When it comes to stock control in the hospitality industry, the bar often gets all the attention. Counting kegs and bottles is easy. But for a lot of Limerick gastropubs and restaurants, the kitchen is where they make or lose the most money. Food prices in Ireland have reached all-time highs because of inflation. You are leaving your Gross Profit (GP) to chance if you don't keep an eye on your food stock as closely as you do your drinks.

It is hard to keep track of what you have in your kitchen. A side of salmon can be cut up, cooked, spoiled, or thrown away in a dozen different ways, unlike a sealed bottle of whiskey. To protect your margins, you need to find a specialized stocktaking company in Limerick that knows how to do food audits.

The Rule of 10 to 15%

Industry experts say that hospitality businesses that don't have a good stock control system lose between 10% and 15% of their potential revenue to theft, waste, and poor management. In a busy kitchen in Limerick, this often shows up as "portion creep." If your head chef is too generous with the steaks or your prep team is cutting too much off the vegetables, the cost of each dish goes way up.

A professional food stocktake does more than just count cans of beans. It looks at your Recipe Costings and Sales Mix.

• Recipe Analysis: If the price of butter and cream has gone up but the price of your chowder on the menu hasn't changed, your profit margin has gone down. Hospitality Partners helps you keep track of these changes in real time, so you can change menu prices or switch suppliers before you lose money.

• The Waste Matrix: A professional audit makes it necessary to keep track of waste. When employees know that the stocktaker will figure out exactly how many burgers should have been sold and how many buns are missing, they are much more careful about recording items that have been dropped or spoiled.

HACCP and Following the Rules

Taking stock of food is not only about money; it's also about following the rules. A storeroom that is full of junk and too much stuff is a HACCP nightmare. Stocktakers who work for a living can often see problems with stock rotation (First-In, First-Out) that your internal team might not notice while they're busy with their daily tasks. You can make sure that your customers get the freshest produce by keeping your stock levels low and efficient. This lowers the chance of spoilage.

Increasing the Bottom Line

The main goal of food stocktaking is to keep your GP steady. If you own a café on O'Connell Street or a hotel restaurant on the Ennis Road, you should be aiming for a certain food margin, which is usually between 65% and 70%. A professional stocktaker gives you a report at the end of the period that compares your Actual GP to your Theoretical GP. The first step to closing the gap is to see it in black and white.