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0 INTRODUCTION TO PURCHASING, RECEIVING, STORING AND ISSUING

PROCESS
In food service, food distributors, producers, restaurants and other food companies often
split their attention between acquiring raw food materials and assembling or processing
them into finished goods. Purchasing is a major area of strategic development for most
food companies; choosing the right suppliers, the right ingredients and sustaining that
relationship can drastically impact both the profitability and reputation of the company.
The purchasing process is an essential part of every food service operation. All
competent cooks should be skilled in buying the appropriate ingredients, in accurate
amounts, at the right time, and at the best price. Every organization operation has
different purchasing procedures. But there is one rule that should always be followed, that
is buy only as much as it is anticipated will be needed until the next delivery. This will
ensure that foods stay fresh and will create a high inventory turnover. All foods
deteriorate in time, some more quickly than others. It is the job of the purchaser to ensure
that only those quantities that will be used immediately or in the near future are
purchased. There are two major food categories: perishables and non-perishables.
For perishable items, Perishable items include fruits, vegetables, fresh fish and
shellfish, fresh meats, poultry, and dairy products. As a rule, perishables are bought
frequently to ensure freshness. Frozen foods, such as vegetables, fish and meat products,
have a longer lifespan and can be ordered less frequently and stored in a freezer
meanwhile, for nonperishable items, include dry goods, flour, cereals, and miscellaneous
items such as olives, pickles, and other condiments. These can be ordered on a weekly or
monthly basis. In most organizations, purchasing and ordering are done by the chef and
sous-chefs, although in larger hotels there may be purchasing departments assigned this
responsibility. Most kitchens will have a list of suppliers, contacts, delivery dates and
schedules, and order sheets with par stock levels to make purchasing easier. For a special
function or event, such as a banquet, it may also be necessary to determine the required
supplies for that function alone.

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 A receiving procedure is needed to properly inspect all incoming goods, mark
them with tags, and record them as having been received. If this is not done correctly, a
business will find that its inventory records are inaccurate. When these records are
inaccurate, it is impossible to fulfill customer orders or run manufacturing operations in
an efficient manner. Upon receipt of a delivery, match the received items to the
description stated on the accompanying bill of lading, as well as the description on the
related purchase order. Major discrepancies can lead to rejection of the delivered goods.

If there is no authorizing purchase order and the purchasing manager does not
issue a waiver, reject the delivered goods. Use a preprinted receiving checklist to inspect
each delivery. Items likely requiring review are the quantity received, comparison to a
quality threshold, and the date and time of receipt. Note any variances on the checklist.
Initial the checklist when the review is complete. Sign a photocopy of the bill of lading to
indicate that the delivery has been inspected and is accepted. Identify each item in a
delivery and ensure that it is properly labeled with a bar coded tag that includes the item
number, quantity, and unit of measure. If there is some uncertainty regarding which item
number to use, consult with purchasing department. Update the receiving log with the
date and time of receipt of each delivery, as well as the name of the shipper, supplier,
purchase order number, and description of goods received.
After receiving process, food storing, is to ensure that an adequate supply of
food materials for the immediate need of the operation are available at all times. Storage
Proper of food immediately after it has been received and checked is an important factor
in the prevention and control of loss or waste. Perishables need to be places immediately
to refrigerated or frozen storage. Staples should be stored in an orderly and systematic
arrangement. Food should be protected from pests, rodents, and insects. Storage should
also have a low humidity and proper ventilation to help prevent spoilage. To prevent
losses through spoilage or pilferage, goods are stored in a manner so that FIFO can be
followed. Each item stored is entered in the storeroom register, and subsequently the bin
card is updated.

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 Lastly, issuing process. Issuing control is to ensure the proper authorization for
the release of merchandise. For each department the schedule for issuing stores is made.
All departments are required to come to stores for stores at the specific date and time. The
person receiving stores is required to bring along with the store requisition register.
Against the requisition slip the store is issued by the store department. While issuing,
physically measure the items to be issued and record them in the requisition register. The
person receiving signs the requisition. The store keeper retains the original copy of the
requisition and the carbon copy is returned to the department receiving stores for record
purposes. In case of large requisitions, the store keeper requests the department to give
him the requisition a day in advance or at least hours before so that he can issue the stores
without delay.

