While the UAE is known for retaining the original tastes and trends in its food habits, consumers here are now rapidly developing a taste for baked food. The bakery sector in the Middle East is maintaining its momentum and observing a 5-7% growth annually. With a recent wave of health awareness, consumers today also prefer their baked goods to be fresher. In the bakery business, a fine and crisp taste of a recipe largely depends on the freshness of raw materials. Hence shelf-life management is given the utmost importance in measuring the profitability of a bakery business. Implementing restaurant POS technology in your bakery business is of great help in improving the shelf life of baked goods and serving only the best to your customers.
How Can UAE Bakeries Manage The Shelf Life Of Baked Goods With A Bakery Management Software
With the rising popularity of baked goods in the UAE foodservice segment, let’s look at how investing in a good restaurant POS will help in managing the shelf life of baked goods.
1. Automates Inventory Selection
There is no denying the fact that the raw materials with an early expiry date need to be consumed first. However, in the bakery business, inventory is extremely perishable and prone to early contamination. When the stock is managed manually, missing out on the expiry dates of perishables would be an everyday thing. This is where robust inventory management software comes into the picture.
The software gives real-time reminders when the expiry date of raw materials is fast approaching. Maintaining an inventory record according to the expiration dates helps bakery owners select raw materials that are to be consumed first. By automating the entire process, POS systems optimize the shelf life of perishables and curb excessive wastage.
2. Keeps Track Of Raw Material Consumption
Baked goods and confectionery are perishable and have a short shelf life. Moreover, the sales of baked goods are unpredictable. They may fluctuate according to the seasons or time of day, and vary according to each bakery. Without an automated and precise method to predict the demand on a daily basis, bakeries have to bear the burden of overstocking, which leads to excessive wastage or understocking that harms customer perception and sales.
The forecasting module in POS systems provides scientific insights about inventory requirements based on the projected sales trends and in-hand physical stock. It significantly helps in eliminating the ageing issues of raw materials and keeps food costs in check.
3. Integrates With Bar Code Scanner
Along with accelerating the billing procedure, a barcode scanner is useful in keeping a sharp eye on maintaining the shelf life of perishable items. While recording the inventory information, barcode scanners also detect the expiration date of perishable items and store the information along with other details. Therefore, these powerful tools ensure that the raw materials required in preparing baked items are consumed before expiration.
Without barcode scanners, recording inventory expiration dates manually would consume excessive time and effort, which may also result in unintended errors. Bar code scanners are extremely useful in boosting the efficiency and longevity of your bakery’s inventory.
4. Minimizes Wastage
Bakery businesses religiously follow the basic principle of First In First Out (FIFO), where the emphasis is towards utilizing the existing stock first. A similar FIFO method is applicable while consuming the stock and sending the inventory-related orders to vendors. POS systems enable restaurant operators to run an inventory check at the beginning and end of the day. This provides them with a better understanding of inventory consumption.
Based on this, they can also calculate the remaining inventory and decide whether to order more. These systems also enable setting up automated re-order alerts that streamline the process of replenishing the stock. With the support of bakery management software, following the First-in-First-Out principle becomes easy. It minimizes the level of wastage, ensures shelf life optimization, and curbs the overall food costs.
The Bakery business in the UAE is on a steep rise. Therefore, it is more important than ever to delight the customers with freshly prepared goods that are baked with perfection and preserve freshness. Implementing robust bakery management software will help in retaining the freshness of your baked goods, increase their shelf life and maximize the overall efficiency of your bakery.
To know more about the additional features and benefits of bakery management software, feel free to contact us!
