1954 Practical Bar Management by Eddie Clarke

PRACTICAL BAR MANAGEMENT

or Goods Inwards, or Goods Received Book. These books vary in shape and style, but the basic contents remain as shown in the example(Fig. i), and cover the need of maintaining a record of all transactions with the suppliers. An entry is made in this book at the time of the actual receipt of goods and may be based on any thingfrom a priced delivery note to a railway slip. Later the entry will be verified with invoiced quantities and prices, and can ultimately become a clear record of all such invoices. It is equally important to record details of items returned to suppliers, and too frequently the carter's or drayman's signature on a provisional credit note is taken as being the end of the transaction. The appropriate entry in the Cellar Diary, or Goods Received Book,of all such quantities returned,ensures verification of appropriate credit and avoids any irritating doubts. In the larger establishments where transactions are numerous,a separate record is maintained of these items, but for the general run of the mill, the one book will suffice for all goods"in"and"out". Container Book More often than not little enthusiasm is found for the calculated protection of bottles once the liquid content has been used. A pause to study a beer and mineral invoice will serve to impress on all the need for additional discipline in the care and handling of the actual cases and bottle containers. Too much emphasis cannot be placed on the importance of maintaining a Container Record in some form because of the high rate of deposit charges inevitably made by suppliers. Generally speaking, when efforts are made in the preparation of some record such as this, it is probably the most sorely misused document existing in the hotel. The irritation caused in its maintenance is invariably due either to lack of method in its upkeep, or to attempting too great an analysis. It is generally sufficient in the average small hotel to keep a balance in one overall cash total. ,The key features are really to be found in frequent balancing with physical stocks— why not monthly until you are happy with these affairs ?—and the verification of tradesmen's credit notes with the record in the Goods Received Book—noting carefully those for which credit has not been received at the time of your balance. Clearly the principle of the Container Record can be developed, if a greater

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