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2.0 PROBLEMS
2.1 Item Purchased Did Not Meet Standard Requirement
In our department, the person in charge is the student that becomes Chef of the
Day on a cooking class. He will make the requisition form to purchase ingredients
required for the cooking class. But, in my observation, I can see that most of the
appointed Chef of The Day will order a low-quality ingredients and product such
as stale fish and withered vegetables. This is not actually the purchaser fault but
the supplier who is responsible for deliver the ingredients. But, when the
purchaser receives the item without checking the quality before confirming it, then
it will be the purchaser fault.
In one of my experience to this problem is during the event we made last year,
the COD ordered a stale fish that is very smelly and unappetizing to eat. But we
have to use it since there is no other way to replace it on the very last moment in
preparation day. It was the COD fault to not checking the ingredients and just
confirming it right away after the supplier send it to him. The purchaser also did
not refer to the amount of required ingredients needed from calculated recipe and
always order more than the needed amount. The excessive items were then kept
inside the store just to be thrown out later which just produce more wastage in our
department.

2.2 No Records on Adjustment of Orders During Receiving

Invoice is very important when receiving products from supplier. Invoice is a
document given to the buyer by the seller to collect payment. It includes the cost
of the products purchased or services rendered to the buyer. Invoice can also serve
as legal records, if they contain the names of the seller and client, description and
price of goods or services and the terms of payment. (Source: www.zoho.com).
The person in charge in receiving products or the COD and their responsibility
is to check every ingredients amount to make sure the supplier send a correct
quantity as they ordered. Secondly, they should keep or request an invoice from
supplier to make it as proof that the purchaser received the product without any
problems. I remember a time before in our cooking class, there are slightly
mistakes on items quantity and need to be changed soon, but because there is no
invoice received on that moment, the COD is clueless when he was asked on what
items that were changed since there are no invoice received to act as a proof.

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2.3 Practice of FIFO is Not Applied for Perishable Items
This is the most problem we encountered in the storage room of our culinary
department. Student that are using or taking perishable items such as vegetables,
fruits and fresh seafood often taking the one that were arranged on the first row in
the chiller. The old ingredients are left unchecked and will become rotten later.
The perishable items are kept inside chiller and should be use immediately since
perishable items did not fresh for too long.
I find out that there are many ingredients that were thrown away every time
the store is cleaned out by student. Most of the item are vegetables such as onions
and tomatoes. Tomatoes is supposed to be keep inside chiller and not on the dry
store which is also one of the problems when students just put items in the wrong
storage area. FIFO is not applied in our storage room in culinary department
which makes the student to not using old ingredients in the store first for their
cooking lessons.

2.4 Limited Space to Store Items

When ordered items are transferred in to the storage, we faced the problem of
limited space on the shelf inside the storage room to store all the excessive items
the purchaser ordered. The cause of this problem is from the purchaser who is the
Chef of The Day that orders more than the required quantity for their cooking
class. After the cooking class ended, I notice that the student will put the other
items on the floor or on the additional table because there is not enough space
anymore on the shelves.
In my observation about our storage area, when then items are put on the
additional table inside the store, the store will be very narrow and it is very hard
and uncomfortable to move around to take items since the table takes a lot of
space in the store. Not only that, when items are put on the floor, it may cause
other problems such as insects like ant or flour lice to get into the items packaging
especially when the items are not wrapped correctly or stored inside a loose
container.

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2.5 Pilferage Occurs During Issuing Process
The most and common problems we have encounter in our department is student
that taking items in small quantity without permission and without any records of
the name and what quantities that the student take. The lack of record book in the
storage area causing the student to take the ingredients without writing their name
and the amount of taken items from the storage room. It is really hard to reduce
the pilferage problems because student can enter the storage room without any
worries for being suspected.
During my observation, I noticed that sometimes the student from other
semester in culinary department will take the items to use in their kitchen without
telling the COD or lectures. This will cause the items needed for the other cooking
class is not enough to use. Not only that, there are times when student that does
not have cooking classes will take or eat some of the items in the store such as
chocolate bars, sugar or other ready to eat items. They also use items such as salt
to put in their food even when they are not in a cooking lesson. Things like that
makes the ingredients to run out before being used.

