A stocking checklist for running a zero proof menu

A menu is a promise about stock. Every line on it commits the venue to holding something, replacing something and throwing something away. This checklist works backwards from the menu to the store cupboard, in the order that catches problems earliest.

What to take away

• Stock the bases first. Bottles are the visible part and usually the smaller problem.
• Count disposables and glassware as menu items, because running out stops service either way.
• Fresh produce is the shortest lived line and the one most often over-ordered.
• An illness policy is stock control too, since one sick shift can close a bar.

Work backwards from the menu

• List every component of every drink, including garnish and ice type.
• Mark each as bought, batched or fresh.
• For bought items, record case pack, lead time and shelf life.
• For batched items, record yield, holding time and who makes it.
• For fresh items, record daily usage and the supplier's delivery days.
• Note which components appear in more than one drink, because those are the ones to hold deeply.

That last line is the whole exercise. A component used once has to justify its storage space, its waste and the training required to make it. What each price tier commits a venue to is set out in our notes on what a guest gets at each price.

Train the stock, not just the recipe

Stock discipline is a training question more than a spreadsheet question. FDA distributes free educational posters and storyboards for retail food employees designed to be posted in preparation areas where the relevant behavior happens, and used as discussion prompts rather than as wallpaper. The materials are available in nine languages, including Arabic, English, Hindi, Korean, Russian, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Spanish and Vietnamese, and they are not copyrighted, so a venue may print and post them freely with credit to FDA.

For a bar with a rotating team, that is a cheap way to keep the same message in front of everyone. The habit those posters are meant to build is what separates a second year from a first, which our notes on how alcohol free rooms begin describe.

Illness policy protects the stock too

The single most disruptive event for a small drinks program is a staff illness that spreads. CDC's guidance on preventing norovirus is direct about it: someone who is sick should not prepare or handle food, and should wait at least two days after symptoms stop, which the guidance singles out as important for people working in restaurants. Hand washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds is the recommended step, and the guidance notes that hand sanitizer alone does not work well against norovirus.

A bar that relies on sanitizer at a busy station is not covered. Somebody has to be able to reach a sink.

Order less, more often

New menus are over-ordered almost universally, because the first week's sales are not the steady state. Order shallow for a fortnight, record what actually moves, then set par levels. Fresh produce should be ordered against measured usage rather than against the menu's ambition.

Expect the first fortnight to be misleading in both directions. Curiosity inflates the sales of anything unusual, and a drink that reads oddly on the menu sells poorly until a server learns to describe it. Neither number is the steady state. Take the second fortnight as the baseline and revisit it after the first seasonal change, since fresh components move with the weather even when the menu does not.

The stages behind the menu are covered in our menu design walkthrough, and the supplier facing version of this list appears in the retail stocking checklist for botanical drinks.

Common questions

How many bottles does a six drink menu need? Usually four to six, if the menu was built from shared bases. More than that suggests the menu was written drink by drink.

Should garnishes be prepped for the whole week? No. Prep them against measured daily usage and store them cold.

What is the most commonly forgotten stock line? Ice, followed by the specific glassware a drink was designed around.

How should par levels be set for a new menu? From two weeks of actual sales, not from the opening forecast.