Chapter 16 - Receiving and Storing Food

Duties of storeroom men and stewards | Requirements of a storeroom man | Kickbacks in the industry | Importance of careful receiving | Procedure in receiving | Credit memorandum | Storage of food | Proper refrigeration temperatures | Storing of staples and dry goods | Summary

After food has been ordered, management is concerned with seeing to it that what was ordered is received and stored so as to retain its quality until prepared or served. In a small restaurant, the manager himself receives the food, checks it to see if it meets the specifications, weighs, and/or counts it. Large restaurants can employ a part-time or full-time stewards or storeroom clerk to receive, store, and issue the food. But it must be the responsibility of one person and no one else.

In the larger restaurant, the storeroom clerk may have an assistant who is also the steward in a hotel kitchen. The job offered includes the responsibility for supervising the dishwashing crew and kitchen porters. Where food production is on a production and formula basis the storeroom man issues quantity in accordance with standard reci­pes. For example, shortening, flour, eggs, and milk would be issued to the exact measure required for a specific recipe. The shortening would be scooped out of its original container onto a piece of wax paper and scaled, flour would be weighed and put up in a separate container, the exact number of eggs required for the recipe, and only the milk needed for the recipe should be issued. This procedure saves time for the cooks and bakers, time which is usually more needed by them than by the storeroom keeper.

The storeroom man usually is not a meat expert and so his judg­ment cannot be relied upon completely as to the quality of beef or other meat which is received. His main function is to determine if the food received is in the quantity or weight which was ordered. The more he knows about food standards, of course, the more valuable he can be to the restaurant.

A storeroom keeper should be the kind of person who is highly reliable and stable; usually a person of middle age or older, who is not bothered by working alone a good part of the day; who enjoys having his environment orderly and arranged systematically. He need not have a particularly attractive personality or appearance, although these factors are valuable in nearly every position in a restaurant. It is im­portant that he get along with others easily. Above all, he must be honest for a dishonest steward or receiving clerk could increase his income at the restaurant operator's expense.

In some parts of the country it has been more or less customary for purveyors to give a steward or other persons in charge of buying and receiving a percentage of the purchase price. This vicious system of kick-backs has made rich men of many food buyers and is a practice which should be eradicated completely. Ultimately, of course, the amount of the kick-back is paid by the restaurant in higher prices. To guard against such practices, food and receiving clerks should not be permitted to take "gifts" of any kind, including Christmas presents of any value.

Careful receiving procedures avoid mistakes which may cause the restaurant delay, and encourage honesty on the part of suppliers and delivery people. When a delivery person is short, he may make up that shortage at the expense of a restaurant which fails to carefully check on incoming merchandise.

The delivery invoice should be checked to make certain it correctly describes the merchandise received. Each item on the invoice should be checked off if the weight or count is found to be accurate. In check­ing deliveries for weight, it is important not to weigh containers or wrapping material. If this is impossible, weigh the complete package including the container, then transfer the contents to another con­tainer and weigh the empty container or wrapping. This weight is then subtracted from the total to arrive at a net weight.

It is not wise to permit receiving clerks to pay C.O.D. charges. This should be done by the manager himself or his assistant manager. Checking personnel should be instructed to call the manager if there are any shortages or discrepancies in quality.

Ordinarily, meat is not received in the exact amount that was ordered. The receiving person writes in the correct weight on the invoice and initials his writing. When poultry is checked for weight the ice should be shaken from it before weighing.

When the description of an item is incomplete on the delivery in­voice, the delivery person completes the description by writing it in.

Potatoes that are delivered in bags which are supposed to weigh 100 pounds usually do not weigh the full amount. Many restaurants have a policy of not accepting "100 pound bags" of potatoes that weigh less than 97 pounds.

Receiving

The delivery slip which the deliveryman brings is checked against the purchase order in the case of staple foods; against the quotation sheet for perishable foods.

If there are errors in weight or count, corrections are made on the delivery sheet. If quality is not as specified, this is noted on the delivery sheet; or if there is serious discrepancy in quality, the restaurant man­ager is notified. The delivery may be rejected. Otherwise, the delivery sheets are signed by the person doing the receiving. At the end of the day quotation sheets, purchase orders, and delivery sheets are taken to the bookkeeping section or manager's office as a record that payment is due the purveyor.

When there are mistakes in delivery or inferior quality of food has been received, it is proper to insist on pick-up by the purveyor. In such cases the delivery man should sign a credit memorandum in duplicate showing the quantity and description of the merchandise picked up. The delivery man gets one copy, the other copy goes to the manager's office.

At the time of delivery, the receiving clerk uses a wax crayon to mark the date on each container or case. All meat is tagged showing the date, name of the cut, and weight.

Storage of Food

Food is stored pending its use in such a way as to improve its quality or to minimize loss of quality. U.S. Choice and Prime beef is "hung" (stored) for two to three weeks by the more expensive res­taurants so as to give it a proper "age." During aging enzymatic and bacteriological action takes place which imparts tenderness and in­creases flavor.

Aging beyond three weeks (after the animal has been killed) makes for a "high," or gamey flavor enjoyed by some connoisseurs. Venison and other wild game is similarly aged. Veal, lamb, poultry, and fish are used as soon as possible since aging results in loss of quality in these meats.