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3.0 JUSTIFICATIONS
3.1 Purchasing Standard
The low-quality items we received from the supplier is the result of poor standard
management by purchaser. This is because of the purchaser or Chef of The Day
that did not use Standard Purchase Specification when filling up the requisition
form and did not inform the supplier about it. Standard Purchase Specification are
very important to make sure we get the right quantity of items we needed at the
same time maintaining the quality of the items with at appropriate prices.
Keep in mind that just because something does not go bad isn’t a reason to
buy it in quantities larger than you need. Every item in your inventory is equal to a
dollar amount that you could be saving or spending on something else. Consider
that a case of 1000 sheets of parchment paper may cost $250. If you have a case
and a half sitting in your inventory, but only use a few sheets a day, that is a lot of
money sitting in your storeroom. (Source: www.opentextbc.ca). Same like when
the purchaser did not purchase items with the standard we want, the item will only
be a cost to us since low-quality items will rot in short time. Same goes to the
quantity of items purchased. Even though the prices are lower, the purchaser
should not buy more than the required quantity especially when its low in quality
to avoid any wastages at the end of the week or month.

3.2 Product Receiving Record Problems

The person responsible for receiving ordered items did not record the amount
of product received. A best way to record any mistakes is to create ‘Item
Receiving Form’ which can be used to check quantity of items received and if
there are any mistakes, receiver can write it down on the same form. The most
important things to put on the form is when the supplier send any wrong amount
of items ordered. The receiver should write the corrections on the receiving form
and the failure of doing this had cause more problems when the items needed for
cooking activities. This will cause the purchaser to order again for the amount of
items that did not enough. Every successful payment or receiving should always
be recorded to ensure we have something to refer when a problem occurred.
In my observation on our culinary department, I saw that they will not take or
receive any invoice from the supplier when the supplier delivered the product.
This problem always happens during every class of cooking and no one including
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 the COD is taking any action. Not only that, I noticed that the COD will not check
the items before the supplier leaves and sometimes when the quantity of items is
not enough, they have to buy it from other courses. For example, when our class
did not have enough flour, we were asked to buy it from the Bakery courses. This
is very embarrassing for us because of the COD who has poor management by not
properly check the items before the supplier leave.

3.3 Perishable Item Problems

Short life-span items such as vegetables, fruits and fresh seafood should always be
taken care off first. I notice that the student will use the new vegetables instead of
the two days old vegetables, it will cause the old vegetable to not be used by other
classes since the vegetables is not fresh anymore causing them to be thrown away
without being used. That is surely a whole waste of department money and will
increase the cost of food purchasing. The problem is very critical and it would
lead to department spending more money in perishable items that results in
wastage rather than be used for learning purposes.

3.4 Unorganized & Wrong Quantity of Order

When ordering items to fill the stock in store, the purchaser should always pay
attention on how big is the store and how much can it keep. This problem occurs
when the person in charge of the storage or the storekeeper did not calculate the
stock in the inventory and did not inform the purchaser how much the store can
store new items.
In my observation in our department, the COD will just simply put more
quantity on requisition form which later cause an over quantity of items in the
store. Not only that, when it happens, the receiver will put the excess items on the
floor or other table that was not supposed to put the item there. This is because
there is no room left for the additional items to put on. This will lead to another
problem which could occur later when the items are expired then it will be
produced bad odors that will affect other items in the store.

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3.5 Issuing Process Problems
Pilferage is the most common things to happen in the kitchen. In our department,
there are many cases like this to happen every time which lead to other student
being blame. From my observation before, I saw some students entered the store
in their formal clothes and not in chefs’ uniform. This simply means that they are
taking items in the store without using it for their cooking classes. The inability to
create or providing a name record for every item issued is a big problem. There is
no name record for every time a student issuing an item which will cause
department to waste money buying items that is not used in cooking classes.
When items are taken without using it for learning purposes from the
inventory, they will be considered as waste and will add more cost to our
department since it is not used as a learning purpose but using it for themselves.
As a student, this is very disappointing to see because there is no record of
students’ name that entering the store and we cannot track on what types of items
he or she already took and use for his own benefit and not for learning purposes.

