Stock Control
A substantial amount of money is tied up in stock, which needs to be managed in order to ensure that products are offered for sale in excellent condition, and that waste and theft is minimised.
Stock control is balancing your stocks so that you are not over-stocked (thereby tying up more of your cash) and yet have sufficient stocks to meet customer demands. Stock needs to be rotated to ensure that the oldest stock is used first (providing that the product is within its optimum shelf life).
Stock control is more of an art than a science, which will become easier as you become more experienced. Keeping good ordering records enables you to look back at your order history, helping you anticipate future demands. Nevertheless, despite experience and good forecasting, there will be times when you run out of certain products because of an unusually high demand for them. In these cases, you may have to encourage customers to try alternative products until you are re-stocked.
The shelf life of cask beer is very limited and needs careful stock control. When ordering cask beer, you should:
- Order in cask sizes which allow you to empty the cask within 3 days of putting it on service. (Beer quality quickly deteriorates after this time.)
- Calculate your cask beer orders to allow you to have 3 days stock of each cask beer remaining from the previous delivery, when you receive your new delivery (giving sufficient time for your new beer to come into condition).
Keg beers and bottled products have a longer shelf life than cask beers and are ready for sale when you receive them. However, these products need some time in your cellar or bottle fridges to reach their required serving temperatures.
Maximising Sales Of Beer And Cider
Here are ways to maximise your beer and cider sales:
Draught Beer And Cider
- Serve at the correct temperature and in perfect condition.
- Use immaculate glassware.
- Use branded glassware.
- Train your staff to serve the perfect pint and to be knowledgeable about your products.
- Make sure your beer founts and handpulls are situated on your bar where they can be seen by customers.
- Make sure your founts and handpulls (and pump clips) are sparklingly clean.
- Use gleaming brass (or similar style) drip trays which enhance the presentation of draught products to customers.
- Use chalkboards to advertise in advance forthcoming cask ales or other new products that you are introducing.
- Offer customers the chance to try small samples before buying.
- Use chalkboards and professional looking ‘beer menus’ to describe the style, taste and strength of each of your draught beers and ciders.
- If you offer cask beers join the Cask Marque scheme and aim to be accredited to display their plaque.
- If you offer a range of cask ales contact your local Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) branch and aim to get into their Good Beer Guide (see their website: www.camra.org.uk).
Bottled Beers And Cider
Bottled beer and cider is served in different ways depending on the product, the customers’ expectations, the type of pub and the occasion. For example, in YPVs it is normal practice to serve bottled products without a glass. In other types of pub, customers will expect to be served bottled products with a glass. There is also growth in demand for certain bottled ciders to be served over ice.
Here are ways to maximise your bottled beers and ciders:
- Stock the biggest selling brands.
- Serve at the correct temperature (see the section, ‘Bottle Fridges’ below).
- Display products effectively in your bottle fridges (see section, ‘Bottle Fridges’ below).
- Use back of the bar displays to promote products.
- Serve in a branded glass (where applicable).
- Ask your brewery, pub company or other supplier for any promotion kits or point of sale material (POS) that may be available.
- Make enticing displays of bottles stacked in ice.
- Run a bottled beer of the month promotion.