Everyone who has worked in a restaurant knows it’s more complicated than it looks. And owning or managing one can be super hard. Buying supplies, preparing the food and serving it to your customers is a process that needs observing, planning, teamwork and total engagement. It’s inevitable to stay humble, organised and open while maintaining both happy customers and employees.
Whether you’re an owner of a small restaurant or you’re a large venue manager, it seems like everyone shares the same concerns. Every owner and manager feels the pressure of serving quality food and worries about whether people are coming today to eat or not. And on top of that – caring about the food and inventory supplies and managing to pay the suppliers on daily basis.
You can have a successful restaurant if you learn the ins and outs of food purchasing. Purchasing the right food at the right price from the right suppliers can be vital for the quality of the food you serve, your whole customer experience and the profit you make. And in today’s digital world, you can purchase your supplies even easier by ordering online. What are the benefits of ordering online compared to buying your supplies in-store? What is best to be purchased online, and what is best to be purchased personally? We’re breaking down the pros and cons of each way to ensure you make an informed decision on buying your supplies and make your restaurant thrive in every possible way.
Important Things to Be Considered
Before we start listing the benefits of each model for buying your supplies, you must determine who decides to purchase supplies in your restaurant. While bigger restaurants or chain restaurants may have a purchasing manager responsible, usually the manager, the chef or the cook, or the one-man-for-all restaurant owner does that in smaller restaurants. In smaller restaurants, this largely impacts the whole process. The purchasing manager might have more time to indulge because looking and buying supplies and managing the suppliers is the only job he’s hired for, while chefs have many other responsibilities and therefore much less time.
Another thing that should be considered is organising. It would be best to determine how often you buy your food supplies and maybe decide on a particular day of the week for having your food delivered. This way you ensure purchasing the appropriate ingredients in the right amounts and reduce waste, and in terms of inventory, you’ll create high inventory turnover. In other words, you’ll buy as much as you’ll need until the next delivery.
Ordering Your Supplies Online
The internet has changed the way we shop, both for private and commercial goals. The many benefits of buying things online have made purchasing easier. Ordering online is convenient, as it’s available at any time wherever you are. Imagine you forgot to buy some food you need the next day – you can order it even after a long evening shift at the restaurant from your mobile. Another perk is having a variety of options to choose from at prices better than at the local store. Most important, you can make buying local another level experience as you can choose to buy from different wholesalers even if you own restaurants at different places. For example, if you need to order food for your restaurant in Melbourne, you can browse food wholesalers Melbourne wide and order products across various food categories from the top food suppliers.
Many managers and chefs find the whole online ordering process overwhelming, as they have many other responsibilities in the kitchen or the restaurant in general. If you also hate making heaps of calls and writing texts and e-mails to different suppliers every day, it’s time you try a better way. There are free services, or online platforms, where you can place your entire order from any supplier you want, going from one by one to all in one.
Using such services for one-stop ordering, you can cut time spent on procurement each week from hours to minutes. They often offer you to create a digital pantry list, from which you can see clearly what you’ve ordered. This makes last-minute changes easy while massively cutting down on mistakes. And if you’re not happy with the suppliers you’ve chosen, you can search across hundreds more to find better quality and prices and make sure you’re getting the best value.
Another perk of using such services, other than saving time, is saving money. You can save money with the rebates they offer along with the cost reporting tools, while accounting software integration streamlines business even more. So, if you want to make running your kitchen easier, don’t hesitate to find the best online service for you, sign up for free and order from the best wholesalers Melbourne and Australia wide.
Buying Your Supplies In-store
Despite the many advantages of the internet today, shopping in-store still has many benefits and holds an important place in retail. The peace of mind that comes with holding the product you bought in your hands or seeing it being put in the delivery vehicle can’t be compared with the anxiety that comes with wondering if you’re getting what you’re ordered. And some purchasing benefits come only with the in-store experience, like the possibility to examine your product physically and knowledgeable staff explaining it to you.
Even if you don’t see yourself buying your everyday food supplies at the local wholesale store, it can be worth going to the local brick-and-mortar store for buying inventory like commercial fridges or hospitality equipment. This also stands for kitchen equipment as you often have the opportunity to test the products before you buy them. In-store promotions are another reason for considering you buy your restaurant supplies in person.
To Sum Up
There’s no one-for-all supplier solution when it comes to purchasing your restaurant supplies, since every restaurant, as well as its owner and managers, has its unique system of working. Evaluating your needs and deciding on what works the best for you will make the whole process easier, no matter if you choose to order your supplies online or buy them in-store.