Tracking breakages in your kitchen

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In this article we are going to look at breakages in kitchens, covering crockery and glassware but also the importance of stock taking to manage cutlery and the infamous ‘tea-spoon epidemic’ that we have in this industry!

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Recording breakages

Firstly, we are going to look at tracking breakages of all your plates, cups, saucers, platters and glassware as well as any of your other serving dishes you have (whether they are slate, wood, glass or marble).

It is important to create a list that is easily accessible to all the team so that they can write down every time that they break or witness a breakage through faulty shelving or simply things getting broken.

The first step is to talk to your team about why you are going to start this process. It is not to blame or accuse anyone – it is just to start to establish how many and how regular your breakages are in your establishment.

Everyone has breakages, but hardly any businesses record them to see if there is a pattern emerging.

To do this, you need to look at the following:

  • Time of day it happens
  • Location
  • Quality of equipment
  • Insufficient space to work
  • Insufficient storage, racking and shelving
  • Washing & Cleaning process
  • Proper training.

Ask the team to write down and keep a log of breakages, noting:

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Review this list weekly with the team and ask them their thoughts on how this can be reduced. DO NOT FORGET YOUR KITCHEN PORTERS.

Remember:

You cannot measure it if you do not monitor it!

Tips: Take pictures of your equipment, list it along with the price on it and put up in the kitchen.

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Losses

  • You will lose equipment. Cutlery and small pieces of equipment will accidentally end up in the bin and some may go missing. Either way, in addition to having a breakages list it is essential to carry out monthly equipment stock takes.
  • Developing a spreadsheet with every piece of your equipment listed out and priced will allow you to take correct stock and calculate the relevant value. It is important to compare this loss variance with your breakage list above.
  • Do this for crockery, cutlery and glassware – you will be amazed how much is lost each month.
  • Don’t forget to take stock of your kitchen equipment as well such as whisks, ladles, spoons, pans etc
  • Once you know how big the problem is you can make some sensible, calculated decisions if you need to adjust they way you operate.

TIP: by investing in magnetic bin tops and clear bin bags, you can considerably reduce your cutlery losses.

Recent case study

An example: A small hotel had never done a stock take in the first six months of opening. I did a stock take of every piece of crockery, cutlery and glassware and in six months since opening they had lost £5,750 of stock (which at that rate equates to £11,500 per year).

I introduced Kitchen CUT’s Breakages tracking tool to put a process in place for tracking breakages and to manage this more efficiently ongoing. As a result of what we discovered, they spent £750 on some better racking and more suitable glass racks. They are now only losing £250 per month (£3,000 per year). As a result of using Kitchen CUT’s Breakages Tracking Tool along with some team training and they have saved a staggering £7,750 per year – which more than paid for the cost of the annual software package alone!

Tracking Breakages on Kitchen CUT

With Kitchen CUT’s new breakages tracking tool on the system you can also easily manage this hidden and sometimes challenging expense very easily and quickly.

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Watch our for our consultancy/ training webinars on controlling Breakages/Loss in your operation.

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The Kitchen CUT Breakages Tracking Tool is available on Executive Packages only. For more information on what’s available in the package, see our pricing page.

 

 

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