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Stock Storage

Written by The Restaurant Doctor UK Team
Last Updated: 29th October 2023

<<< 4. Stock Rotation | 5. Cleaning The Cellar >>>

Properly rotating stock is crucial to running a successful bar or restaurant. Not only does it ensure that your customers are receiving the freshest possible products, but it also helps to reduce waste and minimise costs.

What is Stock Rotation?

Stock rotation simply means organising your inventory to sell older items before newer ones. This is important because you don't want to risk having older products go out of date and become unusable, resulting in wasted money and inventory.

How to Rotate Your Stock

In order to keep your stock rotated effectively, it's essential to have a system in place. Start by organising your inventory based on the products' use-by dates, and create separate areas for older and newer stock. Make a habit of placing older items closer to the entrance of your cellar or storage area, and newer items further away. This will help you keep track of your inventory and ensure that older items are sold first.

Another important aspect of stock rotation is bottling up. When restocking your fridge, always place older bottles at the front and newer ones behind them. This ensures that older items are sold first and prevents any waste.

Example of Rotating Stock

Let's say you run a bar that serves beer on tap, and you have a keg of IPA that is due to expire in two weeks. To ensure that you sell this keg before it goes bad, you need to rotate it to the front of your inventory.

To do this, you can move the keg to the front of the cooler or refrigerator, where it will be the first thing that your bartenders see when they open the door. You can also make sure that your bartenders are aware of the expiration date and encourage them to serve the IPA to customers who may be interested in trying something new.

Using Expiration Dates to Make Purchasing Decisions

In addition to rotating your stock, you can also use expiration dates to inform your purchasing decisions. For example, if you notice that certain items are consistently expiring before you can sell them, you may want to consider ordering smaller quantities or rotating them to the front of your inventory more frequently.

By keeping your stock rotated and paying attention to expiration dates, you can reduce waste, save money, and ensure that your customers are always served the freshest products.

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