We all really learned the first lesson in pars when we first moved out of our parents’ house and started doing our own grocery shopping. The first trip was full stock. Everything we thought we needed and more. If it was something we’ve ever eaten in our lives, we probably need it. Then the next trip you wonder, I like bananas. I should buy bananas. Do I have bananas? How many did I buy last time? How many did I eat? You buy a full bunch to come home to a half-eaten bunch, rotting in the fruit bowl. The third trip, you go with a list.

In today’s blog, we’re going to focus on pars for food and beverage cost management, but know that the same philosophy can and should be applied to everything in your business – from supplies, staff and scheduling/ rostering to be specific.

Managing your food and beverage pars is just as important in your business as it is in your grocery trips. The essential questions you need to know the answers to are, “how much should I buy?” and “how much should I make?”

How Much Should I Buy?

Purchasing pars are important because having too much product means waste through expiration and potential for increased theft, but having too little means running the risk of running out. Your purchasing pars for any product should be just more than enough, based on your sales trends, to get you through your next delivery. Remember that you’re trying to grow your business, so you may want to have more of a product this month than you sold of it last month.

This is especially important for perishable items, namely your produce orders. If you’re having trouble nailing down your produce pars, work with your vendor to make sure you’re getting the right number of deliveries per week.

For non-perishable items (or those with very long expiration dates), your purchase pars should be a bit more flexible so that you can stock based on the right purchase price and the time of the monthly stocktake. Don’t forget that holding stock increases?????? Cost! So reducing this at the end of the month increases??????? Cash flow! For example, an 8 bottle case of vodka will likely give you a significant price break over the per-bottle price. But, be cautious. Are you going to use that vodka in a reasonable amount of time or are you just adding something to your inventory that you’re going to count each week? You might get a major price break on plates by buying in bulk, but do you have storage and use for the excess? If it isn’t moving, it is just money in your business that could have been invested somewhere else, but instead is sitting in a store room.

Err on the side of more, though, because telling a customer you’re out of something on the menu is embarrassing and a potential reason for them to not return. Especially if it’s a signature item. You look unprepared and unprofessional.

Ensure all managers responsible for ordering understand the par system and how to use it to order. Communication is key – if one manager notices a par is off, they should communicate immediately with whoever is in charge of setting and adjusting them.

How Much Should I Make?

Setting pars for the amount of product you should make (or thaw) will directly correlate to your waste dollars. Prepped and thawed items are often much shorter shelf lives than their raw or frozen counterparts, so once you’re past expiration, it is just money in the trash.

Set your prep pars with the same approach of purchase – just enough (especially on the short shelf life items). Be cautious of your case pack size and shelf life of opened product as well. And line up your prep schedule for items that use the same raw materials. For example, if you need to open mayonnaise to prep a sauce, but only use half, will you prep another sauce before that product expires? If not, you may need to adjust your prep schedule or case pack size to reduce waste.

Specials

Are your pars off and you have too much of a product that you are in danger of wasting? This is where specials come in handy – add a food or drink special that will help you move that product before its expiration and save a potential costly blunder (then immediately go back and adjust your pars appropriately).

Story

I was the lead bartender at a restaurant that used frozen fruit syrups for a lot of our drinks – smoothies, margaritas, milkshakes, daiquiris, etc. This product was purchased frozen and pulled before use. And somehow, despite the incredibly long frozen shelf life, we were wasting a ton of it.

I took some time to understand which flavors we were wasting and what the freezer pull and prep behaviors were and the problem was quick to find. The bartenders were pulling an even amount of each syrup; always making sure that one full carton was thawed of each. It was the right intent, but some flavors like cappuccino and pina colada needed a different approach. The recipes that called for them called for tiny amounts, and were not high sellers.

With the bar manager, we evaluated the sales of each flavor and came up with a better par system. We then coached the bar staff that it was OK to only have half a carton of cappuccino or pina colada pulled.

By fully understanding the recipes, the sales volume and the behaviors, we were able to set a new par system and reduce the waste on this product to almost zero.