HELP! How to monitor my business so my employees can't cheat on me.. huhu..

[cookie_cola]

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hey guys... i nid ur expert advice about this... i really want to be in the food cart biz and had recently set up a booth in a small school as a start-up. I wanted to know how I can completely keep track of my inventory so I can monitor my business even without my (complete) presence... as they all say, you can't put all your trust in your employees (had to learn this one the hard way.) For big/solid stuff, it's easy, you can just count them directly but what about those stuff that cannot be counted by hand... say, sugar or syrup for example?

Like take this situation. If I have a sundae stand and I want to add toppings to my sundaes as an extra perk at 5 pesos per topping. At the end of my employee's shift, how will I know exactly how many scoops of sprinkles did he sell? Or say for blueberries in syrup, how many scoops were sold? Ummm.. I cannot exactly keep on counting the number of scoops left in the container every shift right? If I monitor them by weighing them instead, how exact is that? After all, the weight of a scoop of blueberries in syrup can be arbitrary... a scoop can contain more berries or more syrup and then that would weigh differently right?

And what if at 5 pesos he can have a maximum of 2 toppings (coz kids always ask, can it be both?) so I'm planning for two toppings, the scoop will be half-half. How can I monitor that too so I'll know exactly half-half was given and that indeed was a 5 peso sale and not a total of 10 pesos (for all I know, they could have been sold separately even though my employee states otherwise)

I would really appreciate your advice on this. I recently had to fire my first employee because she cheated me of my money and I hope to avoid the same thing by setting up some sort of system for my business. As much as I would like to be there for the entire working hours, I still have to work another job. But that's precisely why we're in business right... to be financially independent... to make money work for you and not you working for the money?

thanx in advance!

[Earnest]

your question is one of the hardest to answer. hehehe.... but if by chance you'll get the right solution/formula please let me know, ok? trusting our employees "fully" is not that easy...

[MeMing]

indeed this is not an easy situation. this is exactly the reason why i don't want to go into a "sari-sari store" or any other business which i can't think of a good CONTROL system.

but i do have a couple of things in mind regarding your concern.

1st, i would give some time to devote on the business (let's say a minimum of 2 months). during these days, you yourself has to do everything in the business. by doing so, you should be able to know or take note of the weaknesses of your business (such weaknesses you have already mentioned here for example).

you will also know what difficulties your future employees will be facing. like how difficult it is to scoop an EXACT amount of sundae or whatever product. by knowing so, you should be able to understand your employees situation and you won't be thinking that he/she has stolen 5 grams worth of ingredients from you. and this 5 grams shall be your standard deviation for such product since you have already established that it is IMPOSSIBLE to scoop the same amount of sundae for the entire day.

another thing you can take note on the first 2 months of your business is your sales. personally, i think 2 months is too short a time for establishing your sales trend but its better than nothing. once you have your sales trend, then a tragic decline should give you a warning that something is wrong with the way your biz is being handled given all else has remained the same (classes are going on without interruptions, the number of students are the same, the number of competition has not changed, etc).

now if you say giving 2 months to devote on your biz, then that's up to you. if you just invested 10k for such a biz and your earning 20k a month, then you should prioritize your job. but if you invested 500k on it but you think that 500k is nothing for you, then you can still keep your job. but if your me and 500k is too much to lose, then i'll concentrate on my biz.

the second think i can think of is to put-up a simple surveillance system. and at the end of the day, you can COUNT each customer that your employee catered to and then multiply that to the selling price per unit of your product. but this would be a very stressful thing to do if i were you. but it's your biz so you should have more life for it.

good luck!

[godsaint]

Computerized your transaction then install pc spy so that all encodings are recorded in the pc.

[theconsultant]

hi there. i can help you manage your stocks by setting up an inventory system. do you have a pc? if you are interested, we can meet and discuss this. i am a business consultant for food and customer service business. text me at 09272387760. ty

[j2sun]

i also put some thought into this. what i got so far is a system where the customer should ALWAYS have a receipt, and if not given, naa cyay money-back thinggy.

"If you are not given a receipt, you get P20" (coming from the pocket of the employee)

[cc(,``o]

you have a good point. howeve you do have a standard scoop don't you? better yet use measuring spoons. weighing them is fine. it may not be exact but there should be an average. otherwise how else will bakers be able to use weighin scale as the measuring basis.

anyway you can try weighing 1 scoop several times. and that should give you an average weight. also if kids are asking for 2 toppings use the half scoop. so still totalling 1 scoop. in this case they should indicate that half a scoop was taken from where and the the other half was taken. and when i say half don't just eyeball it. use a measuring scoop for that too so you will have a basis of weight.

for now this is the cheapest and simplest way to monitor without the added costs. the receipt might work but then dont forget there are customers who dont want receipts and will just refuse it.

[jaytol23]

ayaw na ana measuring spoons mga peepz...even i, sa ako food business(secret lang) wala nana!..

it's all in grams tanan, even water is in grams na para pag kwenta sa cost, etc...

a. first standardized all your recipe(sugar,topping(s), sprinkles) to grams...para kabaw ka sa costing per recipe!...

* palit ug timbangan(tanita or yamato) gagmay nga half kilo then 5 grams ang graduation or 2 grams ba depende sa imo need.

**unsaon mag pag gram? timbanga ang one scoop topping or sprinkle or unsa ba?

b. naa ka inventory beginning and end per ingredient diha sa imo tindahan...except cguro water kay minimal ra man kau na.

c. kada naay halin isulat unsa nga klase.

ang uban kaw na hunahuna...hehehe.
[br]Posted on: December 14, 2007, 10:23:33 AM_________________________________________________

i also put some thought into this. what i got so far is a system where the customer should ALWAYS have a receipt, and if not given, naa cyay money-back thinggy.

"If you are not given a receipt, you get P20" (coming from the pocket of the employee)

sakit sad ana oi....what if makalimot ang employee then ang customer nag dali!...hehehe.

[dalmacio]

i also put some thought into this. what i got so far is a system where the customer should ALWAYS have a receipt, and if not given, naa cyay money-back thinggy.

"If you are not given a receipt, you get P20" (coming from the pocket of the employee)

strikto ra kaau ni nga pamaagi. angay panggaon ang employees kay one of the assets nato na sila.

[freez3]

Automate. Computer-age na bya ta.