Shelf-life management is extremely critical to the profitability of a bakery business. From selecting reliable brands for sourcing materials to the very recipes, cooking temperatures and eventual sale of the product, a long shelf life directly contributes to profits earned and balances the recipe’s contribution margin. Every staff member must be sensitized about its importance. This is because the entire customer perception of a bakery brand relies on the freshness and the taste it offers. Moreover, the freshness and the taste of a recipe is largely dependent on the freshness of its raw materials. That is why a bakery business needs to implement POS technology in its backend operations to streamline the entire inventory management and improve the shelf life of the baked goods.
How To Manage The Shelf Life Of Baked Goods With A Bakery Management Software
While you pay a lot of emphasis to your recipe, invest in good equipment and adopt storage strategies to keep your recipes fresh, a restaurant POS system ensures that the most essential elements in your recipes are not neglected. It not only optimizes the shelf life of your bakery goods but also ensures that you serve only the best to your customers.
Let’s look at how you can manage the shelf life of your baked goods with a bakery management software.
Choose Inventory According To The Expiry Dates
In bakery chains, the taste of the sweet delights highly depends on the freshness of the raw materials. The raw materials that have an early expiry date need to be consumed first. Inventory management software in your bakery gives you real-time reminders about the expiry dates of your raw materials. Selecting the items from the inventory according to the expiration date reduces the wastage. The ones which will remain fresh for a longer duration can be consumed later. Bakery chains have to take care of fulfilling large orders while being careful of the overall taste and presentation. Missing out on the expiry dates of perishables would be common if the entire range of inventory is managed manually. However, POS systems automate the process and ensure effective shelf-life management enabling you to sell fresh goods.
Increase Shelf Life With Bar Code Management
Not only are barcode scanners effective for billing purposes on the shop floor but they also ensure that your customers consume goods that are rich in quality and fresh in taste. Bar code scanner equipped POS systems can help you effectively maintain the shelf life of your inventory. It automatically detects the expiration date of the items and records it along with the inventory details. It ensures that before expiration, perishable raw materials are consumed in preparing the baked items. Manual records of the expiration date would be prone to errors and would require a lot of effort. Bar code also eliminates the transcription errors which are associated with manually updating the records. You can easily capture the expiration dates of the freshly replenished stock and keep a check on the longevity of your inventory.
Replenish The Stock Adequately
The sales of baked goods are volatile, fluctuate with seasonal demands and varies from bakery to bakery. For example, your baked goods sales may spike around late evenings, weekends or on festive occasions like Christmas. Since the ingredients are perishable, they have a shorter shelf life. It is advisable to plan the stock according to the expected consumption rate and past sales trends. Manually estimating the amount of stock either results in understocking that impacts sales, or overstocking that ultimately leads to wastage. Forecasting modules in POS systems provide a better understanding of the inventory requirements. It is data-driven and provides insights based on past sales and inventory consumption. You can get customised reports based on item-wise sales and in-hand physical stock. POS systems give data related to projected inventories required and eliminate the ageing issues of the raw materials.
Minimize Wastage With FIFO
By late evening, the chocolate cakes and vanilla pastries you had baked fresh in the morning need to be sold off before the ones you baked later in the day. According to the First In First Out (FIFO) principle, it is important to first utilize the already existing stock in your bakery. The raw materials required in the bakery are highly perishable and easily prone to contamination.
With POS systems you can run a stock check at the beginning and end of the day to calculate stock consumption. When you know how much stock is required, you can purchase new stocks or utilize the already existing stock. To replenish the inventory, POS systems also allow you to set up automated re-order alerts. These systems provide you with detailed reports on the stock consumption and check if there has been a discrepancy in the available stock. Following First-in-First-Out with the help of a bakery management software would minimize the level of wastage, ensure shelf life optimization and curb the overall food costs.
“If the simple method of First In First Out is not strictly followed, not only will your business be susceptible to increased losses but it also opens up the business to food poisoning cases as a resultant of rotten food,” says Isha Shetty,
Founder- Vanilla Miel
With the help of a robust bakery management software, you can manage the shelf life of your baked goods effectively and ensure that your recipes maintain the same taste and texture that your customers love. To know how you can manage the shelf life and maximize the overall efficiency of your bakery with a restaurant POS, contact us!