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4.0 SUGGESTIONS
4.1 Establishing Standard Purchase Specification
A purchase specification is a concise description of the quality, size and weight
(or count) required for a particular item. Each specification would be particular to
an establishment and would have been determined by members of the
management team either by the purchasing manager, head chef and the food and
beverage manager, by reference to the catering policy, the menu requirements and
its price range. The relevant members of the management should keep copies of
the specifications, the goods received clerk and the food control clerks and sent to
suppliers. (David B, 2008)
It is the job of the purchaser to ensure that only those quantities that will be
used immediately or in the near future are purchased. Food service establishments
are businesses. In order to stay in business, everyone involved with the enterprise
should have at least a basic idea of how costs are determined and how such costs
have an impact on an operating budget. (Source: Chefanuragthakur.blogspot.com)

4.1.1 Standard Purchase Specifications

SPS is an accurate description of product and their characteristic, used
as a reference whenever purchaser wants to place order so that they
will always follow grading that are set. One of the Standard Purchase
Specifications advantages are eliminating misunderstand on what food
brand needed between purchaser & supplier. Not only that, SPS can
also eliminate detailed verbal description by simply means that we do
not have to described full details to supplier which will cause them to
get bored by hearing us talking too much.

4.1.2 Element Of Standard Purchase Specification

Purchase specifications should contain these essential elements such as
descriptions of the item that need to be purchased, quantity of the item,
stating the physical specifications the purchaser need such as the
shape, color or texture. Documentation also needs to be provided with
the purchase specification and the terms of payment. Not only that, the
purchaser also needs to state the minimum acceptable quality of the

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item to be purchased so the supplier can buy without need to ask the
purchaser many times.

Figure 3.1 Sample of Standard Purchase Specification

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4.2 Create a Documentation of Products Received

All establishments must have set down procedures for receiving, checking and
accepting goods. These goods must be checked against the purchase specification.
The procedures involved in checking goods delivered will vary in different
establishments. The receiver of the goods needs to be competent and have
knowledge of purchase specifications.

An advice note is a document that confirms the receipt and dispatched of

customer order. The document is sent by a supplier to a customer to inform him
that the goods ordered has been dispatched. The aim of this document is to keep
the customer informed about the status of his order. (Source: www.saloodo.com).
In our college, this note can be applied by requesting this method to the supplier
and telling them that this is how we want our items to be delivered and supplier
can set their suggested time to deliver the requested item. Not only that, since our
world now is relying on smartphone, we suggest the supplier to use social media
such as WhatsApp as an alternative way to send the advice note rather than using
papers.

Figure 3.2 Items Receiving Form

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 Figure 3.3 Advice Note Sample

Figure 3.4 Advice Note Through WhatsApp

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4.3 Train Student to Practice on FIFO
4.3.1 FIFO Definition

A food storage system that is used to properly rotate stock so that ordered
products are distributed first and newer ones stay on the shelf. FIFO stands
for First in, first out. It is applicable whether material is stored in the
heater, in a refrigerator or on a shelf.

Besides, FIFO also applicable for any packaging, ingredients, closures,

any bottles or other components which might be used in a finished product
during manufactures. With FIFO, the food industry can ensure streamlined
inventory practices and the use of materials which will always keep
integrity through the life of the product. It is essential for industries where
people handle high amount of products. It is used in all types of industries,
from food, catering and etc. FIFO is an essential part of a new employee’s
training so that they understand the procedures surrounding it. (Source:
StateFoodSafety.com)

4.3.2 FIFO Procedure

Using a FIFO food storage system is simple and efficient, and ensures staff
know exactly what is going in and out at all times. It ensures older
products are used or bought before newer ones, which helps minimize
costly wastage. There are very simple five steps involved in FIFO:
(i) Search for products that have the closest use-by, best before or
expiry dates.
(ii) Toss items that are damaged or past their prime date.
(iii) Moved the older dated items to the front of the shelf.
(iv) Place newer stock behind the older stock. The more recent
date should be at the back.
(v) Grab the most recent items from the front first.

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4.3.3 FIFO Checklist

The checklist should be stored in stock regions and should be easy for staff
to find. It should include the 5 steps listed above. It is important to check
it for a few other items too. Products should have their packaging checked
regularly for a damage or deterioration. The products should be stored
right away up on the shelf.