Aging is expensive since it is done either in a refrigerator or in special aging rooms of 70°-80°F. with high air circulation. Shrinkage and loss from trimming can be expected to total up to 10 percent of the weight.

Unripened fruit is stored so that it is ripe when needed. Other foods are stored to minimize deterioration and infestation by rodents and insects.

Refrigeration and freezer spaces are needed so that these tempera­tures are maintained:

Meat, meat products
Poultry:                                                                       31-35° F.

Boned meat should be used in less than three days.

Individual cuts such as steaks, chops, stew meat, and ground meat should be used within two days, preferably on the day cut. Livers, hearts, sweetbreads, and brains should also be used within 48 hours. Store poultry surrounded by ice.

Fresh Fish and Seafood:                                             29-33° F.

Store in ice, and use as quickly as possible.

Dairy Products and Eggs:                                          33-37° F.

Use as quickly as possible. Store eggs in an upright position, on the pointed end of the shell, never on the large end or on the sides. The pointed end is the hardest part of the shell; the round end contains the air cell which should be undisturbed. Keep butter wrapped to prevent absorption of odors.

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables:                                     36-40° F.
Bananas                                                                 60-70° F.
Ripe Avocadoes                                                     40-50° F.
Unripe Avocadoes                                                  65° F.
Unripe Melons, peaches, pears,
pineapples, plums, tomatoes                              65-80° F.
Sweet Potatoes                                                      50-60° F.
Winter Squash                                                        50-60° F.
Onions (no refrigeration)                                         40-60° F.
White potatoes (no refrigeration,
Away from light                                                40-60° F.

Frozen Foods:                                                 0° or less

Frozen foods should be held at less than 10° F., preferably at zero. Temperature rises above 10° F. will damage food by discoloration and loss of vitamin C, and lowering the temperature again does not correct the damage.

Ice Cream:                                                                  6°-10° F.
Dried Fruits:                                                               Refrigerate during
                                                                                    summer at 32°-45° F.

Storing of Staples and General Stores

Dried vegetables, flour, other cereals, and cereal products should be stored in metal cans with tight-fitting lids or in aluminum, portable bins which can be wheeled to the point of preparation.

Adjustable Shelves For Canned Goods

Lower shelving should have a space of 18" to 36" between shelves; upper shelves 12" to 16", depending upon the size of cans used. Shelv­ing should be 16" deep which permits two rows of No. 10 cans or three rows of No. 2 or 2.5cans.

Issuing Food

Perishable stores are usually issued directly to the kitchen to be used in the succeeding day or so. Staples are stored, then issued as needed by the kitchen. Institutions usually buy in quantities to last several months; smart commercial restaurant operators buy only as much as needed to hold them over until the next delivery can be made. Restau­rants doing as much as $500 daily may have a storeroom which is only 10' x 15' in size, evidence that small storerooms are feasible.

Food is issued from general stores by requisition only.

Here is an example:

REQUISITION

Dept. Requisitioned by                                            Date                 19

Quantity      Unit Quantity required     Unit              Description            issued        price      Amount

1             50# can   Cake Mix, Bran Muffin

Authorized by                          Filled by                           Received by

The storekeeper is careful to store incoming cans or cartons on the rear of shelves—older merchandise in front—so that the oldest item is issued first. In issuing he takes from the front, "first in first out," new stock being placed in back of previously delivered stock.

To summarize: The first problem of receiving is to make sure that the quantity, quality, size, weight, and number of food items that were purchased have been received. The receiving and storeroom man must have a sense of responsibility, must be able to come to an intel­ligent decision under stress, must know food thoroughly, and must be able to follow the procedures and methods of receiving that have been found effective for the operation.

These qualifications are necessary because, once the decision is made to purchase food and the food is delivered to the receiving area and accepted, that food represents money. If net profit is 10 per cent of sales with a 40 per cent food cost and $10 worth of food is pur­chased, the value of the food in the storeroom is $25. Net profit will be $2.50; the remaining $22.50 must be used to pay for the food, rent, labor, equipment, utilities, and other expenses.

If the storeroom man accepts merchandise that is not counted or weighed; if he doesn't check for spoilage, rot damage, improper grades; if he doesn't check the specifications; if he doesn't remove frozen items to the freezer immediately; if he doesn't store properly; if only one-tenth of the cost of the food is stolen or lost in terms of yield, the entire profit has disappeared. Whether a menu item is profitable or not de­pends not only on the purchase price but also, and most importantly, on the cost per edible portion.

After the items have been checked, they must be stored promptly and efficiently. There are many recommended temperatures for proper refrigeration. Effective ranges of refrigerating temperatures for various food groups are: meat and poultry 31°-35°F., fish below 32°F., vege­tables 36°-40°F., dairy products 33°-37°F.

In terms of dry storage, important points are: "first-in first-out" inventories, protection of food from soil, dirt, vermin, and spoilage and storing in temperatures of approximately 68 °F.

Issuing must be controlled and storerooms kept locked. Goods should move out only with requisitions.

Food must also be prepared, cooked and served properly. And after all these details have been worked out, there still remains a vital part of the operation that can put an operator out of business. Food has to be translated into sales. For every item leaving the kitchen, every cent of value must be accounted for in the cash register.

Management has countered the latter problems with such measures as food checkers using food-checker machines, double-die system, du­plicate orders, numbered checks, check machines and cashiers at ends of serving lines.

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