Top Challenges in Beverage Stocktaking in Ireland

Top Challenges in Beverage Stocktaking in Ireland and How to Overcome Them?

Beverage stocktaking is critical to hospitality businesses’ profits. The Irish food & beverage industry faces persistent challenges of excess or shortage of stocks. Periodic stocktaking can address these challenges and help increase profitability on every item.

While real-time tracking through inventory management systems, proper staff training, and historical data analysis are standard operating procedures, the Irish hospitality industry can present complex problems that require comprehensive measures & maneuverability.

Below, we have listed the major challenges faced in beverage stocktaking at Irish hotels, restaurants, bars and banquets. After each challenge, we have also listed solutions to overcome issues of inventory loss, fluctuating costs, and stocktaking inefficiencies.

 

The Problem: Loss of Inventory

Issues like beverage shrinkage, inventory loss, and counting errors may lead to discrepancies between actual stocks and sales records. These differences, however small, can be frustrating for the leadership and lead to persistent losses.

Large hospitality ventures like hotels particularly face this problem. With multiple locations like bars, restaurants, and kitchens, coordinating accurate beverage stock levels without inventory loss can be extremely difficult. Ultimately, diminished stocks will reduce the margin on each product and affect the overall profitability of the business.

Inventory loss may occur due to theft, mishandling, or calculating errors. Whether due to high turnover or temporary staff, with proper beverage stocktaking practices and accurate inventory management systems, businesses can overcome this challenge.

 

The Solution: Track Analytics with Real-time Inventory Management Systems

Inventory management systems provide real-time and current visibility of actual stock levels. Consistently monitoring beverage stock levels helps beverage businesses to identify and address discrepancies.

These software tracks and reports stock levels across various locations, helping managers to identify cases of stock loss, take measures to improve stock utilisation, minimise wastage, and reduce losses.

Another significant advantage of inventory management systems is that they analyse past stock levels and the causes behind under-stocking or over-stocking. Decision-makers can review historical data and spot patterns that contribute to inventory wastage. Armed with this data, beverage businesses can make informed decisions and implement better practices to eliminate inventory loss.

The Problem: Administrative Errors

Pubs that do not rely on inventory management systems rely on manual counting to assess inventory. As with any other clerical role, manually counting stocks has a high probability of errors and can be very time consuming. Things get more complicated for high-volume beverage businesses who have to conduct manual to-the-tenth counts.

Large orders during special events can also be stressful without an automated system. The pressure to balance the right inventory levels with speed of service can become too much and may increase the chances of inventory errors.

 

The Solution: Implement Scanning Systems & Training Programs

Modern point-of-sale systems have built-in scanners and inventory management features to speed up the stock measuring process. These systems provide accurate records much faster than manual counting.

Next, the importance of training your servers, kitchen staff, and bartenders cannot be overstated. Proper training of staff can help them identify and fill in the blanks while counting inventory.

Assess the current capabilities of your employees and create specific training courses based on goals. These goals should align with the overall challenges and goals of your hospitality business.

Here are some ways you can improve inventory counting efficiency:

  • Train Employees on methods that analyse physical counts with system records for accurate and quick recording of stocks
  • Encourage employees to document and report damage, losses, or missing stocks immediately
  • Streamline stock counting with a standard procedure for consistency
  • Take employee inputs, feedback, and recommendations to improve workflow.

The Problem: Fluctuations in Demand

Beer, wine, and hot drinks are the most popular beverages in Ireland. Apart from these, non-alcoholic beers are also on the rise. Together, the Irish beverage industry is expected to achieve $10.4 billion dollars in sales by 2026. However, this is not a linear demand curve and tends to fluctuate considerably.

Inventory levels also tend to fluctuate considerably during live events or high-rush periods. While automated systems can keep stock counters accurate and up-to-date, such a dynamic demand can make restocking a challenge and affect operations.

Persistent inaccuracies may cause overstocking and capital loss on unsold items. On the other side of the spectrum, ‘playing safe’ may lead to understocking and the business will be unable to fulfill consumer demand.

 

The Solution: Add Cloud-based Automation Systems

Cloud-based automation systems can optimise inventory counting and predictive precision to achieve the right balance between demand and stock levels.

The Problem: Rising Costs

Beverages have high material costs that can eat away the profits of a hospitality business if stock levels are not maintained adequately. It may become difficult for managers to price products competitively without affecting profitability.

In the beverage industry, businesses have to purchase inventory at scale to achieve profitability. Thus, the price of the bar and restaurant hinders the budget for the actual event itself.

Beverage businesses often overprice products to overcome the challenge of high costs, leaving their customers unsatisfied and losing them to competitors.

 

The Solution: Identify & Target Buyer Persona

Analysing your target market and buyer persona to prepare your beverage menu can prevent excessive stocking, losses, and high costs. By narrowing down on past trends and current buyer behavior, beverage businesses can keep prices reasonable and attract more buyers.

When you know what drives your buyer’s decision, you can also create offers that focus on bulk sales with better pricing. Buying stocks in bulk will foster a healthy relationship with suppliers, leading to long-term contracts.

Once again, an inventory management system can help you analyse current and historical data, forecast demand, and reduce upfront costs to eliminate stock outs or over-stocking.

 

The All-in-one Solution

Inventory loss, administrative errors, fluctuating demand, and high costs are challenges that every beverage business faces, and there is a single solution that takes away the stress of stock management – regular beverage stocktakes by  professional stocktakers.

At Hospitality Partners, we conduct regular and accurate stocktakes for food and beverage businesses to streamline and simplify their beverage management process. Our professional stocktakers will align your ordered and actual stock levels, implement measures to minimise stock loss and theft, and train employees on best stock management practices to benefit your bottom line.