Figure 3.5. FIFO Food Storage System

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4.4 The Purchaser Must Use Perpetual Inventory System
4.4.1 Perpetual Inventory System Definition
The perpetual inventory system is the records of sale or purchase of
inventory immediately and provides detailed information reporting
amount of inventory in stock, and reflects the level of goods on hand.

4.4.2 Inventory Record Keeping

There are two basic record keeping methods to track inventory. The
first is taking perpetual inventory. A perpetual inventory is simply a
running balance of what is on hand. Perpetual inventory is best done
by keeping records for each product that is in storage, as shown in
Figure 2.1.

Figure 3.6 Sample of Perpetual Inventory Form

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Figure 3.7 A Sample of Perpetual Inventory Form for Canned Peaches

When more of the product is received, the number of cans or items is

recorded and added to the inventory on hand. When some of the
product is requisitioned, the number going out is recorded and the
balance is reduced. In addition, the perpetual inventory form can
indicate when the product should be reordered (the reorder point) and
how much of the product should ideally be on hand at a given time (par
stock).
In small operations, a perpetual inventory is usually only kept
for expensive items as the time and cost of keeping up the records can
be substantial.

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4.5 Establishing Requisition Procedure for Item Request
4.5.1 Issuing Item
Issuing is the process of moving products from storage rooms to
kitchen area for food production. The correct quantity of products must
be issued to meet estimated recipe demand. This process must be
carefully controlled to minimize product misuse and so student or
lectures can match issues of items with the amount of food they should
produce. (Pearson, 2012)

4.5.2 Importance Of Effective Issuing

Students or lectures must do all that is practical to control beverage
products at the time of issuing. Items costs are increased if there is a
lack of control in this process. Given the importance of security, it is
difficult to justify the open-door policies that exist in some operations.
In most cases, items should be issued from product storage areas on a
regular schedule. For example, items can be stock at the beginning of
the day, end of the day, or between busy shifts. (Pearson, 2012)

4.5.3 Establishing Item Requisition

Below are the sample of issuing form that can be used and applied on
the department store to ensure every item is well protected from theft
and helping the purchaser to check available items.

Figure 3.8 A Sample of Beverage Issue Requisition (Pearson, 2012)

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5.0 CONCLUSION
In summary, the process of purchasing, receiving, storing and issuing is very
important step in every industry not only for hospitality but also to other organization
that require item purchasing from suppliers. The process of purchasing is very
important because it is the first process that leads to receiving, storing and issuing.
The problems stated in this assignment are true based on our observation in culinary
art department at Keningau Vocational College. The solution or suggestion we used
for the problems to solve the problems are related to the problem we encounter in the
department.
Finally, we hope that from this assignment, we can get more knowledge and
information in the importance of purchasing, receiving, storing and issuing process
that could help us in avoiding the problems in the near future especially when we
enter the food industry later. We also hope that our assignment can be a reference to
incoming generation that would want to know more about this process. Thank you.

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6.0 REFERENCES

6.1 BOOKS
(i) National Restaurant Association. (2012). ManageFirst: Bar and Beverage
Management w/ Online Exam Voucher (2nd ed.). Pearson.
(ii) Davis B., Lockwood A., Pantelidis I., Alcott P., (2008), Food and
Beverage Management, Routledge, Amsterdam.

4.1 WEBSITE
(i) Eileen Haraminac, Michigan State University Extension. (2018, September
20). Keep food safe by implementing the “FIFO” system. MSU Extension.
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/keep_food_safe_by_implementing_the_fi
fo_system
(ii) StateFoodSafety.com. (2017, March 29). April Cartoon: First In, First Out
(FIFO). https://www.statefoodsafety.com/Resources/Resources/april-
cartoon-first-in-first-out-fifo
(iii) Anurag, C. (2021, July 6). Standard Purchase Specification-SPS.
Chefanuragthakur.Blogspot.Com.
http://chefanuragthakur.blogspot.com/2013/02/standarad-purchase-
specification-sps.html
(iv) Committee, A. C. T. B. C. (2015, September 4). Basic Inventory
Procedures – Basic Kitchen and Food Service Management. Pressbooks.
https://opentextbc.ca/basickitchenandfoodservicemanagement/chapter/basi
c-inventory-procedures/

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