New Year, new broom
With the Christmas season over, January is often a time for reflection, resolution and literally, taking stock. Here are a few ideas that may help you to improve your pub's GP percentage and also keep you in control of your business.
l Tidy up and organise. Before or on your first stocktake after New Year, tidy up and organise your stock in all its locations. As well as tidying the physical stock, this means sorting out mixed cases, getting short-dated stock to the front of the queue and putting any out-of-date stock to one side. Do the same with your food stock.
Give your freezers and dry stores a good sorting out and bring short dated stock to the fore. If you did not use all your Christmas stock, don't just leave it; use it up even if it means offering food specials that are not normally on the menu.
l Stockholding. Look at your stockholding and range of products. Get rid of slow movers, particularly bottled ales and minerals, let's face it, if you haven't sold them over what is likely to have been the busiest period of the year, chances are you won't sell them, so don't stock it. Look at the stock reports and set yourself sensible stockholding targets. For instance, for draught beers you will undoubtedly have weekly deliveries, so realistically you will not need more than seven days' supply.
For the nervous, if you make your draught beer target 10 days, then you should be able to cope with an unexpected increase in trade. Remember, the less money tied up in stock in your cellar means more money in your bank account. Your stocktaker will be able to advise you what number of stockholding days will be realistic for the different categories that you stock.
l Build the framework. Checking and monitoring procedures are crucial to any successful business and should be part of the daily routine.
Make sure that your staff are aware of what is required of them in terms of their responsibilities behind the bar, such as supervising deliveries, stock rotation and recording wastage, etc. At the same time, remember your responsibilities regarding staff and customers.
Lead by example, by paying for all the drinks that you consume. If you do not, then this will send out the wrong message to staff who will most probably help themselves to drinks when you are not looking. If things are not right at the top of the management tree, then they will not be right lower down. Check on your staff to see if they understand your rules.
l Plan for the right GP percentage. Sit down with your stocktaker and go through on a line-by-line basis the products that you are selling, not only to see if you should be selling them, but also if the selling price structure is right to secure the desired gross margins. Look at your cost prices as well.
Can you do better by changing suppliers? Ask your stocktaker's advice on record keeping. Marry up invoices with delivery notes, and check that the cost prices are correctly charged.
l Food for thought. Food is accounting for a growing amount of the business and success of modern pubs, so do not leave it out of the plan when introducing controls, pricing structures, etc. It is easy to assume that food takes care of itself, but believe me it does not.
Common sense applies, particularly with incoming food deliveries. One of the biggest bills will be the butcher's, so make sure that the quantities that are being delivered are clearly stated on the delivery note. Also, ensure that delivery notes are legible.
If they are not, then have a word with your supplier. Always weigh the quantities as they are being delivered to ensure that you only pay for what you have received. Look at the menu you are offering.
Price it up so you know exactly how much each menu item is costing you, then set the selling prices to achieve the GP percentage that you wish to make.
Remember, make the fundamentals part of your routine so they become second nature and you will have taken the first step in making your business more successful.
