1st inventory order!
Ok...here's another question for all of you expert out there. Our opening is approaching and we're sort of a little clueless on just how much coffee/espresso blend/milk to order! It's very difficult as you don't know just how many customers you'll get, what they'll have and so on. Let's say we see 150 customers a day, how much do you order? what's a typical order of coffee/milk for all of out there on a weekly basis? I know this is something that will be figured out with time, but initially can be a little difficult. A little wisdom will help!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brady on
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Hi. Happy to share some thoughts on this.
We do 50lbs of coffee a week. Not sure how many customers a day that is, but this is about twice our usage when we first opened. Of that 50, 15 is espresso, 10 is house blends, 5 is decaf, 15 is SO, 5 is flavored. We do 5-10lb of whole bean sales a week. In that time period, we'll probably do 20 gallons of 2%, 5 gallons of skim, 1 gallon of soy, 24qt of half and half, 6 cans of whipped cream.
Much of this depends on how often you plan to order (hopefully at least weekly) and how easy it is to get more... if that means going 10 minutes down the road after a quick call, then you can err on the light side. Remember that your espresso is probably best from day 5 to day 10, so go ahead and go a little heavy for the first order. Go lighter on drip. I'd also recommend getting your milk from the store for the first couple of days, just to get your usage fine tuned a bit.
Also remember that you won't get it right the first couple of weeks. Don't get down about it, but try to figure out how to get better. It pays to make a backup plan in case you run out too. We had a friendly neighborhood store that kept us running many times during our first months.
I'll try to get a daily customer count. Good luck.
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Permalink Reply by Amelie & Barb on
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Thanks Brady, that helps. It is quite difficult. Our roaster delivers weekly, it's probably best for us to order more as they're not just a walk over kinda place. They're literally accross the country and up some more!
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Looking at this again, I have another suggestion for you... figure a minimum that is 2 weeks worth of brew at a minimum level... assuming you sell nothing. You will, but this is still a useful exercise. What I mean is, lets say you adopt a "dump it after 2 hours" rule. If you are open for 12 hours a day, this means you need 6 batches of this coffee per day. Multiply that times your batch weight and you'll have a minimum daily usage. Your actual usage will be greater than this, but this is a good point of reference. Order no less than 2 week's worth of brew at minimum level.
What is your plan for offerings? Are you doing a daily feature and a decaf? A house? A flavored?
As a SWAG, for week one, I'd do at least 15lb espresso, 20lb straight coffee, 10lb decaf. This is probably closer to 2 weeks' worth of inventory... but given your uncertainty and the difficulty of reordering, I'd go a little heavy. I do hope others pipe in here with other perspectives. I'll try to remember tomorrow to check the number of tickets we ring.
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Permalink Reply by Matt Swenson on
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Brady, that sounds about right. We have our opening coffee inventory last about 2 weeks. It is typically 65#. 20# Espresso, 15# house, 15# SO, 10# Decaf, 5# Flavor. I am an advocate for small but frequent orders normally, but the first order is the exception to the rule since your volume is unknown. A major consideration should be the lead time from your Roaster as well. Next day delivery or possible local pick up is much different from a 5 day lead time.
Another good avg projection is 4 gallons of milk per day. The initial inventory of the milk will depend on whether you are ordering from a food service like Sysco, or whether you buy it locally (which is typically significantly cheaper) and also, refrigeration space. I wouldn't stress the milk inventory very much though. It is available everywhere 24/7 unlike good fresh coffee.
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Matt Swenson said:Another good avg projection is 4 gallons of milk per day. .
did you mean 40 gallons? 4 gallons of milk a day does not seem like a lot! Milk is local and delivered twice a week, however, you're certainly right about the ease of availability compared to coffee. I think we're a little closer to figuring things out. Thanks!
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