Founder POV: If your stock take is a nightmare.....if you buy it in pallets, use it in grams but have to count it in bottles…this post is for you!!!!!!!!!

This article is adapted from a LinkedIn post by Robbie Francis, Founder of Hops.

If your stock take is a nightmare.....if you buy it in pallets, use it in grams but have to count it in bottles…this post is for you!!!!!!!!!

Hospitality tech companies usually optimise for the speed of onboarding, rather than operational longevity.

Because it isn’t sexy to fix boring problems in hospitality. But it makes one HELL of a difference when they're solved properly!!!

Every operation builds its culinary magic from a totally unique patchwork of products.

And in the real world?

• You buy the same ingredient from 3 suppliers, like Coke Cans

• The London site of a multi-site op buys cheddar from Supplier X

• Whereas the Manchester site buys from Supplier Y

• Or you BUY oil 25L drum

• USE it in millilitres

• And COUNT it in 2L decanted bottles in the storeroom.

How you buy it, use it and count it are 3 completely different concepts.

Most systems collapse those into one.

They create a shortcut to save time, but creates a shit tonne of technical debt.

Here’s what happens when supplier products are linked directly to recipes:

• It’s fast to set up
• It looks clean
• Until 6 months later when you want to switch suppliers

Now that supplier product sits inside 40 recipes.

And someone’s spending 16 hours reworking the system (or they leave it, which is often the case)!!!!!!!

At that point, you’re working for the system. The system isn’t working for you.

In Hops®, we separate:

• Supplier Product (what you order)
• Ingredient (what you use)
• Count Measure (how you actually count it)

Because operators told us: “I buy it in pallets. I use it in millilitres. I count it in bottles. Don’t make me count in millilitres.”

So we didn’t.

You can define your own count measure. You can view variance in the format that makes sense in YOUR storeroom.

Next, we’ll talk about why Supplier Products and Inventory are NOT the same thing (and what happens when you treat them like they are).

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About Robbie Francis
Robbie Francis is the Founder of Hops. He has spent years building and implementing hospitality technology with operators, focused on simplifying back-of-house operations across inventory and finance.

Follow Robbie on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/robbiefrancis

View the original LinkedIn post: If your stock take is a nightmare.....if you buy it in pallets, use it in grams but have to count it in bottles…this post is for you!!!!!!!!!