward employees who act responsibly. By the way, most of these ideas are from the Q&A article, so I can’t really take credit for them.
1. Closely Monitor Deliveries. When a shipment comes in, you should compare what you receive to what you ordered. If anything is missing, you should follow up immediately with the sender to find out when it got lost. Taking precautions like this shows everyone involved that you’re paying attention to what’s going on.
2. Don’t Overstock Your Shelves. Too much inventory increases the risk of product spoilage. If your food is constantly going bad before it has a chance to be delivered, your employees might think it’s okay to take it home instead of throwing it away. Inventory management software is designed to stop this from happening. It helps you maintain a balance between too much and too little inventory.
3. Compare Product Sales to Orders. Once you have your inventory under control, you should start looking at how many items you order compared to how many sales you make. If you are constantly selling fewer items than you ordered, you should find out if they are being taken, misplaced, thrown away, etc.
4. Talk Openly with Employees. This isn’t really related to inventory management software, but it’s no less important. Let your employees know what your policies are and ask them what their concerns are. Invite their feedback and make changes based on valid concerns.
As you get your inventory under control, you can work on rewarding employees for keeping policies and improving your bottom line.
Interested in seeing how inventory management software can help your business? Try a 14-day free trial of Fishbowl Inventory today. Fishbowl is the most popular QuickBooks inventory management solution.
For food distributors, it can be a constant temptation for an employee to take unused or expired food that is going to be thrown away anyway. And once an employee gets in the habit of doing that, he or she might justify taking food elsewhere.
With inventory control software, food distributors can use several tactics to reduce the temptation for employees to fall into these bad habits and reward employees who act responsibly. By the way, most of these ideas are from the Q&A article, so I can’t really take credit for them.
1. Closely Monitor Deliveries. When a shipment comes in, you should compare what you receive to what you ordered. If anything is missing, you should follow up immediately with the sender to find out when it got lost. Taking precautions like this shows everyone involved that you’re paying attention to what’s going on.
2. Don’t Overstock Your Shelves. Too much inventory increases the risk of product spoilage. If your food is constantly going bad before it has a chance to be delivered, your employees might think it’s okay to take it home instead of throwing it away. Inventory management software is designed to stop this from happening. It helps you maintain a balance between too much and too little inventory.
3. Compare Product Sales to Orders. Once you have your inventory under control, you should start looking at how many items you order compared to how many sales you make. If you are constantly selling fewer items than you ordered, you should find out if they are being taken, misplaced, thrown away, etc.
4. Talk Openly with Employees. This isn’t really related to inventory management software, but it’s no less important. Let your employees know what your policies are and ask them what their concerns are. Invite their feedback and make changes based on valid concerns.
As you get your inventory under control, you can work on rewarding employees for keeping policies and improving your bottom line.
Interested in seeing how inventory management software can help your business? Try a 14-day free trial of Fishbowl Inventory today. Fishbowl is the most popular QuickBooks inventory management solution.